Speaker 1: Now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: Well on the last home standino Ebol had to be
Speaker 2: at his son, Brady's graduation and that meant a dream
Speaker 2: coming true for a lifelong Dodger fan growing up in
Speaker 2: the San Fernando Valley and a guy that earned that
Speaker 2: opportunity coming up coaching through the Dodgers minor league organization
Speaker 2: since twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3: He also has a.
Speaker 4: Strong connection to one of the all time great Dodgers
Speaker 4: and certainly a big part of Dave Roberts' staff in
Speaker 4: the video room and also working with Mookie Bets and
Speaker 4: the infielders, and that is the one and only Pedro
Speaker 4: montero akapd Thanks a.
Speaker 3: Lot for the time. Hey, thanks for having me, Dave.
Speaker 3: I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Have your feet hit the ground since the other night
Speaker 1: coaching first base?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say so.
Speaker 5: It definitely, you know, dream come true like you said earlier,
Speaker 5: and yeah, I'm back to after the as soon as
Speaker 5: the game was over, I went right back to what
Speaker 5: I had to do after the game.
Speaker 1: What was it like for you to be out there?
Speaker 1: How did you slow the game down? Considering that was
Speaker 1: a goal of yours.
Speaker 5: You know, I think just my experience and you know,
Speaker 5: having been coaching, you know, all these years, and where
Speaker 5: I started with the Regismith Baseball Academy at the time
Speaker 5: was Reddy Smith Baseball Centers, and I think my experiences,
Speaker 5: you know, coaching at the lower levels all the way
Speaker 5: through the minor leagues and then coaching winterball and Puerto Rico,
Speaker 5: I think helped me. And you know, my preparation and
Speaker 5: stuff that I still do to this day, even in
Speaker 5: the video room and the things that I help on
Speaker 5: that and you know, just kind of prepared me and
Speaker 5: helped me when I got out there.
Speaker 3: I was really comfortable being out there.
Speaker 1: Hey, John Wood and all as used to say, failing
Speaker 1: to prepare is preparing to fail.
Speaker 3: That's correct.
Speaker 5: And you know it's something that I've been doing, you know,
Speaker 5: my entire life. And then when I came to the
Speaker 5: Dodgers in the minor.
Speaker 3: League is the same thing.
Speaker 5: And then you know, being on the major league staff
Speaker 5: helping out with you know, multiple parts of the game,
Speaker 5: and you know, I just continue to lock it in
Speaker 5: and I have a lot of time.
Speaker 3: To be able to lock it in the video room.
Speaker 1: PDA Montero is our guest. He's one of the Dodgers'
Speaker 1: key coaches. He got to coach first base the other night,
Speaker 1: filling in for Dino Ebel. You mentioned Reggie Smith. He
Speaker 1: obviously has meant a lot to so many that he
Speaker 1: has touched. How much does Reggie Smith mean to you?
Speaker 5: I mean, Reggie's a big part of my life, you know,
Speaker 5: I I tell this to a lot of people, like
Speaker 5: Reggie's like my second father. And you know, he brought
Speaker 5: me up in this game and prepared me to be
Speaker 5: a coach when I didn't know I was gonna do that,
Speaker 5: and you know, spend a lot of time with him
Speaker 5: as a you know, younger athlete high school and uh,
Speaker 5: you know, going through camp and taking lessons and learning
Speaker 5: the game, and then him asking me to come and
Speaker 5: coach after I graduated college in two thousand and seven.
Speaker 3: You know, he told me, you know, I really want
Speaker 3: you to come help.
Speaker 5: And I was by aside for two years learning and
Speaker 5: understanding every part of the game. And you know, I
Speaker 5: think to this day that tension of detail because of
Speaker 5: the things that he asked me to do, and how
Speaker 5: you know, you got to be a well rounded coach
Speaker 5: and I just you know, focus on one thing, but
Speaker 5: know a little bit about everything has kind of helped
Speaker 5: shape me to where I'm at today.
Speaker 3: And you know, I owe him a lot.
Speaker 5: And obviously I've had a lot of other coaches in
Speaker 5: my life. You know, my dad helped me, you know,
Speaker 5: introduce me to this game, and you know a lot
Speaker 5: of other coaches that have impacted me, but he's the
Speaker 5: one that, you know, it taught me the details and
Speaker 5: all the ins and outs of the game and sharing,
Speaker 5: you know, the Dodger Way, and you know, being here
Speaker 5: with the Dodgers now my ninth season, it's dream come true.
Speaker 5: And you know I learned the Dodger right when I
Speaker 5: was a young kid, and you know, to be able
Speaker 5: to show that now, it's it's cool. I was talking
Speaker 5: to Reggie about it the other day, and you know,
Speaker 5: being able to see photos of him when he used
Speaker 5: to coach first base and I got a chance to
Speaker 5: be out there was pretty special for the both of us.
Speaker 1: When you got that phone call from Reggie Smith, how
Speaker 1: proud was he and what did he tell you after?
Speaker 5: I mean, for most people that know Reggie, Reggie is
Speaker 5: a real tough guy, and uh, when he said he
Speaker 5: had tears in his eye. Is uh, you know, it
Speaker 5: was pretty special moment for the both of us, and
Speaker 5: he said he was proud of me, and he said,
Speaker 5: you got plenty of work to do and just continue
Speaker 5: to work on your process and continue to grow and
Speaker 5: learn every single day, which is something that I strive
Speaker 5: for every single day when I'm at the ballpark. Pete
Speaker 5: Montero is our guest, and his work did not just
Speaker 5: start when the season started or when spring training started.
Speaker 5: You were a key help to Mookie Bets this offseason.
Speaker 5: Tell us about the connection you made with Mookie Bets
Speaker 5: to help him prepare for shortstop this season. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: obviously being a kid from the valley and Mookie and
Speaker 5: I had talked last season, and you know, he said
Speaker 5: he was living in LA and you know, we all,
Speaker 5: you know, talk and I said, hey, you know, if
Speaker 5: you ever need help, let me know. I'm not too
Speaker 5: far from you, about ten minutes from you in Burbank.
Speaker 5: And so it just happened. I saw a picture of
Speaker 5: a kid that I coach and I know his dad,
Speaker 5: that at Crespy and he was at the field and
Speaker 5: Moogie and.
Speaker 3: I started talking. He was, Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?
Speaker 5: And I was like nothing, he goes you want to
Speaker 5: come out? So it's kind of how it started again.
Speaker 5: And then you know we went from three days to
Speaker 5: five days to six days a week, and uh, you
Speaker 5: know that was kind of how it all came came together.
Speaker 5: And you know, one thing that I've always learned from
Speaker 5: Reggie and you know even some other people in this
Speaker 5: game is, uh, you know, you always make yourself available
Speaker 5: for players.
Speaker 3: And and be ready whenever they need help.
Speaker 5: So that's you know, trying to do whatever I can
Speaker 5: to help this DODG your organization, you know, in any.
Speaker 3: Way that I can.
Speaker 1: So you're telling me during the off season, if we
Speaker 1: showed up at Crespy, we not only would see Derek Fishsher.
Speaker 3: But we would see Mookie Beds and p D. Montero
Speaker 3: working out.
Speaker 5: I mean yeah, I mean we were over at Mid
Speaker 5: Valley and uh, it's kind of cool just even that.
Speaker 5: I mean, I remember playing All Stars at Mid Valley,
Speaker 5: so it was I knew exactly where it was when
Speaker 5: he's like, hey, we're going here, like I know where
Speaker 5: that's at. And yeah, it was a really good uh
Speaker 5: work that that he was able to put in and
Speaker 5: focus on and you know I had mentioned before, you know,
Speaker 5: he didn't have to worry about playing at night. It
Speaker 5: was just breaking stuff down and you know that taking
Speaker 5: it one step out of time and moving on as
Speaker 5: the weeks went on.
Speaker 1: Dodger coach P. D. Montero is our guest. All right,
Speaker 1: tell us something about yourself. You grew up in the
Speaker 1: San Fernando Valley, you grew up a Dodger fan. Who
Speaker 1: were your group of players growing up? And where did
Speaker 1: you go to high school?
Speaker 5: Uh So, one of my favorite Dodgers growing up was
Speaker 5: Josevis Guy.
Speaker 3: You know that's a lie. I know, I'm serious.
Speaker 5: I remember, you know, and you know there was a
Speaker 5: couple other guys roll honesty, but I remember, even as
Speaker 5: a kid, I to this day, obviously I still wear Oakley's,
Speaker 5: but Josevis Guy, you know, was one of the first
Speaker 5: guys I saw wearing Oakley's and shin guard and you know,
Speaker 5: switch hitters short stop. So it was kind of kind
Speaker 5: of something that I came across. And you know, there
Speaker 5: was other guys out there with the daughters.
Speaker 3: I mean, we talk about you know, Mike Piazza and
Speaker 3: e K. Shout out to E k you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: it was, it was great. I think.
Speaker 5: You know, as a kid, one of my special moments
Speaker 5: with my dad is going to opening Day.
Speaker 3: I went to sixteenth straight up many days as a kid.
Speaker 5: And something to this day that I remember, and you
Speaker 5: know now being on the field during Opening Day has
Speaker 5: been awesome experience only for myself, but for my family.
Speaker 5: You know, growing up as a kid, we played so
Speaker 5: many sports. Played at Civil played basketball with the Calves,
Speaker 5: played at Silmar Park for basketball, played for the San
Speaker 5: Fernando Brace for football, and you know there's something that
Speaker 5: you know, sports taught me a lot about discipline but
Speaker 5: also kept me out of trouble. And you know, growing
Speaker 5: up in San Fernando, you know, you just got to
Speaker 5: find a way to make something to yourself. And you know,
Speaker 5: representing my city and my community is really important to me.
Speaker 3: Baseball is discipline.
Speaker 1: You also have a fire fighting background as.
Speaker 3: Well, Yeah, I do.
Speaker 5: After I graduated college, I went to EMT School and
Speaker 5: started to interview process, went to the fire Academy, went
Speaker 5: on a lot of firefighter interviews and you know, until
Speaker 5: I got hired. And again, I think being a firefighter
Speaker 5: has helped me even more to understand indians and outs,
Speaker 5: and pay attention to more detail at work, but also
Speaker 5: now here on the baseball field.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: P D.
Speaker 1: Montero, congratulations on living out a dream, not only coaching
Speaker 1: first base the other night, but being part of Dave
Speaker 1: Robert's staff and being such a big part of it.
Speaker 3: And certainly the future is bright. You're not stopping now. Thanks,
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. And yeah, the work's never done.
Speaker 5: And like Reggie always says, when you think you have
Speaker 5: it made and you know it, it's probably time to
Speaker 5: go home.
Speaker 1: And that's a pretty good teacher. Reggie Smith, thanks a
Speaker 1: lot for the time.
Speaker 3: Thanks Dee, appreciate it.