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 Rosen House along
Speaker 2: with you this weekend as we join you from Progressive Field,
Speaker 2: which will be quite the place in just a little while.
Speaker 2: If you're tuned to this on the radio as it
Speaker 2: airs on Saturday mornings. If you're tuned in on podcast form, well,
Speaker 2: you'll know the results of Game one of the American
Speaker 2: League Division Series, which begins Saturday afternoon with a one
Speaker 2: toh eight perst pitch the Guardians and the Detroit Tigers
Speaker 2: in this best of five series. Good show lined up
Speaker 2: for you Today, we'll hear from Sandy Alomar Junior, a
Speaker 2: veteran of Cleveland postseasons. We'll also visit with Rob Sorfolio
Speaker 2: a minor league report from Rob, the director of player
Speaker 2: development for the Guardians. We'll hear some of the thoughts
Speaker 2: midweek from President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti. But first
Speaker 2: we visit with Andre not who will be joining the
Speaker 2: radio coverage during the course of the postseason. On loan
Speaker 2: from Balley's Sports and he'll be joining Tom and I
Speaker 2: during the course of the radio broadcast, and we had
Speaker 2: a chance to catch up with him earlier this week
Speaker 2: as the team was going through their sim games and
Speaker 2: extensive practice work to stay sharp during the week long
Speaker 2: layoff between games. And when we caught up with Andre,
Speaker 2: we talked about how great it is for the Guardians
Speaker 2: to be back in the postseason.
Speaker 3: It's awesome to be back because you never know and
Speaker 3: you can't take it for granted. And I will say,
Speaker 3: and on my role, my job, it's been a blessing
Speaker 3: to be here the last ten eleven years because you
Speaker 3: don't get this all the time, right, so to be
Speaker 3: able to see this and be around it and to
Speaker 3: see this team grow. I'm looking forward to the next month, maybe.
Speaker 2: After the way last season ended and the off season
Speaker 2: was kind of quiet, new manager, everything, question Mark wise,
Speaker 2: going into spring training, is this a big surprise to
Speaker 2: you or could you see some things building in the
Speaker 2: spring that indicated, Hey, the Guardians might be a better
Speaker 2: team than a lot of people.
Speaker 4: Think, Yes and no.
Speaker 3: I think at the beginning of spring training you kind
Speaker 3: of saw everybody come back and when you saw Bieber
Speaker 3: and the way he kind of came back. You're like,
Speaker 3: you know what if you got Bieber at the top
Speaker 3: of your rotation. And I'm saying this for a reason.
Speaker 3: You know you're gonna be good every fifth day, and
Speaker 3: what we saw from Bible last year, you kind of
Speaker 3: watch and you're like, Okay, top of rotation's gonna be
Speaker 3: pretty goo and you have class. So I say that
Speaker 3: because what six days in seven days in Biby goes down.
Speaker 4: Bibby, I'm sorry, Biab goes down.
Speaker 3: And no, I'm completely shocked because usually when you go
Speaker 3: from one manager to another, and look, we've got like
Speaker 3: three or four playoff teams that you know they got
Speaker 3: in this year with the first time managers. That doesn't
Speaker 3: happen often. But it was surprising. But it's not because
Speaker 3: a lot of those guys in twenty twenty two that
Speaker 3: kind of shocked the world. They're all here and I
Speaker 3: think they took they didn't like what happened last year,
Speaker 3: and you're around these guys. You know these guys, but
Speaker 3: they were frustrated how they came off as a team
Speaker 3: last year. They felt like they left Tito down, they
Speaker 3: felt like they let each other down. So I think
Speaker 3: I took that for granted and how much that it
Speaker 3: matters to that core group of guys, you know, like that,
Speaker 3: I'm not completely shocked, but I will say, starting off
Speaker 3: seven and two on the road, I remember coming home
Speaker 3: and kind of like, you know, your little guys like
Speaker 3: we're gonna be good this year, and I'm like and
Speaker 3: I'm like, so, I don't know, I'm buddy, we haven't
Speaker 3: played at home yet. But so it's hard to answer
Speaker 3: because I mean, I'm still in shock a little bit,
Speaker 3: but it's kind of cool though at the same time.
Speaker 2: Well, you have a superstar in Jose Ramirez who's been
Speaker 2: a great player, and this might be his I think
Speaker 2: it is his greatest season of a lot of great ones.
Speaker 2: What did you see from the pit on a nightly
Speaker 2: basis that says this guy is just above and beyond
Speaker 2: so many other players in baseball.
Speaker 4: It starts like three o'clock.
Speaker 3: Like I always tell kids or tell people, like you
Speaker 3: want to know who the great players are, they're usually
Speaker 3: whether it's basketball, I've covered covered NBA by baseball, Josh
Speaker 3: Naylor and Jose Ramirez and Himy are in the cages
Speaker 3: at two o'clock. You know this two o'clock, three o'clock
Speaker 3: for a seven o'clock game, And it's amazing watching that work.
Speaker 3: And in Saint Louis. Just like a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 3: after the Friday night game, I went to Jose before
Speaker 3: we did a postgame interview and I said, hey, man,
Speaker 3: I think this is.
Speaker 4: The best year you've ever had defensively. And he snapped
Speaker 4: at me and said, who told you that?
Speaker 3: In a way only Jose can and and I laughed,
Speaker 3: and I go, no, I watch and he goes, he
Speaker 3: goes this or twenty twenty two, he goes. But it
Speaker 3: mattered to me. I lost a little weight. I wanted
Speaker 3: to move better. He said, you watch the work hem
Speaker 3: he puts in. I think that motivated him. He doesn't
Speaker 3: want to let the other infielders down, as kind of
Speaker 3: what he told me. He doesn't want to be a
Speaker 3: step behind. So I can't even mention the numbers like offensively,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go off of the work that he does
Speaker 3: pregame the losing the weight. He wanted to steal bases.
Speaker 3: He didn't want anybody else to have more stolen bases
Speaker 3: than him on this team. And that's not a bad thing,
Speaker 3: you know, And I think he loves he loves hear
Speaker 3: In Kwan say. I watch everything that he does. He
Speaker 3: loves that Naylor. He's taken on the superstar status and
Speaker 3: the best way possible. So forget forty thirty nine thirty nine.
Speaker 3: To me, it's seeing him work and throw that ball
Speaker 3: across the diamond when he's going right towards me where
Speaker 3: that throws have been accurate all season long.
Speaker 2: Talking about Jose Ramirez, one of the best in the game.
Speaker 2: Andre not is joining us. You're four minutes in. You're
Speaker 2: usually on the other side of these podcasts. How are
Speaker 2: you doing all right? Over there?
Speaker 4: It is difficult? I'm where are you going with this?
Speaker 2: All right? We record this on Wednesday. We don't know
Speaker 2: the opponent yet, that's okay. We're talking about some other stuff,
Speaker 2: the teams trying to stay sharp. We were just outside.
Speaker 2: We had to do this inside because they've piped noise
Speaker 2: in to make it seem as realistic as possible. But
Speaker 2: what is your takeaway from the organized chaos that's going
Speaker 2: on out there where they're really getting some stuff done.
Speaker 3: I've been asked this question, obviously because it's the story
Speaker 3: of Cleveland, like, oh, you got too much time, and
Speaker 3: we've seen in the past it can't hurt you. I've
Speaker 3: never been concerned because of how these guys have worked
Speaker 3: all year long. And Rosie, I'm being dead serious. I've
Speaker 3: had I've told you, I've had multiple coaches from other
Speaker 3: teams go man, and I won't say teams, but one
Speaker 3: of them is in our division and not in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Well, you've narrowed it down considerably this year.
Speaker 4: I'm believing it at that.
Speaker 3: But they people are marveling at how they work. The
Speaker 3: infield practice, the outfield practice, the throws, catching stuff. So
Speaker 3: this week is almost for this crew. This is this
Speaker 3: is what they do best. And I think it's awesome
Speaker 3: what they're doing. And I think you have a young
Speaker 3: enough team that's so hungry and knock on wood, you
Speaker 3: haven't really had a lot of you know, to the
Speaker 3: guys out in the field, had a lot of injuries.
Speaker 3: I think this is the perfect team to go through
Speaker 3: this because they're willing to go out here three days,
Speaker 3: four days in a row and do this. The excitement
Speaker 3: is there now. Obviously at one oh seven, if you
Speaker 3: don't throw strikes early on doesn't matter what you've done
Speaker 3: all week. But I really do, and I'm I do
Speaker 3: think they're set up for it. And like yesterday, I'll
Speaker 3: be honest, I kind of wanted to see what were
Speaker 3: the Yankees doing? You know, what were the Phillies doing,
Speaker 3: What were the Dodgers doing? And I saw Mookie Bets
Speaker 3: on the Jimmy Kimmel Live, like, so I like what
Speaker 3: we're doing more than Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Speaker 2: I saw Yankees and they might have done some other stuff,
Speaker 2: but it seemed just like standard batting practice, whereas the
Speaker 2: Guardians have their hitters facing Logan Allen yesterday. I mean
Speaker 2: it's someone who's, you know, a major league pitcher who
Speaker 2: is here with the TRIPA A club. Quite a few
Speaker 2: of them are, and we'll see that again the rest
Speaker 2: of the week.
Speaker 3: I think it's great because, yeah, you want to win
Speaker 3: the World Series, that's what you're here for. But it's
Speaker 3: also as great in development, like you have a A
Speaker 3: and look for these this team to be successful year
Speaker 3: in year out. You got to cut the corners of
Speaker 3: some places, you got to do other little things. And
Speaker 3: the only reason I bring this up, I just read
Speaker 3: a great story on Gunnar Henderson and in twenty twenty
Speaker 3: during the pandemic, because this does remind you of the
Speaker 3: pandemic a little bit. The noise and you know it's baseball,
Speaker 3: but there's nobody in the stands. But Gunner Henderson really
Speaker 3: went from just drafted and not ready to play in
Speaker 3: the big leagues to he and Adley Rushman went to
Speaker 3: their their site and they got as many at bats
Speaker 3: as they could, and they both look at it as
Speaker 3: they made a lot of jumps. Because of that time
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty when no one was watching, I feel like, yes,
Speaker 3: it's great for the team today. Like you said, Logan
Speaker 3: Allen's one of the lead He was one of the
Speaker 3: leaders and wins for this team this year. If you
Speaker 3: look at it, I think it's great because they it's
Speaker 3: competitive still. It's still like there's nobody taking you know, stats,
Speaker 3: but you know the guys are And I think that's
Speaker 3: what this really is about. It's about competition. And like
Speaker 3: you said, you can hit off the cage all day long,
Speaker 3: but when you're up there and you're against a guy
Speaker 3: that you've watched pitch this year and you know he
Speaker 3: might throw me.
Speaker 4: A change up.
Speaker 3: That keeps the mind sharp for when you get into
Speaker 3: a game in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Again, we don't know the matchup, whether it's Houston or Detroit.
Speaker 2: Taking that out of the equation, I'm gonna say it
Speaker 2: comes down to how the Guardians play regardless. If they
Speaker 2: play their game, they should be just fine despite some
Speaker 2: real challenges, regardless of who it is. What do you
Speaker 2: see key for this team to do well that they've
Speaker 2: done all season that that will get them past this round.
Speaker 3: The easy way would say score four runs. I will
Speaker 3: say the hard way is win the first three innings
Speaker 3: because I feel like if you go through the lineup
Speaker 3: the first time pitching wise, and you don't give anything
Speaker 3: up and you can scratch a run or two off early,
Speaker 3: the pressure pressure goes over to the to the other
Speaker 3: dugout because they know and we all know from twenty
Speaker 3: sixteen on. And I'm not saying we're gonna Andrew Miller fall,
Speaker 3: but we might. If you're winning going in the fourth inning,
Speaker 3: especially at home, the other team's getting nervous. So I
Speaker 3: agree with you. You have to play your ball no matter
Speaker 3: who you're playing. And if they're leading after four innings
Speaker 3: or so, and you know that Canadian Kate Smith is
Speaker 3: getting up there and he's ready to go for an
Speaker 3: inning or two, and Classe may be available for two
Speaker 3: innings early on. I'm guessing it. No one has told
Speaker 3: me that. But suddenly, if you've got five innings and
Speaker 3: I'm telling you can get four from the guys that
Speaker 3: we know, I think that puts a.
Speaker 4: Lot of pressure on everybody in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 5: I really do.
Speaker 2: How are you doing with this week off?
Speaker 5: Ah?
Speaker 3: You know what I've been to soccer practice, softball games,
Speaker 3: baseball games.
Speaker 4: I need to get back to work.
Speaker 2: That is Andre, not who will be back to work
Speaker 2: with us, Tom and I on the radio broadcast and
Speaker 2: also doing some good stuff for five Sports as well. Andre,
Speaker 2: thanks a lot for come bye. Appreciate it.
Speaker 4: It's the best. I was nervous the whole time. If
Speaker 4: you got me through a Rosie.
Speaker 2: It's Guardians Weekly and we will have more after things
Speaker 2: don't go away, Folks.
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Speaker 1: Now the payoff pitch too hemans swung and ripter Right,
Speaker 1: there's a basin.
Speaker 2: Getting third coming for home promises.
Speaker 3: He will score in The Cardinals are headed to October.
Speaker 2: Humorros announced back with you. It's Guardians Weekly from Progressive
Speaker 2: Field in downtown Cleveland. I hope you can join us
Speaker 2: later on on this Saturday, Game one of the American
Speaker 2: League Division Series between the Guardians and the Tigers, with
Speaker 2: the warm up show starting at twelve thirty five, first
Speaker 2: pitch one oh eight and the Guardians they earned the
Speaker 2: buye with the second seat in the American League. American
Speaker 2: League Central Division champions and Chris Antonetti met with the
Speaker 2: media earlier this week and he was asked about what
Speaker 2: his expectations were back at the start of this season.
Speaker 7: I think we go into every year trying to be
Speaker 7: the best team we can be. And I think the
Speaker 7: mindset that we try to have is show up every
Speaker 7: day working to prepare for the game and try to
Speaker 7: get better. And if every individual in the environment shows
Speaker 7: up with that mindset and tries to do that, you know,
Speaker 7: you look up at the end of the year and
Speaker 7: see how many wins you have. And I think that's
Speaker 7: been a defining attribute for this team from day one,
Speaker 7: is that's how this group showed up in spring training,
Speaker 7: and our coach staff and voter did a great job
Speaker 7: of cultivating that mindset, and you know, they showed up
Speaker 7: a lot every day this year, and I think that.
Speaker 5: Put us in the position we'll see it.
Speaker 7: I think Stephen a lot of the attributes that we
Speaker 7: talked about of who he is as a person and
Speaker 7: as a leader, and this great foundation of knowledge and
Speaker 7: experiences that he had, but it always seeking to learn
Speaker 7: and grow and get better and tap into resources. And
Speaker 7: every day Steven attacks a job with what can I
Speaker 7: do today to help the organization and what can I
Speaker 7: learn today to be a better version of myself tomorrow.
Speaker 7: And I think that's not only a successful attribute for Steven,
Speaker 7: but some of our coaches and other leaders across the organization.
Speaker 1: Underrated.
Speaker 5: What is this that you got it that's.
Speaker 7: Such a in some way, Zach, It's a hard question
Speaker 7: to answer because I don't have I'm not sure I've
Speaker 7: got the great pulse of how national media might define
Speaker 7: him as, how they would rate him as underrated or
Speaker 7: so that's a hard thing for me to answer. But
Speaker 7: I think what I would say is some of the
Speaker 7: things that he does are difficult to fully appreciate because
Speaker 7: you can look up and look at the stat line
Speaker 7: and see what he brings, and that in and of
Speaker 7: itself is extraordinarily impressive. But those of us that are
Speaker 7: around him, you guys get great visibility to see how
Speaker 7: he approaches the game, the type of effort and energy
Speaker 7: he has from throughout every pitch of the entire season,
Speaker 7: the conversations he has in the dugout, the way he's
Speaker 7: helping his teammates get better, the leader he is in
Speaker 7: the clubhouse. Some of those things that are more difficult
Speaker 7: to observe, I think continue to help differentiate Jose and
Speaker 7: may understate the impact that he has on us as
Speaker 7: an organization and on our major league team.
Speaker 5: This is dur film It's pretty amazing too.
Speaker 1: All these games he plays.
Speaker 8: Yeah, does he play with a lot of bumps and
Speaker 8: bruises sometimes?
Speaker 4: Oh he is.
Speaker 7: Jose's extraordinarily tough. I mean, do you guys remember last
Speaker 7: year when he had probably should have had surgery on
Speaker 7: his hand and doctors are saying, you know you, most
Speaker 7: guys would have surgery, and Hosy said, no, I'm not
Speaker 7: only going to not have surgery, put me in the
Speaker 7: lineup tomorrow. That's just who Hosey is. He loves playing baseball.
Speaker 7: He loves everything about it. He wants to be out
Speaker 7: there every day. And he's really really tough and plays
Speaker 7: through a lout basis. He's got incredible instincts. I mean
Speaker 7: he has he picks up on things with pitchers, and
Speaker 7: he puts in a lot of work and he spends
Speaker 7: time with Sandy and JT to understand how he can
Speaker 7: position himself for success. But he's got great instincts on
Speaker 7: the basis, he's a really smart, fundamentally sound baseball player.
Speaker 7: Your concern level for the bullpen back in March, if
Speaker 7: there's a couple of you know, born pieces, if you
Speaker 7: were any offseason, if you ask me, the concern level
Speaker 7: about various aspects of the team, and in the bullpen
Speaker 7: in particular, I'll say I'm concerned. It's just really hard
Speaker 7: to predict, as we've seen firsthand. I think what we
Speaker 7: try to do organizationally is try to expand the number
Speaker 7: of options and alternatives we have, because we recognize putting
Speaker 7: together a good bullpen and a bullpen that performs at
Speaker 7: a high level often takes contribution from places maybe you
Speaker 7: weren't initially expecting. So the more options we can have,
Speaker 7: the better. And I think what we've seen is, you know,
Speaker 7: guys worked really hard and put themselves in a position
Speaker 7: to contribute when there were opportunities, and that's really all
Speaker 7: we can ask.
Speaker 5: Responded.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's hard when you you know, you lose
Speaker 7: a pitcher and teammate and leader like you know, Shane Bieber,
Speaker 7: because we not only would we not have him immediately
Speaker 7: around the team, you know, to contribute on the field,
Speaker 7: but we wouldn't have his presence on what is he
Speaker 7: continues to be a really young staff and young team,
Speaker 7: so we knew that other players would have to step
Speaker 7: up and fill that void. And it's taken It took
Speaker 7: us a while to get our footing on that over
Speaker 7: the course of the season, and uh, I think we
Speaker 7: have a better group of pitchers that are more prepared
Speaker 7: to succeed today than we did. You know when that
Speaker 7: initially happened back in April.
Speaker 5: How was it to get to buy the second seed.
Speaker 7: I think it's helpful. I mean, just the math of it, right,
Speaker 7: we don't there's no chance we could get eliminated in
Speaker 7: the in the wildcard round. So that's a good thing,
Speaker 7: and it gives us a chance to advance the division series.
Speaker 7: Let our guys come in rested and ready to go.
Speaker 7: And what we've tried to do is be really deliberate
Speaker 7: this week about the environments we're creating to keep our
Speaker 7: guys ready and ready to compete on Saturday.
Speaker 5: You know, about the time off, I would.
Speaker 7: Say it's a trade off. The benefit is you get
Speaker 7: time off. The downside is you're not in the major
Speaker 7: league environment, facing live major league pitching in the normal
Speaker 7: cadence that you would be during the season. But on balance,
Speaker 7: I think I'd still take the trade off, and I'd
Speaker 7: want to buy for the reasons that we've talked.
Speaker 2: About christ Eddie talking about those pros and cons of
Speaker 2: the five day layoff. Rob Sorfolio is the director of
Speaker 2: player Development, and when we come back, he will talk
Speaker 2: about some of the things that the Guardians are doing
Speaker 2: to augment what will be a twenty six man roster.
Speaker 2: That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Welcome
Speaker 2: back to Guardians Weekly. We're joined now by Rob Sorfolio,
Speaker 2: the director of player Development for the Guardians, and the
Speaker 2: season is complete for the Guardian's minor league affiliates. But Rob,
Speaker 2: I wanted to start with some very important baseball activity
Speaker 2: that we have seen this week at Progressive Field, with
Speaker 2: several players who are in the minor league system coming
Speaker 2: up to help with the simulated games, and I know
Speaker 2: for them it doesn't end when those games stop. Heading
Speaker 2: into the opener of the postseason for the Guardians on Saturday,
Speaker 2: explain what's going on for a dozen to fifteen players
Speaker 2: who you want to have on hand as a taxi
Speaker 2: squad of sorts, and where they're getting their work in
Speaker 2: and how much you're doing to keep them up to speed.
Speaker 8: Yeah, So it's you know, it's a unique time a
Speaker 8: year where triple A season is over, but you know,
Speaker 8: we have we have to have a group of players
Speaker 8: essentially that are an injury away or a move away
Speaker 8: between series, whatever it might be, to actually keep some
Speaker 8: guys hot and ready to potentially contribute to some playoff series.
Speaker 8: And so it's it's a little challenging to do when
Speaker 8: there's no more games to play. And you know, we
Speaker 8: took the Triple A season as far as we could
Speaker 8: by getting to the playoffs, which was phenomenal, and now
Speaker 8: we kind of have to facilitate our own spring training
Speaker 8: like environment to actually keep a handful of players ready
Speaker 8: to go just in case they're needed up at the
Speaker 8: up at the major league level. So, as you said,
Speaker 8: about ten to fifteen guys that currently are training with
Speaker 8: our group up at Progressive, and then as the postseason
Speaker 8: gets rolling and you know, the Tigers come in to
Speaker 8: start their training period, those guys will shift down to Akron.
Speaker 2: Can you rename Akrons Ballpark Ryan Merritt Field in honor
Speaker 2: of the great things that he did in a similar
Speaker 2: situation back in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 8: That's that a creative mind like yourself would have thought
Speaker 8: of that earlier than I did. But now that you
Speaker 8: say it, I wonder if we should change taxi squad
Speaker 8: or stay hot Camp to Ryan Merritt Camp.
Speaker 2: He certainly was a great example of the importance of
Speaker 2: what's going on. For sure, Hey, you wrap up these
Speaker 2: seasons and let's first talk about your one champion and
Speaker 2: others went to the postseason in terms of full season clubs,
Speaker 2: But Lake County wins a title and you were there
Speaker 2: explain for fans who maybe were not aware or did
Speaker 2: not have a chance to attend any games during the
Speaker 2: postseason what that meant to those kids and why you
Speaker 2: think that's so important for their development, even if it
Speaker 2: is more of a team thing as opposed to an
Speaker 2: individual thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I think that's the part you Neeller right there at
Speaker 8: the end, is playing winning baseball is more than just
Speaker 8: what did your individual stat line look at the end
Speaker 8: of the night. And we talk about that a lot,
Speaker 8: you know, I think some of our major leaguers that
Speaker 8: even made really cool comments about that during some of
Speaker 8: the Champagne celebrations in Progressive just how that's something that
Speaker 8: we value and talk about in the minor leagues and
Speaker 8: you can't just flip a switch to win in the
Speaker 8: big leagues. Need to learn what it means to be
Speaker 8: a winning player and be there for the performance and
Speaker 8: success of the team beyond just your own individual performance.
Speaker 8: And that's why I think those opportunities and you know
Speaker 8: why it was so exciting to have, you know, nearly
Speaker 8: every one of our affiliate teams have a chance to
Speaker 8: play meaningful baseball down the stretch. Just those development opportunities
Speaker 8: and even hearing from our players about that, it's some
Speaker 8: of you know, we had a lot of our prospects
Speaker 8: up here in Cleveland at the end of the year
Speaker 8: to talk about their season and review and exit tickets
Speaker 8: and those types of things, so they know exactly what
Speaker 8: to target going in the offseason. And we heard those things.
Speaker 5: You know, our.
Speaker 8: Players articulate just how valuable those experiences are, and I
Speaker 8: think it just kind of helps create a winning culture,
Speaker 8: a team first culture, and that's what we kind of
Speaker 8: want to be about, so that by the time these
Speaker 8: guys get to the big leagues, they know what to expect.
Speaker 8: They've had some real experiences playing together with a little
Speaker 8: bit of added pressure. And then you know, obviously our
Speaker 8: staff at a tremendous job navigating all of those and
Speaker 8: for the Lake County guys to actually win the whole
Speaker 8: thing in the Midwest League was really something special to watch.
Speaker 8: We had a bunch of our acron players in house
Speaker 8: in between their own playoff games, rooting for the guys
Speaker 8: that were all out on the field at the end
Speaker 8: of the game.
Speaker 5: With so many of those guys that had moved up and.
Speaker 8: Contributed to early seasons success in Lake County was really.
Speaker 2: Special, awesome stuff. The pictures were tremendous just to seeing
Speaker 2: the joy and the celebration.
Speaker 5: And I'm glad I didn't make any of them. So yes,
Speaker 5: that's what made them so good.
Speaker 2: There was some shenanigans for sure, in a very good way.
Speaker 2: So we talked about team things, but you had several
Speaker 2: of the players in the minor league system who garnered
Speaker 2: postseason awards, most Valuable player awards for their leagues. And
Speaker 2: let's start first at the Triple A level. The Triple
Speaker 2: A MVP Jonathan Rodriguez, So we saw a little bit
Speaker 2: up here, and his stat line across the board just
Speaker 2: tremendous at the Triple A level. What did you see
Speaker 2: from him in terms of growth that may allow him
Speaker 2: to stick the next time he has a chance at
Speaker 2: the major league level.
Speaker 8: Yeah, well, I mean I think j Rodd's skill set
Speaker 8: just to be able to impact the game and on
Speaker 8: the offensive side has just gotten better year over year,
Speaker 8: and I think all the way back to you know,
Speaker 8: this is a really young kid drafted out of Puerto Rico,
Speaker 8: and just how he's grown offensively and hitting the ball
Speaker 8: more productive angles and really tapping into the you know,
Speaker 8: outlier exit velocities that he's always had has been really
Speaker 8: fun to watch him be a part of over the
Speaker 8: last five, six, seven years, so that that's been just
Speaker 8: a fun storyline in of itself. And then continue to
Speaker 8: try and push him to just be a complete player
Speaker 8: on defense, on the base running side, and you know,
Speaker 8: those are the things that Voter and alb and Tito
Speaker 8: before really care about because they help our major league
Speaker 8: team win, especially this time of year. And so, you know,
Speaker 8: just his continued interest and taking the right steps in
Speaker 8: that direction.
Speaker 5: We've got work to do, but was fun.
Speaker 8: To see j Rod really just take more investment and
Speaker 8: care into those areas and I hope that that sets
Speaker 8: him up for continued growth moving forward, and because he
Speaker 8: obviously can do some things on the offensive side that
Speaker 8: can really help the team out.
Speaker 2: In the Midwest League, Cooper Ingle most valuable Player and
Speaker 2: he plays a premium position. What did you see with
Speaker 2: some of the challenges that his position can present.
Speaker 8: Well that, plus you know, he's a first year, first
Speaker 8: year player. He was a twenty twenty three draft and
Speaker 8: just really impressive for the season that Coop put together.
Speaker 8: And a lot of that offensively, you know, speaks for
Speaker 8: itself with what he did before moving up to Akron,
Speaker 8: and I think just the credit to him on the
Speaker 8: defensive side of learning what it means to be a
Speaker 8: high quality professional catcher and the amount of time investment
Speaker 8: and working with and learning your pitchers and the pitching
Speaker 8: coach and what are those pitchers'.
Speaker 5: Strengths and what are they working on that night.
Speaker 8: There's so many layers to that that we really pushed
Speaker 8: him to invest into. And I think, you know, those
Speaker 8: are maybe some of the things beyond the stat line
Speaker 8: that are really exciting about Coop's year and I hope
Speaker 8: that you know, similar to Jarard, we can continue to.
Speaker 5: Build on those things. Moving to the twenty.
Speaker 2: Five and Jason Curio a most valuable player in the
Speaker 2: Carolina League and we talked about him a bunch, but yeah,
Speaker 2: from start to finish as a young player, that's a
Speaker 2: challenge at that level, and was that the biggest thing
Speaker 2: you were looking for to see how he handled the
Speaker 2: length of the schedule.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, that was a huge part of it.
Speaker 8: You know, we challenged him with some things in terms
Speaker 8: of just becoming a better athlete, like his baseball skill
Speaker 8: is you know, speaks for itself, and how can we
Speaker 8: continue to push him to be a great athletes so
Speaker 8: that you can play center field for hopefully a.
Speaker 5: Long major league career.
Speaker 8: And you know, it's unfortunate with the way that the
Speaker 8: wrist injury happened. We were actually you know, getting ready
Speaker 8: to move him up to Lake County literally that day
Speaker 8: to be a part of that team down the stretch.
Speaker 8: And you know, ultimately just having a chance to sit
Speaker 8: with him at the end of the year, he knows
Speaker 8: some of those things, and you know, we were able
Speaker 8: to calibrate on the many things that went really well
Speaker 8: for him this year and also set our sights on
Speaker 8: things that we can continue to challenge each other with
Speaker 8: as he faces better and.
Speaker 5: Better competition in the years to come.
Speaker 8: So, you know, just another young, talented player that put
Speaker 8: up a really exciting year and it'd be great to
Speaker 8: have him healthy and ready to go for spring training
Speaker 8: twenty twenty five, and.
Speaker 2: A couple of guys who received postseason recognition, not necessarily
Speaker 2: MVPs of their league, but really moved. Let's start on
Speaker 2: the mound the Tugboat Matt Wilkinson recognized for his season
Speaker 2: and Robi. I know it's sometimes hard to predict the
Speaker 2: future for these guys as they move along, But what
Speaker 2: are you seeing in him that says maybe, just maybe
Speaker 2: he can continue to progress toward the major leagues?
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, I think the pitchability and the competitive
Speaker 8: nature of Tug, and you know, his fastball has some
Speaker 8: really unique elements to the angles and the movements, and
Speaker 8: you know, I think there's again we're we're always talking
Speaker 8: about how do we reinforce our strengths and what are
Speaker 8: the areas that we need to.
Speaker 5: Continue to get better at.
Speaker 8: And I think we just have an exciting opportunity ahead
Speaker 8: of us in the off season for Tug, both on
Speaker 8: some of the just how do we round out and
Speaker 8: deepen his arsenal and then continuing to try and move
Speaker 8: the needle on the velocity front will be really fun
Speaker 8: tasks ahead of us. And you know, just talking with
Speaker 8: him at the end of the year and how excited
Speaker 8: he is, and we're all on the same page with
Speaker 8: what are the things we want to pour investment into,
Speaker 8: And I think if we can do that, there's some
Speaker 8: really exciting upside for how he can build on this
Speaker 8: really impressive twenty twenty four moving into the future.
Speaker 2: And the other young player that a lot of people
Speaker 2: were very high on, those who went and saw some
Speaker 2: of those games at Lake County. I know Travis Bizano
Speaker 2: was there and so many others who contributed, but everyone
Speaker 2: came back and said, hey, you got to see this
Speaker 2: on Hell he now kid, and what really elevated his
Speaker 2: game this year to put him on the map.
Speaker 8: Yeah, well, you know, this is a really talented, a
Speaker 8: really talented twenty year old.
Speaker 5: First off, I think the things that separate.
Speaker 8: Separate his season relative to his season last year is like,
Speaker 8: this is a kid that has really matured and taken
Speaker 8: some incredible steps and just how he goes about his
Speaker 8: work and challenging himself to get better both on offense
Speaker 8: and defense. And again, he's twenty years old.
Speaker 5: We're an a ball. We've got a lot of things.
Speaker 8: We got to continue to support him and all of
Speaker 8: our players with. But what an impressive season. He put together,
Speaker 8: and really he deserves a ton of credit for that,
Speaker 8: and so does our staff, from everyone from our mental
Speaker 8: performance group to our staff in Lynchburg where he started
Speaker 8: the year, to the group in Lake County of just
Speaker 8: how they supported him along along those things that we
Speaker 8: challenged and challenged him with at the end of last year.
Speaker 5: And and he just did a phenomenal job.
Speaker 8: And another guy that just talent wise has some really
Speaker 8: exciting upside. But I think the thing that stands out
Speaker 8: to me as the type of teammate he has become
Speaker 8: and the type.
Speaker 5: Of worker that he has become.
Speaker 8: And you know, I think he has a real chance
Speaker 8: to continue to grow as a result of those things
Speaker 8: and help elevate the people around him. So exciting young
Speaker 8: player that, Yeah, I hope we're having more and more
Speaker 8: of these conversations and accolades come in his way over
Speaker 8: the next couple of years, because I think that's well
Speaker 8: within his reach.
Speaker 2: Rob sorfolio joining us. He's the director of player development
Speaker 2: for the Guardians and Rob one final topic. The seasons
Speaker 2: are done for the affiliates and you will have some
Speaker 2: players in action in the Arizona Fall League, which is
Speaker 2: always a top level league to continue their development and
Speaker 2: just to highlight a couple, Chase the Lotter will be
Speaker 2: there repeating from a year ago, what are you trying
Speaker 2: to get to with him and where does he stand
Speaker 2: in terms of his health.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think the big emphasis there right is a
Speaker 8: guy that we've talked about a couple times throughout the
Speaker 8: year that just missed the opportunity for our bats, and
Speaker 8: you know, the AFL is a really great opportunity for
Speaker 8: guys that did miss time to make up for that
Speaker 8: time against quality competition, and that's really what it's about
Speaker 8: here for Chase. You know, we spent a lot of
Speaker 8: time talking with him on what he wanted to do
Speaker 8: in the offseason to just solidify his health and prepare
Speaker 8: his body for next year. Big part of that was
Speaker 8: the opportunity for more at bats and we're excited about
Speaker 8: that and he'll also be training with us in Arizona
Speaker 8: to hopefully set him up for success in twenty five
Speaker 8: because you know, he's a triple A player that's not
Speaker 8: far away from knocking on the door. So really it's
Speaker 8: just the opportunity to get more at bats and be
Speaker 8: able to work with him at our facility in between
Speaker 8: those out a a.
Speaker 2: Z and I know pitching's kind of tricky in the
Speaker 2: off season because of innings and things like that. But
Speaker 2: you're sending Dylan DeLucia there, Yes, explain what what you're
Speaker 2: looking for from him and how he's put himself in
Speaker 2: a good spot.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, really similar line of thinking there. You know,
Speaker 8: Dylan was a high performing guy that came out of
Speaker 8: college and you know he TJ right when we got him,
Speaker 8: essentially and missed time the last year and a half.
Speaker 8: So an opportunity to extend his season more so than
Speaker 8: anything else, and he deserves that that chance, given how
Speaker 8: well he pitched in Lynchburg and Lake County. I'm coming
Speaker 8: back off off TJ. So similar to Chase, chance to
Speaker 8: extend his year. A guy that we think can go
Speaker 8: out there and compete against that quality of competition and
Speaker 8: should be fun as a result.
Speaker 2: Rob. Always great to have you on. I know it's
Speaker 2: a busy time right now, trying to figure out alternate
Speaker 2: sites and things like that, having everybody prepared for what's
Speaker 2: to come, hopefully a long month of baseball for the
Speaker 2: Guardians of a lot of games, And thanks so much
Speaker 2: for everything over the course of the season, and we'll
Speaker 2: catch up with you in the offseason as time allows.
Speaker 8: I appreciate you having me on these are always really
Speaker 8: fun to do, and looking forward to hopefully a long
Speaker 8: run of baseball here ahead of us over the next
Speaker 8: month and chatting with you at some point in the
Speaker 8: off season and next year.
Speaker 2: That is Rob Sarfolio, the Guardian's director of player Development.
Speaker 2: Stay tuned more to come after.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhause back with you
Speaker 2: from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, where the Guardians take
Speaker 2: on the Tigers on Saturday afternoon. Game one of the
Speaker 2: American League Division Series. A one toh eight first pitch
Speaker 2: Game two, after a rare op day on Sunday, will
Speaker 2: take place Monday late afternoon with a four to eight
Speaker 2: start here at Progressive Field. Andy Alomar Junior, the Guardian's
Speaker 2: first base coach, is someone who knows postseasons in Cleveland
Speaker 2: as well as anyone, being part of many as a
Speaker 2: player for the then Cleveland Indians back in the nineties
Speaker 2: and since he has returned as a part of that
Speaker 2: coaching staff, he has been again part of a renaissance,
Speaker 2: as this team more often than not is in the postseason,
Speaker 2: first under Terry Francona's coaching staff and managerial Wizardry and
Speaker 2: now Stephen Vote, who took over in the offseason. He's
Speaker 2: brought in some of his own coaches, but Sandy has
Speaker 2: been a holdover, and he talked about what has led
Speaker 2: the staff to jail so quickly, as well as the
Speaker 2: players to be successful from day one of this season's
Speaker 2: loan season.
Speaker 9: Loan season and efficiency. You know, for so many years
Speaker 9: this organization have at least competed and made a lot
Speaker 9: of postseason and I'm kind of honored to be a
Speaker 9: part of it because I once I left Cleveland, I
Speaker 9: never saw the postseason again. That was close to get
Speaker 9: in the postseason one time with the Dodgers, and I
Speaker 9: got traded in the deadline back to Chicago White s uts.
Speaker 9: But yeah, he's an honor to have an opportunity to
Speaker 9: be in postseason.
Speaker 2: Before you got here, And obviously postseasons were different, but
Speaker 2: they had not been the postseason play since the nineteen
Speaker 2: forty eight World Series. Take us back to that first
Speaker 2: time that this team made it in this era, what
Speaker 2: that was like and how special that was not only
Speaker 2: for the team but for the fans too.
Speaker 9: Yeah, when we got traded here by Erga, myself and
Speaker 9: Chris James, we didn't know much about the organization and
Speaker 9: we heard they were rebuilding and we were the beginning,
Speaker 9: you know, pieces to rebuild a team. Then I saw
Speaker 9: they made significant trades. The fact that from nineteen ninety
Speaker 9: we were in the World Series five years later, that
Speaker 9: was to show you how much what a remarkable job
Speaker 9: Joon Hard and Daniel Dow and Peter the people that
Speaker 9: were here organizing, and then from there on he became
Speaker 9: a dynasty and the players, you know, believe they can
Speaker 9: win they got the right talent, young talent, mix it
Speaker 9: up with a couple of veteran players and shows how
Speaker 9: to close you know, how to close that gap. But
Speaker 9: they it was awesome. And then coming back here the
Speaker 9: same thing when thru Francona grebed the team, he became
Speaker 9: the same culture of developing the dynasty. They can you know,
Speaker 9: be competitive for many years to.
Speaker 2: Call him great perspectives as always, Sandy, thanks for coming by.
Speaker 2: Thank you always great to visit with Sandy Alomar Junior
Speaker 2: and get his perspective on so many things when it
Speaker 2: comes to historical perspectives on the Cleveland Baseball franchise. That's
Speaker 2: going to do it for our show this week. Thanks
Speaker 2: so much for tuning in. Enjoy the postseason. Hopefully we
Speaker 2: are talking to you next week from downtown Cleveland. With
Speaker 2: the postseason still alive for the Guardians as the American
Speaker 2: League Division Series gets underway later today against the Detroit Tigers.
Speaker 2: I want to thank Brian Matse for all of his
Speaker 2: help onto today's broadcast putting together the show as always
Speaker 2: until next week. This is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that
Speaker 2: you've been listening to Guardians weekly on the Cleveland Clinic.
Speaker 2: Guardians Radio Network
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