Speaker 1: Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
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Speaker 1: Guardians Weekly. Jimrosen House along with you from Great American
Speaker 1: Ballpark in Cincinnati. This week, Guardians just getting started on
Speaker 1: a long three city road trip that will feature ten games,
Speaker 1: and they got it started on Friday, late afternoon here
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. Coming up on our show this week, we'll
Speaker 1: hear from general manager Mike Chernoff, pitcher Matt Festa, hitting
Speaker 1: coach Grant Fink, and we'll also have a minor league
Speaker 1: report featuring double a ackron with the Vice president of
Speaker 1: player Development, Stephen Osterer.
Speaker 2: But first our.
Speaker 1: Week in review, and we begin with the Milwaukee series
Speaker 1: back home on Monday, a scoreless game until the fourth inning,
Speaker 1: when once again Jose Ramirez jump started the Guardians offense.
Speaker 1: Here's the three to two swung on ground ball near
Speaker 1: the middle and on through a face head and a
Speaker 1: right center. Ramirez makes the big turn as he always does,
Speaker 1: but he'll stay at first. With a one out single.
Speaker 1: Eleven straight games now on base four, Ramirez away for
Speaker 1: Santana infield to pull slightly. There goes Ramirez with the pitch.
Speaker 1: It's up high, the throw down is.
Speaker 2: Not in time.
Speaker 1: Stolen base Jose Ramirez, his tenth ran won the count.
Speaker 1: Here's the pitch there knows Ramirez to third. The pitch
Speaker 1: is a strike, the throw not in time. Another stolen
Speaker 1: base for Ramirez.
Speaker 3: And again, yes, there's risk involved, but Ramirez knows right
Speaker 3: now the Guardians are facing one of the best pitchers
Speaker 3: in the National League, so base hits.
Speaker 2: Might be really hard to come by.
Speaker 1: By the way, that stolen base for Jose Ramirez the
Speaker 1: second one career stolen base number two hundred and fifty four,
Speaker 1: moving him into a third place tie in franchise history
Speaker 1: with Terry Turner again two hundred and fifty four in
Speaker 1: his wonderful career. Up next, Homarvis scaled two nine. After that, Well,
Speaker 1: Kenny Lofton, He's in the top spot at four hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty two stolen bases. And as a Cleveland Indian,
Speaker 1: a pair of walks to Carlos Santana and Bo Naylor
Speaker 1: loaded up the bases for Gabriel Arius. Here's the pitch
Speaker 1: swung on and here's a high fly ball to center.
Speaker 1: It's carrying back on the track. I'ntable to make the catch.
Speaker 1: Is the centerfielder Churio. That's gonna score three. As the
Speaker 1: bases are cleared on a double off the bat of Gabriel, Arius, Ramirez,
Speaker 1: Santana and Naylor all came around and it is three
Speaker 1: nothing Cleveland. Boy, it looked like Churio did not take
Speaker 1: the right route and got burned as that ball was
Speaker 1: up there for a while and he cut across before
Speaker 1: going back and not get back on a ball that
Speaker 1: bounced not even on the warning track. It was still
Speaker 1: a three to nothing lead for Cleveland in the sixth inning,
Speaker 1: and after a leadoff walk to Ramirez, he continued to
Speaker 1: terrorize the Brewers. Now the two ozer delivery runner goes
Speaker 1: pitched down and in throw the third Hi throw great
Speaker 1: leaping grabbed by Durbin and Ramirez steals third again and again.
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez never tries to steal unless there's a reason
Speaker 1: in which.
Speaker 2: It can help the club.
Speaker 1: And that's a big steal of third because it came
Speaker 1: after the strikeout. Now it forces the infield in with
Speaker 1: a runner at third, one out, third time in Jose
Speaker 1: Ramirez's future Hall of Fame ending of a career that
Speaker 1: he is swiped three in a game. Then Kyle Manzardo
Speaker 1: delivered to bring Ramirez home. So the Brewers bring the
Speaker 1: in feeling into the cut of the grass. Three nothing Cleveland,
Speaker 1: one out, payoff pitch swung on a little bloop job
Speaker 1: shallow center base. It Cleveland's up four nothing, Well credit
Speaker 1: that to Jose Ramirez went to second on a pitch
Speaker 1: in the dirt, stole third, scores on the bloop single
Speaker 1: to center. Four nothing Cleveland, and give Kyle Manzardo a
Speaker 1: team high twenty three rbies and Pat Murphy. We'll make
Speaker 1: that slow walk to the mound out of that first
Speaker 1: base dugout. Freddy Peroulta's night will end at ninety five pitches.
Speaker 1: A basis loaded walk to Carlos Santana in the seventh
Speaker 1: inning made it five to nothing Cleveland, and as usual,
Speaker 1: the bullpen was lights out, keeping the Brewers off the scoreboard,
Speaker 1: with Hunter Gatison to finish the job.
Speaker 2: In the ninth.
Speaker 1: The kicking delivery swung on Chopper up the middle to
Speaker 1: his left. Arius Gloves throws ball game terrific play by
Speaker 1: our rre. He is standed and for the second time
Speaker 1: in four games, the Guardians pitches shutout, beating Milwaukee five nothing,
Speaker 1: So a nice win for the Guardians to start the
Speaker 1: series on Monday. Then on Tuesday, the Guardians jumped on
Speaker 1: top in the first inning, this time one big swing
Speaker 1: from Jose Ramirez. Jose Ramirez now adding two eighty nine
Speaker 1: six ommers eighteen rbies the pitch and he sends one
Speaker 1: to deep right field. This ball's got a chance and
Speaker 1: go Jose Ramirez makes it one nothing Cleveland.
Speaker 2: They hits number seven.
Speaker 1: Six of the seven have come left handed and just
Speaker 1: did clear the nine foot wall and Cleveland's gotta one
Speaker 1: nothing lead. Man, he is something else and he is
Speaker 1: starting to put together another memorable season for the Guardians.
Speaker 1: Now on the more great pitching, this time Logan Allen
Speaker 1: shut down the Milwaukee offense. Now the payoff pitch Swing
Speaker 1: NMS elevated the fastball at ninety miles an hour and
Speaker 1: Logan Allen strengths out Christian Yelich.
Speaker 2: Now the one two.
Speaker 1: Swing NMS fastball away got him sixth in the game
Speaker 1: for Logan Allen and Cleveland maintains a one nothing lead
Speaker 1: here in the sixth still just a one nothing Guardians
Speaker 1: lead in the eighth inning. That's when Jose Ramirez singled,
Speaker 1: bringing Cole man Zardo to the plate. The right handers
Speaker 1: sents a the belt fires and the pits swung online
Speaker 1: to center coming hard diving in the ball.
Speaker 2: Skips by Cherio. It'll go to the warning track. Ramirez
Speaker 2: will score on his.
Speaker 1: Way to third, man startle in sliding feet first, two
Speaker 1: nothing Cleveland. A sinking liner then is going to be
Speaker 1: an RBI triple. We told you how deep Cherio plays everybody.
Speaker 1: And on that sinking liner he charged that center dove,
Speaker 1: didn't catch it, didn't stop it, ball skip by him
Speaker 1: and rolled toward the warning track. And the Guardians now
Speaker 1: later two to nothing. And it's been a tough series
Speaker 1: defensively for Jurio and Center and time is called, will
Speaker 1: get a pinch runner for Kyle Manzardo. He gets his
Speaker 1: second triple and his team high twenty fourth RBI. And
Speaker 1: then it was a Manuel Class A on in the
Speaker 1: ninth and after days off to rest a sore shoulder,
Speaker 1: he looked as good as we've seen him this season.
Speaker 2: Class as ready the set the pitch swinging in the miss.
Speaker 1: Ball game, all three outs coming on the wicket Sliders.
Speaker 1: Back to back shutouts for Cleveland, three shutouts in the
Speaker 1: last five games, and the Guardians have won the series.
Speaker 1: They'll look for the sweep tomorrow. Beating Milwaukee tonight two
Speaker 1: and a nothing. Guardians were looking for a sweep on
Speaker 1: Wednesday afternoon, but the Brewers won it by a nine
Speaker 1: to five final score. Off day Thursday, and then the
Speaker 1: opener of the series here in Cincinnati. That was supposed
Speaker 1: to be Friday night, but because of pending bad weather,
Speaker 1: the Reds, major League Baseball, and the Guardians all agreed
Speaker 1: to move the game time up to five ten, so
Speaker 1: it was a late afternoon game and Cincinnati raced out
Speaker 1: to a five to nothing lead. Guardians closed made it
Speaker 1: a one run ball game, but eventually lost the.
Speaker 2: Game five to four.
Speaker 1: Stay with us when we come back, we'll have more
Speaker 1: as general manager Mike Chernoff joins us along with Reeleief
Speaker 1: pitcher Manfesta. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
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Speaker 1: Guardians Weekly continuing from Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Chim
Speaker 1: Rosen House along with you as we bring you our
Speaker 1: show from the road. The next two weekends will be
Speaker 1: in Detroit next weekend. General manager Mike Churnoff joined us
Speaker 1: over the weekend when the team was at home, and
Speaker 1: the Guardian general manager talked about the team passing the
Speaker 1: forty game mark and how the front office evaluates that
Speaker 1: first month and a half or so of the regular season.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's still early, but I think we are feeling
Speaker 5: like we're sort of getting into the groove of the season.
Speaker 5: We've had some moments that have certainly been a grind,
Speaker 5: but at least from a win loss perspective, we feel
Speaker 5: we have a really competitive team in a really competitive division.
Speaker 5: And I think probably as we think about where we
Speaker 5: are in the season and where we have to go,
Speaker 5: we're really optimistic. We've held our own and done pretty well,
Speaker 5: and we feel like we have a lot of reinforcements
Speaker 5: that hopefully in the near future, you know, months, a
Speaker 5: couple of months, a month, maybe in some cases we
Speaker 5: may be getting some guys back from the il that
Speaker 5: we feel can really impact the team. So I think
Speaker 5: we feel really optimistic about where we are.
Speaker 1: And every year is different, and you're doing a little
Speaker 1: bit differently this year, and that at times the bullpen
Speaker 1: has relinquished some leads late in the game, more so
Speaker 1: than a year ago. We're talking earlier around baseball. It
Speaker 1: seems like there's more dramatic endings and lead changes late
Speaker 1: than maybe there were last year. And maybe maybe that's
Speaker 1: just not true or not, But are you noticing anything
Speaker 1: here that that might indicate relievers having a tougher time
Speaker 1: shutting it down late in games and being dominant.
Speaker 5: It's a good question. I know what you mean. Anecdotally,
Speaker 5: it does feel like every night you see these highlights
Speaker 5: of kind of a blown save. I think we might
Speaker 5: have just been so spoiled last year. I mean, we
Speaker 5: had an historically good bullpen that basically the lead never
Speaker 5: changed once we had it in a game, which is
Speaker 5: unheard of, and you know, bullpens can be super volatile,
Speaker 5: and unfortunately, we've had a few guys that were like
Speaker 5: just rock solid last year have a few outings that
Speaker 5: didn't go in their favor. At the same time, I
Speaker 5: do feel like we've seen Emmanuel Classe after he was
Speaker 5: sort of down for a short period of time, his
Speaker 5: stuff has been so much better, His confidence looks so
Speaker 5: much better. So I think we'll feel better about the
Speaker 5: very back end and that we still have the best
Speaker 5: closer in baseball, and we feel like there's there are
Speaker 5: continued things that we're seeing with some of our other
Speaker 5: back end guys where nothing has changed in the stuff
Speaker 5: profiles or the way they get guys out. We've just
Speaker 5: maybe hit a little bit of bad luck with some
Speaker 5: of the outings that they've had recently. General manager Mike
Speaker 5: Tchernoff joining us and I like to take a look
Speaker 5: at it kind of a deep dive on a player
Speaker 5: or two. Daniel Schneman has had a great stretch here
Speaker 5: both at the played end defensively as well. A late
Speaker 5: round draft choice.
Speaker 1: So what did you identify in him and how unusual
Speaker 1: it is? Is it based on his draft status for
Speaker 1: him to make the progress that he has.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's certainly unusual. I mean, you don't expect that
Speaker 5: when you get someone as late as we did with him.
Speaker 5: But that's baseball, and that's what I love about baseball,
Speaker 5: you know, I try to tell my own kids the
Speaker 5: same thing, like you, Talent in baseball emerges at different
Speaker 5: periods of time. And so what we saw on him
Speaker 5: as an incredibly hard worker who could play up the
Speaker 5: middle positions and really had the versatility to play a
Speaker 5: lot of different positions, and he grinded it out.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: He was always the guy that managers were fighting to
Speaker 5: keep in the organization and that got him to a
Speaker 5: place where he stayed in it long enough that he
Speaker 5: could make some swing changes that you're seeing what he
Speaker 5: can do offensively now, and it's been really impressive. He's
Speaker 5: actually been one of the key contributors offensively to our team,
Speaker 5: and he's doing it while still moving around at premium
Speaker 5: positions you worried at all.
Speaker 1: With less less rounds of the draft and a smaller
Speaker 1: inventory of minor league players that kids like him won't
Speaker 1: have that chance to develop.
Speaker 5: I do I think you're gonna have fewer of these stories.
Speaker 5: I mean, look, I understand the benefits of going to
Speaker 5: the shorter draft and sort of consolidation of minor league affiliates.
Speaker 5: It allows us to pour more resources into each guy
Speaker 5: that we get, But I do think in baseball there's
Speaker 5: a lot of unknowns. It can be a long development
Speaker 5: curve for some guys, and so it does reduce the
Speaker 5: chance of that happening.
Speaker 1: One other guy before we go. Carlos Santana has gotten hot,
Speaker 1: as he usually does after the first month of the season.
Speaker 1: How different a player and a person is he now
Speaker 1: than when he first came over here.
Speaker 2: From the Dodgers and was catching and trying to learn that.
Speaker 5: Oh man, it's I love Carlos. He is one of
Speaker 5: my favorite people. He has matured a tremendous amount. Obviously,
Speaker 5: we got him when he was a kid and he
Speaker 5: was he was trying so hard to be a good catcher,
Speaker 5: and obviously he's such a he's he's in such a
Speaker 5: better spot now playing first base. He's really progressed defensively
Speaker 5: at first base from when we saw him there. I
Speaker 5: think in a lot of ways, he's a very similar
Speaker 5: hitter to what we saw when we first got him.
Speaker 5: Just unbelievable play discipline, great pitch selection. This guy always
Speaker 5: took his walks and knew the importance of that. And
Speaker 5: he can turn around bitches, you know, whenever he needs to.
Speaker 5: It's been super impressive to see him do that through
Speaker 5: this long of a career and into age whatever he is,
Speaker 5: thirty eight, thirty nine years old. Super impressive, Like, thanks
Speaker 5: a lot for the visit as always, of course, thanks
Speaker 5: for having me Roos.
Speaker 1: And his general manager, Mike Chernop. And one of the
Speaker 1: acquisitions that the front office has made since the season
Speaker 1: began has been the acquisition of Matt Festa, a relief pitcher,
Speaker 1: especially helpful since the entry to Paul Seawald has laid
Speaker 1: him up for a significant amount of time, and Fest
Speaker 1: has been a real nice addition. In fact, he threw
Speaker 1: two scoreless innings to keep it close on Friday night,
Speaker 1: and when we caught up with him recently, he talked
Speaker 1: about how he's been able to get off to a
Speaker 1: good start.
Speaker 6: It's just been easy to get comfortable with the scoop
Speaker 6: of guys here. They make you feel welcome and just
Speaker 6: getting the opportunity to pitch sometimes give some people in
Speaker 6: the bullpens some rest, like the four horsemen that you
Speaker 6: guys got there. So if I can go in and
Speaker 6: take some of the load off those guys, it's good
Speaker 6: for the team.
Speaker 1: You can go to spring training with another ball club
Speaker 1: and then within a month you're on the move. How
Speaker 1: difficult is that and how much of an adjustment is
Speaker 1: that for you?
Speaker 6: It's not that hard after last year. Last year is
Speaker 6: my first time doing it. Kind of just hitting opt
Speaker 6: outs until something sticks. So I'm basically a temp contract worker.
Speaker 6: You know, if I do my job, then I'm going
Speaker 6: to find a home somewhere.
Speaker 1: Knowing the talent and his bullpen fun to kind of
Speaker 1: be a part of that and see if that raises
Speaker 1: your level of your game in any way.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, being around some dogs like helps you be a dog.
Speaker 6: So it's been really fun working around these guys. They
Speaker 6: keep it light, but they know how to work hard.
Speaker 6: Relationship has always been important in this game. How well
Speaker 6: do you know manager Steven Vote.
Speaker 2: I know him pretty well.
Speaker 6: He was my bullpen coach in twenty twenty three, So
Speaker 6: it's always good to have someone like that with a
Speaker 6: little familiarity of who you are and the confidence in
Speaker 6: you to you know, kind of just throw you into
Speaker 6: the fire. So I enjoy that.
Speaker 1: Did you see this coming for him just based on
Speaker 1: that one season that he was coaching there, I don't know.
Speaker 6: I know he was, you know, trying to learn as
Speaker 6: much as he could in Seattle during his time. I
Speaker 6: don't think anybody thought it was going to be as quick,
Speaker 6: even himself. So it's awesome to see him succeed. Matt,
Speaker 6: thanks a lot for a time. Appreciate it. Great, thank
Speaker 6: you answer.
Speaker 1: Relief picture Matt Festa talking about his early weeks as
Speaker 1: a Cleveland Guardian. Stay with us when we come back.
Speaker 1: We'll turn to the offense and visit with hitting coach
Speaker 1: Grant Fink. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Here's the one too swung on and here's a high
Speaker 1: fly ball deep right center field. This one's way back
Speaker 1: there and that ball is gone home run. Bohe Naylor
Speaker 1: and the Guardians creep closer on Naylor's sixth home.
Speaker 2: Run of the season. Now the one to one pitch.
Speaker 1: Swung on hit high, deep to right on its way
Speaker 1: to the Ohio River, and it's all one run game.
Speaker 2: How deep into the seats and right.
Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez hits his ninth and at Jose Ramirez get
Speaker 1: into that one and the Guardians, down at one point
Speaker 1: five to nothing, have now climbed back to within a
Speaker 1: run on a towering blast halfway up the bleachers and right.
Speaker 1: For Jose Ramirez, it gives him a ten game hitting streak.
Speaker 1: Jim Rosenhoun's back with you from Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: where the Guardians are taking on the Reds this weekend,
Speaker 1: Saturday night of six forty. First pitch, one forty on
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoon. Grant Fink is in his first year as
Speaker 1: the Guardian's hitting coach. He's been in the organization for
Speaker 1: quite some time, working with the minor league prospects, both
Speaker 1: as a full season hitting coach and also as the
Speaker 1: coordinator of minor league hitting instruction, and he says after
Speaker 1: spring training, in the first forty plus games of the season,
Speaker 1: he started to get a pretty good feel now for
Speaker 1: what this offense needs to do to be successful.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean we're starting to see trends
Speaker 7: at this point. We're starting to see that bat numbers
Speaker 7: pick up and some areas that guys are really having
Speaker 7: a lot of success on. Some areas that we're having
Speaker 7: to push a little bit at for sure.
Speaker 1: So rattling through a bunch of different guys, we'll kind
Speaker 1: of rapid fired a little bit. Gabrielarius, you saw him
Speaker 1: in the minor leagues and you're seeing him now. How
Speaker 1: different a hitter is he at this point where he's
Speaker 1: having great success compared to what you saw even when
Speaker 1: he was having success in the minor leagues.
Speaker 7: Oh, we we couldn't be happier with where he is.
Speaker 7: The confidence he comes to the plate every day, the
Speaker 7: confidence he comes into his training, the way he's preparing
Speaker 7: and being ready for the game. His preparation is what's
Speaker 7: separating him from where he's been in the past. Is
Speaker 7: ready to go, and you can see it in the
Speaker 7: way he moves, the pitches he's swinging at and just
Speaker 7: the confidence in the swings.
Speaker 1: How did that change for him?
Speaker 7: I think he made the decision that he was going
Speaker 7: to work his tail off and he told me at
Speaker 7: the beginning of the year, this is the hardest I've
Speaker 7: ever worked going into a year, and we couldn't be
Speaker 7: happier to see that payoff.
Speaker 1: We'll stay on some young guys. Kyle Mansardo hitting for
Speaker 1: great power, not quite the average yet, and it seems
Speaker 1: like that'll come because it's where it's always been. And
Speaker 1: what are you working with on him to maintain the
Speaker 1: good power numbers and maybe bring some other things along too.
Speaker 7: So I heard vote he say this last night that
Speaker 7: he's a good hitter with power, and we fully believe that,
Speaker 7: and his whole career he's shown that he has the
Speaker 7: ability to drive the ball to all fields and it's
Speaker 7: not just a home run or nothing. So we've been
Speaker 7: spending a decent amount of time on you know, staying
Speaker 7: in his back hip driving the ball the opposite way,
Speaker 7: but also taking his chances on the pitches that you know,
Speaker 7: come over the middle of plate that.
Speaker 8: He can drive.
Speaker 1: Daniel Schneeman was saying that he's kind of adjusted his
Speaker 1: focus to try and hit it where the shortstop is.
Speaker 1: If he thinks that way, everything else would all into place.
Speaker 1: Why can that be an effective way to do it?
Speaker 1: Because it certainly has worked for him.
Speaker 7: I think it's a big difference between a feel versus
Speaker 7: what actually happened. So when he thinks that is, his
Speaker 7: path gets a little crisper, he gets behind the base
Speaker 7: fallow faster. And I think the third day he was
Speaker 7: thinking that he hit those two home runs in Toronto
Speaker 7: and it was like, Okay, I'm thinking hit to the ball,
Speaker 7: the short stuff, but I just hit two pull side homers.
Speaker 7: And then the next day he drove some opposite line drives.
Speaker 7: So whatever that thought does, it cleans his path up
Speaker 7: and gets him behind fastballs really well.
Speaker 1: A couple of guys who are struggling numbers wise, maybe
Speaker 1: for different reasons. First, Nolan Jones, is it not fair
Speaker 1: to look at certain numbers right now? And what are
Speaker 1: you seeing that indicates that he could be just fine
Speaker 1: here in a short period of time.
Speaker 7: We're seeing a large discrepancy between what actually happens and
Speaker 7: what we would have expected to happen. Like he's been
Speaker 7: a little unlucky at the being end of the year,
Speaker 7: but we've also pushed him to, you know, be on
Speaker 7: at a little more fastballs and be ready to drive
Speaker 7: the ball a little bit more. And he's bought into that.
Speaker 7: He's been working really hard and we expect to see
Speaker 7: him progress here shortly.
Speaker 1: And John Kenzi, you know, well trying to make it
Speaker 1: happen within frequent at bats. How hard is that? And
Speaker 1: is there anything he get new to help him at
Speaker 1: least have some sort of success when he's in that spot.
Speaker 7: It's an incredibly hard job.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 7: You know, you have to own that role. And the
Speaker 7: guys who get out of that role are the guys
Speaker 7: who did really well at it. So we've just been
Speaker 7: pushing him to, you know, own the role you're in,
Speaker 7: prepare it an incredibly high level, and make the most
Speaker 7: out of every day in that bat you get and
Speaker 7: that's how you continue to move forward and get different roles.
Speaker 1: I had a couple of fun guys. Steven Kwan off
Speaker 1: to his usual start. What do you see from him?
Speaker 1: And how much maintenance is there from your standpoint and
Speaker 1: the other coaches to keep him in a positive direction.
Speaker 7: I mean, Kwan is a true pro. He comes in
Speaker 7: every day, he has full details on the pitchure, he
Speaker 7: knows how to go about his business. The biggest thing
Speaker 7: for us is just making sure that we're giving him
Speaker 7: the right scouting reports that we're giving him the information
Speaker 7: he needs to go out and do this thing.
Speaker 1: And Jose Ramirez, I think I talked to you in
Speaker 1: the winter and you kind of said you can stay
Speaker 1: out of the way because he knows what he's doing obviously,
Speaker 1: But how about him any tweaks there with him or
Speaker 1: do you really do stay out of the way with him?
Speaker 7: He's been great. You know, he comes and ask questions
Speaker 7: like what do you think about my swing right now?
Speaker 7: Like how am I trending? He's been awesome, and you know,
Speaker 7: we let him go be hosty because he's one of
Speaker 7: the best players in the world, but he wants to
Speaker 7: get better to and there's been multiple times this year
Speaker 7: where he's come to the coaching staff and we've given
Speaker 7: him a tidbit and he's gone out there and tried
Speaker 7: to execute. So that just shows how much of a
Speaker 7: pro he actually is.
Speaker 1: And personally, for you, you've had years where you're responsible
Speaker 1: for a whole minor league system and other years where
Speaker 1: you're with the club. What has this experience been like
Speaker 1: and what are some of the unique challenges to this
Speaker 1: job that maybe he didn't have in the past.
Speaker 7: I've been loving every single day you know, getting the
Speaker 7: opportunity to just be out here and watch the best
Speaker 7: in the world play. It's fun for me personally. But
Speaker 7: I think some of the unique challenges would just be
Speaker 7: the day to day. You know, I spent three years
Speaker 7: as a coordinator of the last three years and just
Speaker 7: you watch from a distance and you're looking at more
Speaker 7: like projections of players and now being in the moment
Speaker 7: with guys again and at bat too. A bad game
Speaker 7: to game, it's a different mindset, and you know, it's
Speaker 7: a learning lesson for me to continue to get better
Speaker 7: at managing that and managing my own emotions within the
Speaker 7: day to day in one hundred and sixty two, but
Speaker 7: that's been a fun part to learn that.
Speaker 1: Grant, thanks for the time, appreciate it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: That is new hitting coach Grant Fink, in his first
Speaker 1: season on the job, but a longtime member of the organization,
Speaker 1: both as a player and a coach in the minor
Speaker 1: league system and now overseeing the big clubs hitting program.
Speaker 1: Stay with us while we come back. We'll talk minor
Speaker 1: league specifically double a Acron with the vice president of
Speaker 1: player development for the Guardians, Stephen Ostro. That's next on
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
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Speaker 1: Chef Rosenow's back with you from Cincinnati Great American Ball Park,
Speaker 1: where we greet you with Guardians Weekly. Man our final segment,
Speaker 1: we will take a look at Double A Akron. They
Speaker 1: are filled with a ton of intriguing prospects. Stephen Ostro
Speaker 1: is the vice president of player Development, and recently he
Speaker 1: was focusing on that Double A Acron ball club and
Speaker 1: we will start on the position players side with last
Speaker 1: year's number one overall pick in the draft, Travis, Bizana
Speaker 1: and Ousty talks about what they've seen from him so
Speaker 1: far and has the organization excited about his future.
Speaker 8: Yeah, thanks, Rosie.
Speaker 10: Travis has really started to settle in into Akron in
Speaker 10: the last couple of weeks. So, I know, we talked
Speaker 10: about before how diligent, professional, hardworking he is. So he
Speaker 10: had a bit of a slow start at the plate,
Speaker 10: and we're not really surprised at all. The teams start
Speaker 10: turning a corner here with the bats. So there are
Speaker 10: some small movements in the early parts of his load
Speaker 10: of his swinging that we're maybe leading into some deeper
Speaker 10: contact points to the plate. When he's going really well,
Speaker 10: he's catching the ball more out in front and pulling
Speaker 10: it hard, pulling it hard in the air, and hitting
Speaker 10: some home runs from.
Speaker 8: Time to time, but more more of the line drive gap.
Speaker 10: Type, you know, hits that we've seen over the last
Speaker 10: couple of weeks.
Speaker 8: You know, he's got a tremendous high at the plate,
Speaker 8: He's drawing a ton of walks.
Speaker 10: He's going to be a very well rounded hitter for us.
Speaker 10: So it's been fun to watch him kind of put
Speaker 10: the foot on the gas there, and yeah, I think
Speaker 10: highlighting to just the defense is continuing to be an
Speaker 10: arrow up on the ear. You know, he keeps getting
Speaker 10: better at choosing the right arm angles, you know, for efficiency,
Speaker 10: and you know, the range continues to grow. So I mean,
Speaker 10: Travis is an elead talent and he's got all the
Speaker 10: human ingredients to keep getting better. So you know, it's
Speaker 10: been fun watching the development thus far, and it will
Speaker 10: continue to be fun moving forward seeing how much he progresses.
Speaker 1: You mentioned at the slower start, and now coming on
Speaker 1: from your perspective, is it okay when when a player struggles,
Speaker 1: so you can see how they do making adjustments and
Speaker 1: trying to get back to where they want to be
Speaker 1: and maybe taking another step forward to yeah.
Speaker 8: One hundred percent.
Speaker 10: And you know, struggles is part of this game, regardless
Speaker 10: of how talented and how.
Speaker 8: Good you are.
Speaker 10: And you know, I think sometimes it's you know, pulling
Speaker 10: your head back a little bit and you know, assessing
Speaker 10: how long has the struggle been going on and realizing
Speaker 10: that maybe that's just baseball. But you know, all of
Speaker 10: these guys have so many things that they're working on,
Speaker 10: you know, in the minor league level, they're you're not
Speaker 10: quite major leaguers yet despite them wanting to be.
Speaker 8: And there's lots of things under the hood.
Speaker 10: That they're trying to tackle and not.
Speaker 8: Necessarily just the one thing.
Speaker 10: So you know, sometimes it takes a bit of time
Speaker 10: to kind of work through the adjustments that need to
Speaker 10: be made that you know may show up in a
Speaker 10: different part of the game.
Speaker 8: So you know what you do leading up to.
Speaker 10: The game, and you know, sometimes even travel can affect
Speaker 10: how you're performing in a short period of times. So
Speaker 10: it gives us insight and the players insight into the
Speaker 10: things that they need to continue to work on, not
Speaker 10: just at that specific skill, but maybe as a more
Speaker 10: well rounded professional baseball player. So struggling is not necessarily
Speaker 10: always the bad thing. Sometimes it can be a really
Speaker 10: good good thing for them.
Speaker 1: And you have a good catcher at double A acron
Speaker 1: as well in Cooper angle and at that level, what
Speaker 1: are you looking for in your catchers that allow them
Speaker 1: to stand out?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean, and we talked about this before with
Speaker 10: Cooper too, just he's got a really good bat, and
Speaker 10: you know, he did similarly had a bit of a
Speaker 10: slow start defensively or sorry, offensively.
Speaker 8: You know, he's really starting to heat up now.
Speaker 10: He's he's crushing right Andrews, you know, showing the plus
Speaker 10: discipline and walk rates we saw last year. And you
Speaker 10: know he's now collecting the extra base extra base hits
Speaker 10: more regularly. So Cooper's really turning on with the bat. Defensively,
Speaker 10: our staff and him have done a really nice job
Speaker 10: attacking some of the throwing mechanics and you know, adjustments
Speaker 10: we were trying to hope make over the over the
Speaker 10: course of the years. So we're seeing that show up
Speaker 10: in an improved accuracy. You know, his arm strength has
Speaker 10: gone up as well, and you know he continues to
Speaker 10: dig in on, you know, building his prep and his
Speaker 10: plan of attack for his pitchers and game calling.
Speaker 8: So you know a lot of the things.
Speaker 10: We touched upon earlier that that Cooper is setting out
Speaker 10: to do. You know, he he's starting he's starting to
Speaker 10: show signs of of you know, the back coming back again.
Speaker 10: But yeah, the defensive side that you know is an
Speaker 10: area of focus for him is starting to really pick
Speaker 10: up here for him.
Speaker 1: Another young player who we saw a little bit in
Speaker 1: Major League camp is Khalil Watson and you'll get his
Speaker 1: numbers as Ops stands out for sure. What have you
Speaker 1: seen from him that that shows some good development. They're
Speaker 1: both offensively and defensively as he tries to settle in
Speaker 1: it at different positions.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Khalil, you know, a very very cooled out athlete.
Speaker 10: We got the Josh Bade or Josh Beltrade story a
Speaker 10: couple of years ago. He was the sixteenth overall pick
Speaker 10: at a high school in twenty one. So he's very talented.
Speaker 10: I got some time in acron last year. You know,
Speaker 10: he came back and serted it out really hot.
Speaker 8: Like you said, he can do a lot of things
Speaker 8: of the bat.
Speaker 10: You know, he can hit for power, he takes his
Speaker 10: walks very well, he doesn't strike out at all.
Speaker 8: I can steel some.
Speaker 10: Bags and you know he's putting those things kind of
Speaker 10: together right now and adjusted a little bit to the
Speaker 10: level and how to attack his day to be able
Speaker 10: to be more consistent.
Speaker 8: So really excited about that.
Speaker 10: And defensively, he's transitioned mainly to the outfield this year.
Speaker 10: You know, I think we think that that he can
Speaker 10: develop there and has all the athleticism to hopefully stick.
Speaker 8: In center field long term.
Speaker 10: But again, just a very talented player and he's playing
Speaker 10: a well rounded game right now.
Speaker 8: It's it's fun to see him go off at the play.
Speaker 1: Steven Oster is joining us. He's the vice president of
Speaker 1: player development for the Guardians. We're talking Double A acron
Speaker 1: this week and we switched to the mound and let's
Speaker 1: start with Austin Peterson who in the past a very
Speaker 1: short minor league windows so far, but some good innings
Speaker 1: under his belt and now here he is at the
Speaker 1: Double A level once again and it looks like he's
Speaker 1: taking the ball every fifth day just about and getting
Speaker 1: his work in. And what are you seeing as he
Speaker 1: does that in terms of development.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Austin is a really big right hander for us
Speaker 10: to let our minor leagues last year with one hundred
Speaker 10: and sixty innings pitched, which is pretty high for the
Speaker 10: minor leagues. You know, he's a plus plus strikethrower and
Speaker 10: we drafted him in twenty twenty two at a Yukon and.
Speaker 8: Yah, knowing that that was his carrying trade.
Speaker 10: But we need to spend a lot of time and
Speaker 10: he's done a really good job of this, just working
Speaker 10: on the physical side to get stronger to get more powerful, yeah,
Speaker 10: so that he could hopefully throw a little bit harder.
Speaker 10: And you know, we've seen that trend continue from last
Speaker 10: year where you know, he gained about a mile and
Speaker 10: a half on average to his fastball.
Speaker 8: He continues to add to that, so he's coming to
Speaker 8: the gates with just an overall improved arsenal.
Speaker 10: He also added a cutter this offseason and is now
Speaker 10: throwing that maybe a bit of a more complete mix
Speaker 10: and able to attack hitters with a different look, you know,
Speaker 10: across across the whole arsenal form.
Speaker 8: So he's been liked out to start the year. You know,
Speaker 8: we're hoping he can continue to move.
Speaker 10: The needle on his quality of the arsenal because the
Speaker 10: strikes are you know, quite honestly elite. And you know,
Speaker 10: as he continues to do that, he's he's going to
Speaker 10: be a really complete pitcher and very interesting for us,
Speaker 10: you know, at the upper levels and hopefully at the
Speaker 10: major league level.
Speaker 1: Another college drafted pitcher is Aaron Davenport who looks to
Speaker 1: be off to a really good start once again as well.
Speaker 1: And I know he had kind of a breakthrough last
Speaker 1: year and has he been able to continue that this season.
Speaker 2: So far.
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's right, Rosie. You know, twenty one draft pick
Speaker 8: out of U Hawaii.
Speaker 10: That twenty one draft class is pretty special from a
Speaker 10: pitching standpoint. And and he did have a breakout year
Speaker 10: last year. You know, he's a he's a very strong worker,
Speaker 10: uh you know, and and is committed and willing to
Speaker 10: do whatever it takes to be good.
Speaker 8: So he's made you know, huge.
Speaker 10: Strides over the last couple of years actually in controlling
Speaker 10: counts and simplifying his plan of attack and preventing runs
Speaker 10: and uh, you know, he's got a gift to to
Speaker 10: create these different pitch types and different pitch shapes, and
Speaker 10: its kind of now figured out, uh you know, what works,
Speaker 10: what doesn't work, what he can control and when and
Speaker 10: then how to deploy those appropriately in games. So he's
Speaker 10: been very impressive the last few weddings. You know, is
Speaker 10: continuing to find ways to push his velocity up and
Speaker 10: maximize how he prepares and how he leverages his strengthening game.
Speaker 10: And Dave's dav has done a really nice job again
Speaker 10: coming in ready to go, and you know.
Speaker 8: Leading the staff a little bit.
Speaker 10: Here and and uh, you know, throwing a ton of
Speaker 10: innings and and doing very well.
Speaker 1: Steven Ostro joining us. He's the vice president of player
Speaker 1: development for the Guardians and Austin we catch up with you.
Speaker 1: You out in Arizona for a spell and and checking
Speaker 1: in on some of the really young players in the
Speaker 1: organization there. But you were saying, it's kind of exciting
Speaker 1: there's some big leaguers out there making some good progress,
Speaker 1: aren't there.
Speaker 8: Yeah, there are.
Speaker 10: There are definitely some big leaguers making great progress out here,
Speaker 10: varying stages of their return to play.
Speaker 8: We know some live.
Speaker 10: Vps that we're seeing go off some in game at
Speaker 10: bats from others. You know, it's been a lot of
Speaker 10: fun seeing them, and the progress has been, uh, you know,
Speaker 10: very very positive on that front. And like you said,
Speaker 10: we've got a lot of young players, a ton of
Speaker 10: energy who've come over from you know, our Dominican academy
Speaker 10: to play at our Arizona based academy, and you know,
Speaker 10: it's been watching them go out there and mix in
Speaker 10: that energy with some of the uh, you know, more
Speaker 10: established and service time players.
Speaker 8: So a really good mix of you know, positive.
Speaker 10: Trends from a return to play standpoint, but also really
Speaker 10: exciting to see some of the younger players go out
Speaker 10: and compete well.
Speaker 1: It is amazing. Goodyear Arizona. A lot of fans know
Speaker 1: it as the spring training home of the Guardians, and
Speaker 1: it surely is. But that is a year round facility
Speaker 1: with great things getting done all the time. AUSSI, thanks
Speaker 1: so much for coming bye. We'll catch up with you
Speaker 1: again soon.
Speaker 8: All right, thank you, Rosie.
Speaker 1: That is Stephen Osturer, the Guardian's vice president of player Development.
Speaker 1: We appreciate his thoughts on some of the progress made
Speaker 1: by many down at Double a acron. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it for our show this week is always thanks
Speaker 1: to Brian Motse for helping to put together the show
Speaker 1: each and every week. We will join you next weekend
Speaker 1: from Detroit. The big series against the Tigers, four games
Speaker 1: will be in full swing when we talk to you next.
Speaker 1: Until then, this is Jim Rosenhause reminding you that you've
Speaker 1: been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians
Speaker 1: Radio Network. This has got a chance to be another
Speaker 1: fun summer off the shores of Lake Erie. Guardians Weekly
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