Speaker 1: Dalton Rushing is our guest here in front of first
Speaker 1: pitch a camel back ranch Bob Garreton, a former catcher.
Speaker 1: Did you realize that Rushing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he shook my hand for the first time, and
Speaker 2: I could tell.
Speaker 1: Right those meat hooks. Dalton, what's this spring been like
Speaker 1: for you? After the great season you had last year
Speaker 1: and you being recognized for it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good getting comfortable around these guys more and
Speaker 2: more every day, and that's I think that's the only
Speaker 2: goal really, is just how can I be as comfortable
Speaker 2: as possible with as many pictures as possible, as well
Speaker 2: as obviously just the guys that surround me in the
Speaker 2: stuff out.
Speaker 1: You just have to remind yourself you don't have to
Speaker 1: try too hard. They know how good you are.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean it's you can watch me in spring
Speaker 2: training and you can tell, oh, he's swinging hard. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I swing hard in spring training. It's it's like this
Speaker 2: every years. It's almost a good thing for me. It
Speaker 2: shows me where my wall's at, and it's like, all right,
Speaker 2: I can swing this hard now. All right, season comes around,
Speaker 2: Let everything chill out a little bit, and then I
Speaker 2: get comfortable in the box. Yeah, it's still early. I
Speaker 2: don't pay too much about, obviously the numbers that you
Speaker 2: put up in spring, but yeah, like you said, I
Speaker 2: have been swinging pretty hard here as of recently.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's interesting. Not a lot of people would realize
Speaker 1: you're trying to give yourself a baseline.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it helps me understand what I have to do
Speaker 2: in the box to impact the ball. I think my
Speaker 2: only goal in spring training is to see as many
Speaker 2: pitches as possible just from a comfort standpoint. It allows
Speaker 2: me to one work better at bats in season, and
Speaker 2: then two just be able to be as well round
Speaker 2: hitter as possible.
Speaker 1: Under the radar news this spring was what Dave Roberts
Speaker 1: told us a couple of days ago, where the Dodgers
Speaker 1: don't plan on having you play left field anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like I said, it's whatever they want to do.
Speaker 2: They know I'm here, they know I'll do it. I
Speaker 2: do as they say, and whatever way I can find
Speaker 2: my way on this team, I'll do it. But yeah,
Speaker 2: as of recently, we've been kind of honing in on
Speaker 2: the catching side of things and just basically preparing me
Speaker 2: as much as possible to catch whenever that time comes.
Speaker 1: I never had a chance to ask you this, But
Speaker 1: you've been a catcher and all of a sudden and
Speaker 1: you're asked to play left field. What was that like?
Speaker 1: Did you feel alone out there?
Speaker 2: It was kind of all of a sudden, It wasn't.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say alone. Obviously, like Dodgers, we have tons
Speaker 2: of great outfielders in this organization. So there were tons
Speaker 2: of guys that helped me out day in, day out
Speaker 2: last year. And I mean, I can never say that
Speaker 2: I'm thankful enough for those things, because it's different. You
Speaker 2: go from behind the plate every day to bounce out
Speaker 2: the left field. It's a different look, it's a different feel.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I found myself getting pretty comfortable out there
Speaker 2: pretty quickly. But at the same time, like I said,
Speaker 2: whatever they want me to do, I'll figure it out
Speaker 2: and get it done.
Speaker 1: You know, Dalton Rushing is our guest, humble and hungry,
Speaker 1: trying to make his way toward the major leagues. You're
Speaker 1: sitting next to a couple of catchers. Hunter Producca's right
Speaker 1: next to you, and Chris Oki, who's the most mature
Speaker 1: man in this clubhouse, is a few seats down.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they're both great guys. Both great guys. We'll
Speaker 2: find out Monday what their game is on the links.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's great. See it's a friendly competition.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah. Absolutely. You spend so much time with these
Speaker 2: guys in a clubhouse, it's it's tough to really get
Speaker 2: to know them outside. So it's, uh, it's good to
Speaker 2: go do things like that. Even being in the same profession,
Speaker 2: same position, everything, you just create a better bond together
Speaker 2: doing things like that.
Speaker 1: As you hone your skills as a catcher. I've heard
Speaker 1: from some of the best that you have to be
Speaker 1: a servant to the picture. Are you do you embrace that?
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, it's you're serving to them. But you also,
Speaker 2: like every every picture clicks a different way. Every picture
Speaker 2: has a different tick for the way that they perform,
Speaker 2: the way that they go out there and perform at
Speaker 2: their best. I guess essentially, so some guys it takes
Speaker 2: a little heart to heart conversation up there, and then
Speaker 2: other guys you just go up there, Hey, tap them
Speaker 2: on the button, so let's go, like, hey, figure it out.
Speaker 2: You know, you know what to do.