Speaker 1: Well, the Tampa Bay Rays are in town, which means
Speaker 1: old friend Ryan Pepio is back in Los Angeles. Great
Speaker 1: to see him and his butler Mullet. Thanks a lot
Speaker 1: for the time appreciated.
Speaker 2: Thanks day, good back man.
Speaker 1: It is so good to see you. How's your season
Speaker 1: gone in Florida.
Speaker 3: It's been great, you know, really happy with where I am.
Speaker 3: Been a great group of guys in a great clubhouse,
Speaker 3: to be a part.
Speaker 1: Of one of the best pitchers, the Rays having their rotation.
Speaker 1: Despite my tweet, I feel shamed.
Speaker 2: Now, No, you're good. You had to do what you
Speaker 2: gotta do to your job. No, no, no, it's okay.
Speaker 3: It's okay. I don't need the spotlight. Yeah, Boz and
Speaker 3: Tajh and they're throwing the ball really well. So it's
Speaker 3: been fun to watch.
Speaker 2: You're having a great year too. Nineteen starts.
Speaker 1: Your era is below four three and a half in
Speaker 1: a tough Al East. Your whip I don't have to
Speaker 1: tell you. How have you been able to navigate such
Speaker 1: a tough division.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I think a lot of it was
Speaker 3: starting here in Los Angeles, you know, a tough division
Speaker 3: here and then going to another tough division just kind
Speaker 3: of feel like it prepared me a little bit, and
Speaker 3: then the pitching staff and department over in Tampa has
Speaker 3: been has been great, and just continuing efforts to just
Speaker 3: keep me throwing the ball and zone and letting guys
Speaker 3: get themselves out.
Speaker 1: It feels like young guys when they get traded. It
Speaker 1: kind of makes the the maturation process speed up a lot.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you had to grow up really
Speaker 1: quick after being traded?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like I kind of grew up a lot
Speaker 3: between my first and second year here in LA. But
Speaker 3: I think going through that whole experience and you know,
Speaker 3: getting the spring training and meeting everybody, getting down there
Speaker 3: early so I could get accimated to Florida and get
Speaker 3: accimated to everyone staff wise and the team really helped.
Speaker 3: But I think just going there and just fully buying
Speaker 3: in and just trust them what they had and what
Speaker 3: they saw in me and believed really helped.
Speaker 2: What's it? What's it like to be with the Rays?
Speaker 1: Kevin Cash and their pitching coach I heard is amazing.
Speaker 1: Does it feel like you just put on a different
Speaker 1: uniform but it's the same process.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love also was similar. I think a lot
Speaker 3: of just the main difference is maybe just the way
Speaker 3: things were messaged, you know stuff. Aaron Tampa's very simplified.
Speaker 3: Cash is great, really supportive, you know, he's he's always
Speaker 3: pulling for us and wants to steal our best and
Speaker 3: then snides on the pitching side and the rest of
Speaker 3: the pitching department, they've been great. They're just doing whatever
Speaker 3: they can to help help us continue to get better
Speaker 3: each between starts.
Speaker 1: Ryan Pepio is our guest in front of first pitch
Speaker 1: between the Dodgers and Rays. Pepio is not pitching in
Speaker 1: this series. He'll be pitching in Seattle against the Mariners.
Speaker 1: But it feels like the change up and everything else
Speaker 1: is still very Ryan Pepio this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, throw a lot of change ups. The
Speaker 3: fastball isn't good, slider mixing a little cutter, no more lefties,
Speaker 3: and then uh we talked about a five pitch mixed
Speaker 3: the other a couple of years ago, and that have
Speaker 3: about the curve ball back. So a little bit of
Speaker 3: a grip change that they helped me in Tampa with.
Speaker 3: So just you know, tinkering things and adding extra tools
Speaker 3: with the toolbox.
Speaker 1: How much are you keeping tabs on some of your
Speaker 1: former teammates like Gavin Stone or Bobby Miller. Are you
Speaker 1: watching those guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know, you go through the minor leagues, you
Speaker 3: go through seeing those guys get called up, you know,
Speaker 3: playing on the same team, you obviously want to follow
Speaker 3: all your buddies. You know, you go through a full season,
Speaker 3: you go through the grinds of an actual season with
Speaker 3: all those guys, You really get to know them because
Speaker 3: you end up spending more time with them in your
Speaker 3: own family. So just being able to see the success
Speaker 3: that those guys have had, and obviously I'm going to
Speaker 3: keep tabs on them because they're my buddies and I
Speaker 3: want them to do well. You know, you always want
Speaker 3: your friends to do well.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're the guy that is least surprised that
Speaker 1: Gavin Stone was able to make this jump. What is
Speaker 1: it about Gavin Stone that he has such an even
Speaker 1: keel personality.
Speaker 3: He's always been that way, always been even keel, had
Speaker 3: always been stone cold, So you know, he just goes
Speaker 3: out there and pitches. You know, I think similar to
Speaker 3: me my first year. You know, you kind of get
Speaker 3: your teeth kicked in a little bit and you kind
Speaker 3: of learn from it, and you know, sometimes you need
Speaker 3: that experience to you know, make the correct adjustments to
Speaker 3: see that when you do have some success, your stuff
Speaker 3: does play in the big league level and at this level.
Speaker 3: And just to watch him go out there and you know,
Speaker 3: take what he learned from last season and then go
Speaker 3: and have a stellar season like he has this year.
Speaker 3: It's it's been fun to watch them far.
Speaker 1: When you're part of a staff like you are with
Speaker 1: the Rays, you guys have some pretty good young pitch.
Speaker 1: And also next year you're getting back Shane McClanahan, so
Speaker 1: the future is even brighter with you part of it.
Speaker 1: What's it like getting to know some new pictures about
Speaker 1: the way they go about things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's cool because you know, coming from here, he
Speaker 3: had a lot of guys that he could bounce ideas
Speaker 3: off of, especially with kursh and Walker and Tony t May,
Speaker 3: all the guys and veteran presents. And then you go
Speaker 3: over to Tampa and you got the young guys like
Speaker 3: Baz and Taj, and then you have Springs and Rass
Speaker 3: and Shane. Because Shane's over a rehabbing in Tampa, so
Speaker 3: he's there every day, so you know, you get to
Speaker 3: bounce ideas and you get to learn stuff that I
Speaker 3: learned here and then also stuff that I learned from
Speaker 3: the guys in Tampa. And just take ideas from every
Speaker 3: single person and you know, fit what makes work for me,
Speaker 3: and maybe take a piece from one of the young guys,
Speaker 3: take a piece from somebody who's been doing it for
Speaker 3: a while, and you know, make it my own.
Speaker 1: Before I let you go, I was at Brad Paisley's
Speaker 1: bar when Eric Neander and Andrew Friedman made the trade
Speaker 1: to send you to Tampa Bay.
Speaker 2: I got to know Neander that night.
Speaker 1: He seems to be a great guy and really cares
Speaker 1: about his players.
Speaker 2: Have you had that experien with him?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely. Eric's been awesome. One of the first people
Speaker 3: to call me when everything went down and really just
Speaker 3: made me feel like I was at home, really made
Speaker 3: me feel and my wife, make us feel like we're
Speaker 3: coming to a good situation, and really eased our minds
Speaker 3: when everything was kind of going crazy. So you know,
Speaker 3: I'm really thankful for him and all the effort that
Speaker 3: he put in to make us feel comfortable and welcomed,
Speaker 3: because without that, you know, I would have been going
Speaker 3: crazy in my mind. But he's been great, nothing but
Speaker 3: nothing but great things to say about him.
Speaker 1: Hey, I watch more Raise games now than I ever
Speaker 1: did in my life, but I only watch them every
Speaker 1: fifth or sixth day when Ryan Pepio is on the mound,
Speaker 1: and I'll be watching on Monday night.
Speaker 3: You can't forget about Johnny and Clove too. You know
Speaker 3: you got other view Come on now, I.
Speaker 1: Want to see that blonde stash of Johnny DeLuca.
Speaker 2: It's there, it's there. He did shave it off for
Speaker 2: a little bit, but it's back. It's back.
Speaker 1: I get to watch de Luca when you pitch, that's
Speaker 1: when I check in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1: Thanks Ryan, great to see you, and I'm glad you
Speaker 1: keep me honest. I needed that in my life again.
Speaker 1: Somebody's got to Yeah right, Ryan Peppio, he's the fact
Speaker 1: checker right here. Thanks a lot for the time. Great
Speaker 1: to see that smile, and man, you never know full
Speaker 1: circle things sometimes happen in baseball. But we're keeping tabs
Speaker 1: on you in South Florida.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.