Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers are closing out this series in San Diego,
Speaker 1: and we're joined right now by Dodger catcher Dalton Rushing. Rushing.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, it's good to be here, David.
Speaker 1: Surprisingly, you're more awake than most of your teammates this
Speaker 1: early in the day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, gotta wake up. It's a day game. Gotta be ready.
Speaker 1: Hey, what's the experience been like for you so far?
Speaker 1: You've gotten your feet wet. Have you found a routine
Speaker 1: in this new role of not playing every day?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's coming along. It's starting to figure some things
Speaker 3: out and understand what I have to do to stay ready.
Speaker 3: Haven't obviously perfected it to this point and haven't done
Speaker 3: exactly what I would like to do or what I
Speaker 3: think I could do to help the team. But yeah,
Speaker 3: that's part of it. It's part of this journey. It's
Speaker 3: part of getting your feet wet, like you said, and
Speaker 3: being able to understand your role.
Speaker 2: It's not easy playing just a week.
Speaker 1: Everybody thinks you just show up and you're fresh and
Speaker 1: ready to go, but it's a bigger challenge than what
Speaker 1: some would expect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 3: It's tough to catch a groove, but uh, like I said,
Speaker 3: that's it's my role and it's something that I personally
Speaker 3: have to figure out to uh whatever I have to
Speaker 3: do to help the team. And that's something that we're
Speaker 3: kind of getting on right now.
Speaker 1: To make it to the major leagues, you obviously had
Speaker 1: to do something right and the Dodgers valued it. Is
Speaker 1: there any point in time in your baseball life where
Speaker 1: you were a backup and not playing every day and
Speaker 1: being the guy?
Speaker 3: No, not to this point obviously until now. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's that's kind of the adjustment that we're we're trying
Speaker 3: to make and yeah, moving forward, whatever, like I said,
Speaker 3: whatever I have to do to stay ready, to be
Speaker 3: ready to help the team, just do my part.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be willing to do it.
Speaker 1: Dalton Rushing is our guest in front of first pitch
Speaker 1: between the Dodgers and Padres. This is your first taste
Speaker 1: of being part of the team in this type of atmosphere.
Speaker 1: What's it been like for the first two games, even
Speaker 1: the night that you were not starting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 3: It's something that you obviously dream about when you put
Speaker 3: your head down on the pillow at night. You you
Speaker 3: want to play in these atmospheres. You want the fans
Speaker 3: to be this act of every single game. It's a
Speaker 3: blessing playing in LA because you get this atmosphere most
Speaker 3: of the time. So you kind of you become accustomed
Speaker 3: to the crowd. You become accustomed to the way that
Speaker 3: they act, the way that they show emotion to the
Speaker 3: players on off the field. And Yeah, like I said,
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty special getting to see it in
Speaker 3: San Diego, a division rival right now, a team that
Speaker 3: we're going to see down the stretch, we're going to
Speaker 3: see throughout the year, And yeah, I think it's really
Speaker 3: good for me to be able to see it early
Speaker 3: on in my career.
Speaker 1: All right, take us behind the plate. Being a rookie,
Speaker 1: being new to the league. What's it been like developing
Speaker 1: the relationships with the umpires, maybe talking to them as
Speaker 1: the game is going on. Do you have any conversation
Speaker 1: with the umpires as far as trying to keep each
Speaker 1: other in the game together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh.
Speaker 3: You you meet a lot of these guys for the
Speaker 3: first time. You kind of have to understand the way
Speaker 3: that they operate. Each umpire is different, just like a player.
Speaker 3: Each player is different, they all click differently, they all
Speaker 3: respond to things differently. So being able to, like I said,
Speaker 3: understand them, understand their style of calling a game, the
Speaker 3: relationships that they want to build with the catcher, that's
Speaker 3: I think that's the most important part. And obviously the
Speaker 3: more that more time you get to spend with them
Speaker 3: back there, the more comfortable you're going to be. And
Speaker 3: like I said, once again, you're going to be able
Speaker 3: to understand them as an umpire a little better.
Speaker 1: Are you a talker behind the plate?
Speaker 3: I usually have quite a few conversations in between, not
Speaker 3: as much as far as like mid pitch, mid at bat,
Speaker 3: anything like that.
Speaker 2: It's usually like posty be in between ennings.
Speaker 3: Like I said, just ask him on some pitches that
Speaker 3: you have questions about. Understand that they are going to
Speaker 3: They're gonna make mistakes, just like you are. And as
Speaker 3: long as you can be right there beside them through
Speaker 3: their mistakes and whether you're helping them on something you
Speaker 3: think or call you think you should have got, or
Speaker 3: a call you think they missed, whatever it is, the
Speaker 3: better feedback you give them in a positive manner is
Speaker 3: only going to help you as a.
Speaker 2: Catcher, all right.
Speaker 1: Dalton Rushing is our guest. He's in the show with
Speaker 1: the Dodgers in LA, but before he got here, he
Speaker 1: was in Oklahoma City. The Thunder are in the NBA finals. Rushing,
Speaker 1: how many Thunder games in the minor leagues did you
Speaker 1: have a chance to go see?
Speaker 2: Never got to see one.
Speaker 3: Actually we were always out of town for the playoff games,
Speaker 3: so yeah, I never really got to go to a game.
Speaker 3: I watched plenty, but didn't get to go to one.
Speaker 3: It's a pretty good team though. I think they have
Speaker 3: a really good chance of winning title, so that'd be
Speaker 3: pretty cool to see.
Speaker 1: Did Sga ever show up at Comets games?
Speaker 2: He did? He did not. As much as a lot
Speaker 2: of us would have liked him too, he did not.
Speaker 1: What's it like being in a triple A city like that?
Speaker 1: But it's a big city and you got an NBA
Speaker 1: team right next door.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, it's good.
Speaker 3: It's a lot to do, keeps you busy on off days,
Speaker 3: keeps you busy on day games, and you get a
Speaker 3: little afternoon to go do something for the city a
Speaker 3: little bit. Uh, Like I said, I haven't got to
Speaker 3: see any Thunder games, but them being as good as
Speaker 3: they are, it would obviously be really good time to
Speaker 3: go watch them.
Speaker 1: Well, that's in the past, la is in your future.
Speaker 1: We'll go to a Laker game together.
Speaker 2: I would I would love to do that. Let's go
Speaker 2: do that.