Speaker 1: To see you. Man, how you doing great?
Speaker 2: Opening day?
Speaker 1: Huh, yes, sir, that's the goal.
Speaker 2: So they did what did they tell you?
Speaker 1: So? I flew in on I think it was Monday.
You thought you were in trouble, right, Yeah, that was
a joke that I guess.
Speaker 3: Uh, I don't know, terrible a little better DFA, gotta.
Speaker 2: Work on your stand up?
Speaker 1: No you yeah, I know, right, and just you know,
usually when you're in the building for it was I
think about thirty seconds and then uh, Joe's like, yeah,
come see me. I was just like, oh man, you know,
it's like it's like when you're in school. What did
I do already? Kind of I'm kidding.
Speaker 3: So okay, let's be brutally honest. You knew what the
conversation was about, right, come on, don't lie.
Speaker 1: No, I actually I didn't expect that. Oh it's like
camp had started. I didn't really know. It could have
been anything, you know, Joe could have just been like, hey, what's.
Speaker 2: Up, Yeah for something like that, who knows.
Speaker 1: You know. So, but now then he broke the news,
I was obviously really excited, and you know, just got
to get through, get through the next couple of weeks.
Here and in rolland opening toy.
Speaker 3: So is there literally a Hunter Brown calendar that's I'm
doing this this day?
Speaker 2: I mean, even if you didn't know your opening.
Speaker 3: Day, do you have a specific calendar about what you're
doing every single day leading up to that opening day?
Speaker 1: For the most part, you kind of just know what
what games you're projected to pitch in. Yep, you know
what your lives and bullpens look like. Usually you get
that when you when you get to camp. So yeah,
I mean every year they kind of have it. You know,
maybe TBD here or there, but for the most part,
you know, and then especially as a starter, it's like, okay, well,
if I'm thrown alive here or in a game, more
than likely five or six days from now doing it again.
Speaker 3: So did you give from Bernie Detroit Eats locations to go. No.
Speaker 1: I just told him if he if he needed any
to let me know, just a could hook him up.
That's right, And that's right. I told him he's got that.
And then obviously all the other guys on the team,
but I said, hey, I got I know a lot
of people over there. If you need anything, let me know.
Speaker 3: Now you're a Detroit guy, like myself. You went to
Wayne State. My mom went there, so shout out to Wayne. Wow,
that's right. How about that? Have you gone to the
Spike hot dog store in Detroit?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: I have not.
Speaker 3: Downtown Detroit, there are two hot dog places. They share
the same wall, their families, and they've got in a fight,
like fifty years ago.
Speaker 1: You're talking about Lafayette and yeah American, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I've been there. I'm a Lafayette guy, are you really? Yeah?
Speaker 2: You gotta pick? Is it like you have to pick
a side type of thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're kind of committed. You know. When I was younger,
my dad and uncle they just always did Lafayette. I
think Americans probably a little bit a little bit better aesthetic,
if you will, But you know, Lafayette is where I go.
Speaker 2: All right, So what's the number one eat for you?
In Houston, Texas?
Speaker 1: Houston, I've been doing Blue dooring a lot. I like
that place. Nice, calm, yep, they're great over there. They
treat me well and think it's you can't you can't
really miss with anything there. I like, uh, I mean ironically,
I like gold to Tony's Detroit Southizza. That's good. It's
a gives spot. I love jets.
Speaker 2: You had jet yet, Yeah, it's.
Speaker 1: More of a change.
Speaker 2: I'm just throwing it out.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, go ahead, and then I'm trying to think
of what else?
Speaker 3: Last thing and very detroit. Yes, and then we're done
with this. Do you like werners?
Speaker 1: Yeah? What is it?
Speaker 2: Ginger soda?
Speaker 1: It's disgusting.
Speaker 2: I can give it a shot. It's not whiskey.
Speaker 1: And if it's bad, that's right.
Speaker 2: All right, back to baseball we're having. We got around
for like nine minutes. I got focusing on food for
the first three of it. It's good stuff.
Speaker 3: You've got a lot of bros now in your are
you getting introduced yourself and you guys been I.
Speaker 4: Mean if you get name tags, name tags, a lot
of new arms is uh, it's new.
Speaker 2: It's exciting. It feels depth wise hunter a bet not
the thing bad.
Speaker 3: Last year was bad, but it feels like there is
gonna be some greater competition, especially the back end.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I think we got a lot of
guys that are, you know, coming in ready to compete
for a job. I think, you know every year in
including myself, you know, this year's a little different with
being named that, but I think every year you come
in trying to try and protect, protect your job or
get a new one. So I think, like you, like
you mentioned, there's a there's a ton of new faces,
and then there's a lot of guys who maybe you know,
maybe didn't have the year that they wanted last year,
or you know, can build on doing some really good things.
You know, I saw a blue ball, throw, throw a
bullpen or throw a lovy p today. You know, he
had a great end of the year. Alexander had an awesome,
awesome ten twelve starts for us. So you know, the
door's open for a lot of guys to come in
and and and make a you know, earn a job.
Speaker 4: What is that like for you now to be named
the opening day guy? And you know we've had you
on for the last couple of years here to where
you were the you were the young pup, you were
the sponge choking up everything from everyone else. Have you
seen it is a little bit of a change in
the guard of that or what what is that like
for you just as being one of those guys in
the clubhouse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think guys asked me, you know
already we've only been in camp for a week, but
guys definitely asked me a few more things that you know.
I mean, I'm like, oh, I remember, yeah, now I
remember asking that question now. But I think I think
that's how our clubhouse is. You know, it's pretty it
starts with, you know, with hel two the right anybody
he's he's so great and open about anything, and it's
kind of the transparency of that throughout the clubhouse. It's, uh,
you know, open door policy was just about everybody, so
you know, from the coaching staff down to the players.
So you know, you're opening those questions and guys, guys,
let a you know, fire away.
Speaker 3: You've had a chance not of playing all the different ballparks.
I want to ask you about West Sacramento. It was
tough to watch games there. Uh that ball They should
do something because I felt like every game I watched
between you and the age was like eleven to ten
or something crazy like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's uh, I mean, just just call a spade
a spade here. It's not a great park. You know,
you play in big league parks and it's the big league,
so you should be playing in a big league park.
That's kind of where I stand on it. I'm happy
Tampa's going back to the trop this year.
Speaker 2: That had been weird too.
Speaker 1: Huh. That was yeah, that was I mean I think
I gave up a home run at fifty degrees that
you know, off the bed. I thought that'll too, they
would catch it at second and went over the fence.
But yeah, it's just something we got to deal with
until they get over to Vegas, if they do. But yeah,
it's definitely not It's not one you circle on the calendar.
They can't wait to go there and try to change anything.
Speaker 4: I mean, what can you do, Like you don't want
to get it in your head too much?
Speaker 1: Maybe Yeah, No, I think it's more just like it's
more of I'm trying to think of like the best
way to play it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're on for another hour and a half and
we're roasting.
Speaker 1: You know, when you go when you go to when
you go to Fenway, go to Yankee Stadium. When you're
pitching a diking park, you know, there's that innate like
all right, this is you're ready to go. Whereas there
it was like there was just no no vibe and
it like for us at that point the season when
I pitched there at the end of the year. It
was like, all right, this is kind of the biggest
series of the year for us at this point, and
you know, you kind of got to bring your own
juice and and you don't need that from from outside factors,
but you know, the stage sets itself, right, So I
think I think that was something that you know, I
thought about going into it and was like, all right,
I need to kind of turn up the energy a
notch before that.
Speaker 3: So you're one game away from making the playoffs last year,
Seattle obviously got to you guys late to.
Speaker 2: Win the division. Tell me I'm wrong if you can't.
Speaker 3: It feels like there's gonna be some extra sizzle if
there already wasn't when the Astros and Mariners even playing
April coming up this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think all in all in division
games kind of bring that. But yeah, I mean it's
fair to say that we we are not happy that
they won the division last year and we want it back.
So had some had some good series obviously, like you said,
you know, I mean, even though they swept us, it
was it was for the most part, a good series.
We just just didn't go our way. You know, didn't
come out on top of the games that we needed to,
so they ended up winning the division. And yeah, and
like I said, we want to back.
Speaker 3: So yeah, do you spend a lot of time in
that minute you collected by yourself but collectively saying hey,
if we'd have gotten that series or that game.
Speaker 2: The margin of era is so thin even if you
play one hundred.
Speaker 1: And sixty two games, No, because you can look back
at you know, maybe whatever miscellaneous game in April and
if you would have won that one, right, you know,
so it's hard to pinpoint it, but you know in
the moment that it's hard to it's it's hard to
not say that too at the same time of like, okay,
well this is the one, at that moment that we
had the chance to and it just didn't go our way.
But but you know, how many how many games throughout
the year do you do you win that you maybe
on paper shouldn't have won. You know that you come
back all the way out exactly so, and you play
one hundred and sixty two of them on.
Speaker 4: A brown with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety
What about you you personally? Obviously Opening Day Starter had
a great season last year? Uh, what do you want
to do more? Are There's certain things you're trying.
Speaker 2: To refine, like how how do you get better?
Speaker 4: Because we know you're a great competitor, You're always looking
for an extra edge and doing whatever. What was the
off season like for you to where you don't want
to get complacent, which I know you're not going to,
but you also don't want to push yourself too far.
Speaker 2: Just this your mindset, I suppose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my mindset was more so. And I've tried to
take this pat together the last couple of years of
stacking them together. I don't think it's really hard to
make an overhaul in three months, especially when you know
I threw a bunch of innings last year excuse me,
the last uh you know, the last three years I
had career highs. So it's something necessarily that you can't
You can't overdo the the amount, the workload, so you
try to stack them up over Okay, maybe this is
my two year plan, This is my plan for this
season going forward. You know, how is this offseason gonna
help me for next offseason and into the next one.
You know, you want to pitch for a long time,
you want to play for a long time. So this
this offseason was kind of just stacking those together with
the with the couple of years prior, and then as
for the baseball stuff, you know, just trying to perfect
what I what I do, and then you know, you
can take it on a scale of like, Okay, I
probably walked too many lefties, probably fell behind more guys
than I than I wanted to. I always have room
to improve my slider, you know, my sliders, cutters, sliderish,
So you know, would love the two plane, the two
plane break on it. You know, I've been chasing that
well really since I got into pro ball, so you know,
and then you just try to refine those things and
then be able to apply them in the season.
Speaker 3: Last question, the easiest way to calm you down if
you've missed a pitch, or you're in a rout where
you've given up two or three in a row, somebody
coming up to the to the mountain talking to you,
the catcher doing it, or stepping off the rubber and
just walking around and kind of giving.
Speaker 2: Yourself a second. What's the easiest way to settle you down.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's it's internal for me.
You guys might see me. You know, I think most
pitchers I can speak for if you if you throw
two balls or you give up a home or something,
that the first thing guys want to do is is
grab the rods and bag or you know, take a
couple extra steps behind the mound. You know, kind of
recenter yourself. I think is kind of the easiest way
to go about it, especially because you know when things
are going wrong, that's that's the number one thing you
want to do is slow it down. Okay, get back
to what I need to do, get ahead of guys,
execute pitches, things like that. You know, when Josh comes out,
you know, for the most part, it's talking about what
to do next. Whereas you know, maybe a catcher comes out,
they got a little bit more of hey, I think
you've been doing this. You know, Josh does do say that,
but he's more about the next hitter that's coming up.
Whereas you know, a catcher or even you know in
years past, it's it's Breggie. Now we got Carlos comes
into the meetings and stuff like that, and they can say, hey, okay,
need a big ground ball here. However it is that
you're going to do that, and then that's where Josh
can kind of say, hey, so and so it's a
bunch of ground balls on this pitch. Maybe maybe we
lean into that, just have that. But yeah, I would
say I would say all those All right.
Speaker 2: Well, you're going to be announced on opening day, you're
gonna be in the bullpen. Will you tip the cap?
Will you just throw the pitch? Have you had?
Speaker 3: Do you go to Jessein er leonder and say how
do you handle this when you hear your name and
you're sitting here trying to warm up your opening day?
Speaker 1: No? Maybe I should, Maybe I should ask him. I
have not thought about that one bit until until that's.
Speaker 2: A difficult, difficult question that I get asked.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the hard hitting questions.
Speaker 2: Yes, hey, we're so happy for you. Congratulations on your success.
Speaker 3: It is uh, you know, you weren't a baby when
you got here, but meteen you grow up and become
a kick ass. Picture is a delight to see and
we wish you the great best this year.
Speaker 1: Thank you, guys. I really enjoyed it and thank you
for thank you for having me.
Speaker 3: All Right, Hunter Brown with us here on the Matt
Thomas Show with Ross we take this time out to
quick break come back. We're with you till two o'clock
here from West Palm Beach here on Sports Talk seven
ninety