Speaker 1: It's a college football Saturday. But the Dodgers have a
Speaker 1: game to play tonight here in Atlanta. And I'm joined
Speaker 1: right now by a man that went to a college
Speaker 1: in Champagne, Illinois, and no, not the University of Illinois.
Speaker 1: That is the one and only, Kevin Kiermeyer. Thanks a
Speaker 1: lot for the time, appreciated.
Speaker 2: Thank you, David.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm trying to figure you out. On Saturdays, you
Speaker 1: get really into college football. Last week you were pumped
Speaker 1: for Central Illinois or some school that beat Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: and today you're watching Oklahoma Northern Illinois. So I'm trying
Speaker 1: to figure out where your loyalties lie.
Speaker 3: My loyalty lies with the Purdue Bulletmakers, who are getting
Speaker 3: trounced right now by Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: So a lot of ball left.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm a Purdue Bulletmaker fan. But they're backs
Speaker 3: against the wall right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there we go. See in Tampa Bay, they know
Speaker 1: all about you, but in LA we don't know a
Speaker 1: lot about you. You're an Indiana kids, So why did
Speaker 1: college take you to Champagne, Illinois?
Speaker 3: Well, I didn't have and he offers hardly for I wanted.
Speaker 3: I knew it was I was going to play baseball
Speaker 3: or football. Had a gross spurt my senior year and
Speaker 3: none of those were looking really good. But I grew
Speaker 3: and had a really good senior year football and then
Speaker 3: baseball as well. We won state championships in both. And
Speaker 3: where I got scouted by my junior college. I was
Speaker 3: in Champan, Illinois park on junior college is what they're called,
Speaker 3: and I took a visit there and I said, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm going to do the baseball route and made a
Speaker 3: good choice. But yeah, I didn't really have many offers
Speaker 3: at all and made the best of junior college, and
Speaker 3: two years later I was drafted.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, you mentioned football and baseball but not basketball.
Speaker 1: How could that be for a kid from the Hoosier State.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. I was small.
Speaker 3: I was really small, and our high school was very talented,
Speaker 3: really good players, and playing time wasn't going to be
Speaker 3: really a thing. And it got to the point my
Speaker 3: senior year. I played all all the way up until
Speaker 3: my senior year, and then it got to the point
Speaker 3: where I'm saying, Okay, I'm gonna be on a college
Speaker 3: campus somewhere next year. I gotta start getting some things
Speaker 3: figured out. So I decided not to play basketball and
Speaker 3: devote all my time to baseball and to try to
Speaker 3: have the best senior year I could. And you know,
Speaker 3: everything worked out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it did, no doubt a great career for Kevin Kiirmeier.
Speaker 1: But when you talk about not being scouted, going to
Speaker 1: a junior college and then being drafted, do you feel
Speaker 1: like you've played with a chip on your shoulder. Maybe
Speaker 1: not in a bad way, but in a good way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. I was selected in the thirty first round.
Speaker 3: I was a nine hundred and forty first pick overall
Speaker 3: in the twenty ten draft, and for me, I was
Speaker 3: a little upset with how late I went, but at
Speaker 3: the same time, like you just said, it motivated me
Speaker 3: and all I needed was an opportunity, and I said
Speaker 3: that from the get go, and I knew I had
Speaker 3: to play good quick and got off to a good
Speaker 3: start and rookie ball, and then I feel like I
Speaker 3: solidified myself and showed won the Rais what I could do,
Speaker 3: and then they gave me more leeway and then made
Speaker 3: a steady climb through the miners and got to the
Speaker 3: big leagues in thirteen for my debut.
Speaker 2: So it's U and you know here we are towards
Speaker 2: the end of it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: It's been a heck of a ride, but I will
Speaker 2: always go back and.
Speaker 3: Just knowing, you know how hard I worked and junior
Speaker 3: college you get that opportunity and throughout my whole career.
Speaker 3: Now I'm proud of what I accomplished. And I look
Speaker 3: back and you know, being the nine hundred and forty
Speaker 3: first pick, I'm very appreciative because I feel like I
Speaker 3: had to do all the right things to get where
Speaker 3: I am today and then some and like I said here,
Speaker 3: I am proud, proud as can be of what I
Speaker 3: accomplished being a late round pick and defied the odds.
Speaker 1: I guess when you're in the grind, you can't really
Speaker 1: reflect on your accomplishments as a baseball player. But at
Speaker 1: this stage of the of your career, even though you're
Speaker 1: in a pennant race and you're going to the postseason
Speaker 1: with the Dodgers, have you had more time to reflect
Speaker 1: on the way your career has gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this whole year has.
Speaker 3: I feel like I've done a lot of reflecting and
Speaker 3: just knowing that you know, every time I go to
Speaker 3: certain ballparks, it's most likely going to be my last
Speaker 3: time going there.
Speaker 2: So I've taken so many things in and just.
Speaker 3: A lot of a lot of memories replaying throughout this
Speaker 3: whole year, but thankful, grateful for everything thrown my way,
Speaker 3: and I just I want to have fun going out
Speaker 3: the best way I could. And I'm you know, with
Speaker 3: the perfect team, perfect organization to to finish out the
Speaker 3: season strong and try to you know, make that that
Speaker 3: October postseason push, and uh, that's what it's all about.
Speaker 3: So yeah, a lot of a lot of nostalgic feels
Speaker 3: throughout this whole year, but once again, more than anything,
Speaker 3: just appreciation and gratefulness that I've had for everything that
Speaker 3: has come my way has been my favorite part about
Speaker 3: my career.
Speaker 1: Kevin Kiirmeier is our guest just in front of first
Speaker 1: pitch between the Dodgers and Braves. Since you brought up
Speaker 1: all these different ballparks that you feel a little nostalgic about.
Speaker 1: Are there that you enjoyed playing center field in more
Speaker 1: than others? And well, you know we always hear about
Speaker 1: in field dirt, how about the warning tracks and just
Speaker 1: the dimensions of some of these stadiums.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was different and unique in its own different way.
Speaker 3: But for me, you know, I uh, you know the
Speaker 3: Rays obviously. I love playing at Tropicana Field. Uh played
Speaker 3: there more in anywhere. Roger Center awesome in Toronto as well.
Speaker 3: I mean, I just I appreciate when when fans appreciate me,
Speaker 3: especially at your home place, and even going out to
Speaker 3: Dodger Stadium is amazing. That grass and that surface out there,
Speaker 3: It's incredible, and just how good it feels to play
Speaker 3: out there is amazing. But I I like, I like
Speaker 3: places where I can go make a play at the wall,
Speaker 3: So any any place with like an eight football in
Speaker 3: center Field Baltimore, I love playing there.
Speaker 2: I made some really good catches there over the years.
Speaker 3: But uh, I liked I like thinking I could run
Speaker 3: them down anywhere. So for me, that's kind of a
Speaker 3: tough question because I enjoy playing everywhere. But for me
Speaker 3: just Detroit, Kansas City. I like the big, the big
Speaker 3: outfields where I can run around and show everybody what
Speaker 3: I can do. As I've gotten older, I.
Speaker 2: Appreciate the smaller ones a little bit more. But you know,
Speaker 2: I love going out there.
Speaker 3: Making plays in defense has been what I've been best
Speaker 3: at throughout my whole career, not even close, and I
Speaker 3: like making plays no matter where I'm playing.
Speaker 1: Kevin, I feel like your validation for another center fielder
Speaker 1: means a lot. Are there other center fielders in the
Speaker 1: game right now that you are impressed by the way
Speaker 1: they handle center field?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: The first thing that comes to mind is Pete crow Armstrong.
Speaker 3: We just we just saw him with the Cubs, and
Speaker 3: I knew he was good, but watching him in person,
Speaker 3: he's elite and he's he's gonna be elite for years
Speaker 3: to come.
Speaker 2: He he's impressed me.
Speaker 3: A ton Byron Buxton when he's healthy is very special
Speaker 3: out there. But Pete crow Armstrong, I mean, he put
Speaker 3: on a show against us is past week, and uh,
Speaker 3: me and all the other guys had to tip our
Speaker 3: hats to him because he was he was special out there.
Speaker 3: And I I always appreciate good defense, whether you're on
Speaker 3: my team or not.
Speaker 1: When you're special as an elite defender like yourself, it's
Speaker 1: got to be a compliment. When a guy like pie
Speaker 1: crow Armstrong, he's compared to Kevin Kiermeyer. People are saying
Speaker 1: that was akure meer type of play or plays that
Speaker 1: he made in that series.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, just thankful that my name is even
Speaker 3: you know, thrown to to be in the upperslant of
Speaker 3: centerfielder type of guys out there. But uh, you know,
Speaker 3: if I were to tell him something, I would have said, hey,
Speaker 3: I had the last ten years, you can you can
Speaker 3: have the next ten because he's he's unreal. And I
Speaker 3: just said when I when I talk about that solely
Speaker 3: centerfield defense, and I I love defense more than anything,
Speaker 3: so I appreciate and I, uh, you know, game recognized
Speaker 3: his game, and he is he's unreal out there. So
Speaker 3: he's got a long career ahead of him, but he
Speaker 3: he's the guy who who's stood out for me so far,
Speaker 3: and he's one of the best center fairs I've seen
Speaker 3: in person a long time.
Speaker 1: Well for this generation, Kevin, you're the bar. You set
Speaker 1: the bar for the way center field can be played,
Speaker 1: how elite it can be played. And certainly you're in
Speaker 1: that conversation when somebody makes a play, they say that
Speaker 1: was a keer Meer type play. So thanks a lot
Speaker 1: for the time, and this will not be our last conversation.
Speaker 1: I look forward to talking to you when you got
Speaker 1: champagne all over your face.
Speaker 2: There we go. I can't wait. Thanks David there.
Speaker 1: He is the man. Kevin Kiermeier will send it back
Speaker 1: to you in the studio