Episode 111: Outfielder + SP Preview And Spring Training Trip Wrap-Up

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 11 of the Marine Layer Podcast, whoever outfield and starting

[00:00:05] pitching preview will do a spring training wrap up as well for Speak Your Mind.

[00:00:11] This shows brought to you by our great friends over at Pagotches Pug 85.

[00:00:15] It's over in Kirkland.

[00:00:16] You've heard us talk about it.

[00:00:17] Guys, spring trainings, spring trainings, wrap it up.

[00:00:21] Regular season baseball is just around the corner.

[00:00:24] If you want a place to go watch, head over there.

[00:00:27] It's an awesome spot to go watch Mariners games.

[00:00:29] It's an awesome spot to go watch sporting events.

[00:00:31] Go watch March Madness over there.

[00:00:33] NFL drafts coming up here in a few weeks.

[00:00:35] You can watch that.

[00:00:36] If you do so, you want to hang out with your friends.

[00:00:38] You can have a great time, play some pool, eat some great food, have some great drinks,

[00:00:43] and you can go during happy hour and get some great meals.

[00:00:46] Happy hours.

[00:00:47] Money through Friday from 2 to 6 pm if features $3 domestic beers, $4 mannies, blue moons,

[00:00:52] $4 Mac and Jack's $4 wells, and $4 house wines if you want a great time with your friends

[00:00:58] and some great food and drink options.

[00:01:00] Head over there to Pagotch's Pub 85 in Kirkland.

[00:01:04] Before we start the show, here's your reminder.

[00:01:06] Rate and review, download our episodes if you're listening to the podcast, if you're watching.

[00:01:11] Like, comment, subscribe on YouTube, and then go check us out on social media on Instagram,

[00:01:15] TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube shorts at Marine LayerPod.

[00:01:20] Let's get it rolling.

[00:01:29] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer podcast, part of the Just

[00:01:35] Baseball Podcast Network, recording here on Thursday, March 14th.

[00:01:41] And we are two weeks away as of recording from first pitch of the 2024 season.

[00:01:47] Are you excited?

[00:01:48] Hell yeah.

[00:01:49] Haven't we had enough hypotheticals in this offseason already?

[00:01:53] It has been one long offseason.

[00:01:57] It's almost been an offseason that's had like three different stories within it, all

[00:02:02] within one.

[00:02:03] And finally we can get out of reading this book and get into reality with games about

[00:02:08] to start.

[00:02:09] I can't wait.

[00:02:10] You read a lot of books?

[00:02:12] Not as many as I should.

[00:02:13] Do you?

[00:02:14] No.

[00:02:15] No.

[00:02:16] Okay.

[00:02:17] Well there you go.

[00:02:18] Probably why it felt longer because we're struggling to get through it.

[00:02:19] Well there you go.

[00:02:21] Speaking of that, we're going to try to jump right into it today because we know we're

[00:02:26] going to have a bit of a jam pack show because Ryan Stanich signed and we had something

[00:02:30] to talk about on Wednesday before the goalie interview.

[00:02:32] We've got two previews to do today and a spring training wrap up.

[00:02:36] So we're going to jump right into it, but one little note before we do, we're going

[00:02:41] to have our guest on Friday of next week rather than Wednesday.

[00:02:46] Wednesday show is going to be a preview of the relievers of the bullpen and then Friday

[00:02:50] is going to be our minor league show with Jim Callis.

[00:02:52] So we're excited to have him back on recurring guests.

[00:02:55] He's going to do a preview with us again.

[00:02:57] So it'll be a Friday guest episode rather than Wednesday, but that's just one little programming.

[00:03:01] Otherwise, we've got a really good show today.

[00:03:05] Let's start with our outfielders and let's start with the person everyone expects us

[00:03:10] to start with.

[00:03:11] Julio Rodriguez, the Mariners Center fielder for the 2024 season coming off a 2023 campaign

[00:03:16] where he had in his own words, a down season with a 126 WRC plus just under six fan

[00:03:23] graphs wins above replacement, striking out about 25% of the time walking about six and

[00:03:28] a half percent of the time.

[00:03:29] And the expectations for Julio Rodriguez yet again in 2024 is for him to win the American

[00:03:36] league MVP.

[00:03:37] I'm putting it plain and simple Julio's expectation this year is an MVP award.

[00:03:44] It still never gets old to hear him say that was a down year.

[00:03:47] Can you imagine how many players read that quote and think to themselves?

[00:03:51] Dude, are you kidding me with that?

[00:03:53] Like I would give an arm and a leg to have a six war season once, once ever.

[00:03:58] And you're out here at 22 years old or in your age, 22 season calling that a down year.

[00:04:02] Yeah, Julio when 2020 is a rookie, he went 30, 30 in his second year.

[00:04:08] I don't think it's crazy to say he could go 40, 40 this year.

[00:04:11] I don't think it's crazy to say he could win the MVP.

[00:04:13] I don't think it's crazy to say he could put up eight or eight and a half wins, maybe

[00:04:16] even a little bit higher.

[00:04:18] There is no ceiling for this guy.

[00:04:20] I know he's only 23 and there's still some things he has to work on.

[00:04:24] There's no ceiling for what he can do this year.

[00:04:27] His words said it, but I think our eyes saw it as well last year.

[00:04:30] I mean, this has been well documented.

[00:04:32] I think you and I would agree though, right?

[00:04:34] We look at the we look at his numbers after last season and say, not wasn't it down

[00:04:40] year.

[00:04:41] Yeah, but you and I sat here at the end of the season and said, hmm, probably it probably

[00:04:48] was like the eye test showed

[00:04:50] it for a lot, a lot of time.

[00:04:52] It felt like well, yeah, because he struggled most of the first half.

[00:04:56] He had his numbers balloon thanks to a great August almost a historical August and then

[00:05:02] he faltered a little bit down the stretch in the back end of September when they really

[00:05:05] needed him.

[00:05:06] So yes, as a whole, who's complaining about a six-war season?

[00:05:10] Nobody, but you're absolutely right.

[00:05:12] When you break it up and I think Julio would tell you the same thing.

[00:05:16] That's what it more that's what we're more talking about.

[00:05:18] I don't think he wants to be O P or I don't think he wants to be WRC plusing in the mid

[00:05:25] to high 90s by the All-Star break this upcoming year or whatever it is.

[00:05:28] If he does again, I think he and a lot of other people would say, yeah, that's disappointing.

[00:05:32] I think he expects himself to be very, very much toward the top of the MVP race by that

[00:05:38] point.

[00:05:39] There's a couple things like we look for Julio in this what we want him to do here in 2024.

[00:05:47] Of course, he's going to be great.

[00:05:48] There's honestly not a whole lot because if you look at his Sevant page, it's a whole

[00:05:54] lot of red.

[00:05:55] It doesn't really overall have too many issues.

[00:05:59] People are going to talk about clutch.

[00:06:00] We've gotten multiple DMs like he guys talk about Julio not being clutch.

[00:06:04] Not being clutch.

[00:06:05] Yeah, it's well documented.

[00:06:06] He was clutch.

[00:06:07] He was not good in the ninth inning last year.

[00:06:09] He was not good when the team was behind and he was not good when the team was in high

[00:06:13] leverage situations.

[00:06:14] Those are all times when you want your star player to step forward and really present

[00:06:19] himself with the plate.

[00:06:20] He did not last season.

[00:06:21] He had a significantly negative fan graphs clutch score last year.

[00:06:25] That's also bad.

[00:06:26] That's also means Julio is not coming up in the biggest moments when the Mariners needed

[00:06:30] him.

[00:06:31] But there's one specific thing when it comes to his approach at the plate that I know

[00:06:34] Julio wants to cut out and some of the swing changes he made in the offseason where he's

[00:06:38] eliminating sort of the dip in his stance and the length and levers of his swing.

[00:06:45] It's a lot simpler.

[00:06:46] He's standing up straighter and he's not bending down as much when he's swinging.

[00:06:49] It's been chased a lot last year.

[00:06:52] He chased a lot of pitches outside the strike zone.

[00:06:55] And as hitters mature, as we've seen with Ronald Acunia, especially last year who made an

[00:07:00] enormous jump in terms of not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, eventually

[00:07:04] if Julio continues to play up to his talent.

[00:07:07] I feel like he's going to do the same thing.

[00:07:09] He might not drop to a Ronald Acunia level.

[00:07:11] I think it was 12% strikeout rate last year.

[00:07:14] That might not be Julio, but expecting superstars when they say they're going to improve their

[00:07:18] plate discipline to stop swinging at 41% of pitches outside of the strike zone.

[00:07:23] We'll take them at their word and usually that number decreases significantly.

[00:07:28] Julio might not be below 20% strikeout rate this year.

[00:07:32] He might take a couple of years to get to that point, but I feel like for successful

[00:07:36] 2024 Julio Rodriguez season outside of all the expectations.

[00:07:40] I mean, that's the biggest thing I'm looking at.

[00:07:43] He saw it with Mike Trout too early on in his career, early on phenomenal player, but he

[00:07:48] struck out a decent amount.

[00:07:49] He would often come up short on those high fastballs.

[00:07:52] He's always been a great lowball hitter, but he would whiff it some high fastballs a lot

[00:07:56] of the time.

[00:07:57] Then you saw him all of a sudden not, I mean, not only start to improve in that regard.

[00:08:02] But he started to walk more too.

[00:08:03] I think you'll see that with Julio as time goes on, who's to say it can't be this year?

[00:08:07] We've already started to see a little bit, to be honest with you.

[00:08:10] If you watch some of his spring training at bats, he's laid off a lot more pitches that

[00:08:15] he was previously chasing like a lot of those sliders that are just biting away from him.

[00:08:19] He started the layoff though and look at spring training we're going to need to see it in

[00:08:23] a full sample size of games over the course of 162.

[00:08:26] That's a good start.

[00:08:27] It's a good start when you see him start to put those off season goals and blueprints

[00:08:34] into action when he's playing in games because like we saw it ourselves with our own two

[00:08:38] eyes last week, he started to lay off a lot more of those pitches.

[00:08:41] That's a really good start.

[00:08:43] What stinks about all of that is he had better quality of contact overall last season than

[00:08:48] he did as a rookie, like a pretty good amount better, but it didn't matter because the quality

[00:08:55] of contact was offset by the fact he was swinging at pitches that weren't good to hit.

[00:09:00] When pitches aren't good to hit, you probably shouldn't swing at them so that led to overall

[00:09:05] less numbers.

[00:09:06] 20 points at WRC plus lower than his rookie season.

[00:09:09] 20 points.

[00:09:10] That's a pretty significant drop for any hitter in baseball no matter if you're a superstar

[00:09:15] or an everyday player.

[00:09:16] If your WRC plus goes down 20 points and season over season, something happened.

[00:09:22] That happening thing for Julio was continuing to chase a lot while having a very inconsistencies

[00:09:27] and at the plate.

[00:09:28] Here's one other interesting thing for Julio.

[00:09:31] Have you seen this drastic difference in his DRS and his OAA from last year?

[00:09:37] I mean, his DRS was negative five, but his out above average was 98th percentile.

[00:09:45] I mean we're talking about we're talking about bell curves before we started recording

[00:09:49] this episode.

[00:09:50] You have the OAA at the top at the right end of one bell curve and then you have the

[00:09:55] DRS at the other end of the bell curve of his defensive ability.

[00:10:00] Really strange, Dad.

[00:10:02] My I test told me he was still pretty good in center last year.

[00:10:06] OAA loves them.

[00:10:07] It's always loved him.

[00:10:08] His rookie year, he was in the 95th percentile.

[00:10:10] Oh, I mean we know he has good range.

[00:10:14] That's what OAA takes into account for the most part.

[00:10:16] And look, we've talked about it.

[00:10:18] It's good that there are metrics out there to measure defensive value, but these defensive

[00:10:22] metrics are still pretty new so they're not perfect, which is why there's such a drastic

[00:10:26] difference at times between DRS and OAA.

[00:10:29] Yeah, I think most people would tell you Julio Rodriguez is a damn good defender.

[00:10:34] I would say that.

[00:10:35] You would say that.

[00:10:36] I think most people would say that.

[00:10:38] So, DRS is DRS.

[00:10:40] I'm going to sit here and say he's one of the best center field centerfielders in baseball

[00:10:44] especially defensively because he is.

[00:10:47] I'm going to concur with that.

[00:10:49] You know, last thing from me on Julio, you know what could really benefit the guy this

[00:10:54] year?

[00:10:55] A good April.

[00:10:56] Really good April.

[00:10:58] You're talking about a guy who in his career, he's hitting 222 in the month of April.

[00:11:03] He's got an 88WRC plus in the month of April and a 665 OPS.

[00:11:08] That's his two seasons combined.

[00:11:09] Look, April and Seattle is tough.

[00:11:11] It's cold.

[00:11:12] It's rainy.

[00:11:13] The namesake of this podcast, the Marine Lair, very much plays into effect.

[00:11:17] It's not easy to hit in Seattle period especially early on during the year.

[00:11:21] But man, if Julio could just get off to a hot start and then just go, it's going to make

[00:11:26] such a drastic difference, not only mentally but just to see those numbers up on the scoreboard

[00:11:33] and see him like if he looks up there and it's like, oh I'm going off already.

[00:11:37] He can just coast the rest of the way.

[00:11:39] It's such a trend center for what he can do the rest of the year rather than having

[00:11:42] to play catch up like he did in August after a bad first half.

[00:11:46] We keep saying other marineries need to have a good April.

[00:11:49] It's really hard to see the mariners having a really good April without Julio also having

[00:11:53] a really good April.

[00:11:54] So the two go hand in hand if the mariners are going to get off to a hot start this season

[00:11:58] and it starts with Mr. 44 in center field.

[00:12:01] Yes, it does.

[00:12:02] And just like the start of the season could go as he goes, we know this team can go as

[00:12:07] he goes.

[00:12:08] If he has a true MVP season, sky's not just a limit for him.

[00:12:12] Sky's the limit for the mariners too.

[00:12:14] Okay, moving on to left field Luke Rayley recently acquired this off season from the Tampa

[00:12:20] Bay raise.

[00:12:21] This has been well documented.

[00:12:23] This is a player that had a tale of two halves.

[00:12:25] He lit the world on fire in the first half of the year in Tampa last year.

[00:12:29] In fact, when you split it up his first half he had a 925 OPS.

[00:12:34] Yeah, he crushed it in the first half.

[00:12:37] Second half was a little different and he had some injuries in the second half and that played

[00:12:40] a part, but he put up a 93 WRC plus and a 677 OPS in the second half.

[00:12:47] Luke Rayley is a good hitter, but they need some form of consistency out of him this year

[00:12:52] and that is something he has not yet done over a full season in his career.

[00:12:57] Is he not the most boomer bus player on this roster?

[00:13:00] Has to be.

[00:13:01] I think he is.

[00:13:02] I think he is.

[00:13:03] I think he gets some of his contact rates.

[00:13:05] Yeah.

[00:13:06] I think a Teosker Hernandez level profile when it comes to swinging at pitches both inside

[00:13:12] and out of the strike zone.

[00:13:14] You look at if you go on fan graphs and you look at his contact rates in and outs inside

[00:13:18] and outside the strike zone.

[00:13:20] I mean, they're both lower than league average.

[00:13:23] And some in some cases by a pretty significant amount that's not really an approach thing because

[00:13:29] pitch selection isn't really his issue.

[00:13:32] It is just being in contact and that comes down to the mechanics of the swing.

[00:13:39] And he is, you know, a guy who as we see struck out 31.5% at the time last year.

[00:13:49] I don't know if his contact rates are going to improve Seattle's certainly not a place

[00:13:52] where guys contact rates shoot through the roof unless your name's each row.

[00:13:56] So I wouldn't hold out hope for that.

[00:13:59] Can he manage it?

[00:14:00] Can he not go through an April where he's hitting 100 at the end of it?

[00:14:03] Can he can he get through that part?

[00:14:05] The worst thing that can happen for this is if he gets off to a Colton Long, Tomyla

[00:14:09] Stella, AJ Pollock start from last year.

[00:14:11] I mean, and things are just in the dumps and we reach the middle of May and there's some

[00:14:19] talks that people probably in the organization don't want to have because Luke Rayleigh should

[00:14:24] be a big part of his team last year.

[00:14:26] But his profile suggests that he's prone to being cold for a whole halves of a season

[00:14:32] just because of how little contact he makes.

[00:14:36] And that's not the kind of vibes you want you really want around this team, which is

[00:14:39] why it's that much more important for Luke Rayleigh to get off to a hot start this season.

[00:14:43] I will note he's not gotten off to a hot start in spring training.

[00:14:46] That's for certain.

[00:14:48] I would say to everybody freaking out about that.

[00:14:50] Let's take spring training with a grain of salt.

[00:14:52] Look, if guys are playing well in spring training, great.

[00:14:55] That's great.

[00:14:56] Obviously it's always better for guys to play better than worse.

[00:15:00] But if guys aren't playing well in spring, this is what spring trainings for JP Crawford

[00:15:04] aside from this year has never been a good spring training player.

[00:15:07] It hasn't affected him.

[00:15:08] It certainly didn't affect him last year.

[00:15:11] What were Scott services exact words?

[00:15:13] Let me know about JP Crawford.

[00:15:14] I think he said JP Crawford is not a good spring training player.

[00:15:18] I think JP knows that.

[00:15:19] I think Scott knows that.

[00:15:20] I think it's just well known at this point, right?

[00:15:22] Look, there's a lot of pros that Luke Rayleigh has to his game.

[00:15:25] It's funny.

[00:15:26] His platoon splits aren't that drastic.

[00:15:27] He actually hits both sides of the ball pretty well.

[00:15:29] He has more power against Rides.

[00:15:31] It's for a little more average against lefty, so that's a good sign.

[00:15:34] It shows that if he can get off to a good start and prove he can show some form of consistency

[00:15:40] at the plate, he doesn't necessarily need a platoon.

[00:15:43] That's going to be safe for the other outfield position we'll get to in a minute.

[00:15:46] Also I would say does some other things pretty well because this is a guy that barrels a ball

[00:15:52] up a lot when he makes contact.

[00:15:54] He draws barrels.

[00:15:55] He hits the ball hard.

[00:15:57] I'm not going to quite say his profile's Teosker Hernandez level, but there are some similarities.

[00:16:02] The issue with Luke Rayleigh is the strikeouts.

[00:16:05] He strikes out a lot like you mentioned and the problem is not just the strikeouts.

[00:16:09] It's the whiff.

[00:16:10] It's the swing and miss that really gets him.

[00:16:13] He can swing and miss close to 40% of the time.

[00:16:16] That is very high.

[00:16:18] I'm talking like first percentile of the league high when he's swinging and missing.

[00:16:23] With Luke Rayleigh, even more so than Julio, a good start is imperative for the guy because

[00:16:29] you're right.

[00:16:30] You don't want to bring in another guy that has Seattle problems with the bad weather and

[00:16:34] a slow start when there's decent expectation centered around him.

[00:16:37] It's pretty important he starts off hot and it's hard to do that in Seattle.

[00:16:42] It's also hard when again he hasn't played that many big league games and he hasn't had

[00:16:45] a full big league season but the Mariners really need him to start hot.

[00:16:50] So again, like platoon splits are good.

[00:16:52] Hits the ball hard but the swing and miss is going to be the make a break.

[00:16:56] Are we sure he's not platooning?

[00:16:58] Well, I mean if Dom Cam's own proves he can hit lefties and righties from both sides

[00:17:03] then sure.

[00:17:04] I feel like Rayleigh is more likely to platoon than Dom is.

[00:17:08] I'm going to be out like Rayleigh was...

[00:17:10] I would be a little surprised since Rayleigh was very much protected by the race last

[00:17:14] year from lefties.

[00:17:15] I mean he had what, 37 played appearances against lefties last year out of the 400 total

[00:17:20] he took.

[00:17:22] Very very very small sample size.

[00:17:24] You're right there's not a difference really in his platoon splits between lefties and

[00:17:28] righties but he did have 42 of his 45 extra base hits last year against right handed

[00:17:34] hurlers.

[00:17:35] I would lean as of right now that Luke Rayleigh will be platoon.

[00:17:39] I think they envision...

[00:17:41] We'll get to Dom here a second.

[00:17:42] Dom will be the guy who they want playing every day because especially with the more sustainable

[00:17:48] offensive profile that Dom has over what Luke Rayleigh has.

[00:17:53] So I mean a lot of really interesting things here about Luke Rayleigh.

[00:17:58] I think the other most important thing that he stays like on the roster, he's your...

[00:18:03] I was thinking about it.

[00:18:04] He's the backup center fielder for Julio.

[00:18:07] He played center last year a bit for the race.

[00:18:09] He's known as despite a guy who's like Julio size 64235.

[00:18:14] He's also a pretty decent speed demon on the base path.

[00:18:17] He's probably...

[00:18:18] He is probably your backup center fielder.

[00:18:21] So if you don't want to put him in the line of period A against lefties but B in general

[00:18:27] because he's struggling so much with his strikeouts, what if you want to give Julio a day

[00:18:30] off?

[00:18:31] Like that's going to be your guy in center it's not going to be Dom right unless you're

[00:18:35] going to make a roster move like Rayleigh makes a lot more sense in that case.

[00:18:39] Yeah it does and maybe this is a good transition over to the right field guys because look what

[00:18:45] I'm saying here is Luke Rayleigh if he hits doesn't have to platoon.

[00:18:49] We'll see how he does against lefties because time will tell but you're right that I think

[00:18:53] there is a world where they're really envisioning Dom Canzone is the everyday guy especially

[00:18:57] because he started to hit against lefties.

[00:19:00] So and look he's like the prime breakout candidate on this roster.

[00:19:05] He seems to have the same answer when he asks who's the guy that can really take a step

[00:19:08] forward this year.

[00:19:09] Everybody seems to say Dom Canzone.

[00:19:11] So let's start with him when we talk about the right fielders.

[00:19:14] This is a guy who was maybe the best hitter in all of minor league baseball, all of minor

[00:19:19] league baseball last year showed some flashes with the Mariners early on doesn't strike

[00:19:24] out a whole lot and is a guy that started to show and spring training this year he can

[00:19:29] hit lefties.

[00:19:31] And this season changes immensely if Dom Canzone hits.

[00:19:35] He doesn't need to hit like his minor.

[00:19:36] He doesn't need to be the best there on the team.

[00:19:38] He does not need to be the best hitting out fielder.

[00:19:40] He doesn't even really necessarily need to be like the second best hitting out fielder

[00:19:43] although I think in a peak season that's where Dom Canzone would fit in.

[00:19:47] Or is the second best hitting out fielder of this group with the tools he has shown.

[00:19:51] I mean he's overhauled a lot of things of his swing to be a little bit more efficient

[00:19:55] and utilize more of his tools without having an issue like we documented that he's been chasing

[00:20:00] a bunch that he spent a lot of last year as a guy who despite not striking out a whole

[00:20:05] lot.

[00:20:06] He didn't walk a lot because he ended up having to cheat and swing at a lot of pitches

[00:20:10] out of the strike zone.

[00:20:11] And he came to camp early to work with Brent Brown and Jerk DeHeart to get that crouch

[00:20:18] out of his swing.

[00:20:19] I think what that crouch was doing last year if I'm reading it correctly, that it was

[00:20:24] taking Dom too long to get fully loaded and load into his swing.

[00:20:29] Therefore by the time his leg was up, he had to make the decision to swing earlier than

[00:20:33] he wanted to which led him to swing at more pitches.

[00:20:35] And make sense.

[00:20:36] He chased more pitches out of the strikes on the Julio dead.

[00:20:41] More pitches.

[00:20:42] That's impressive judging that again as I mentioned Julio 10% more than Lee Gavrige.

[00:20:47] Dom was more than that.

[00:20:48] So Dom's got a Dom was working that out of his game.

[00:20:53] He put on some good muscle as well.

[00:20:55] So even if he's not going to hit for a ton more power, Dom can zones profiles probably

[00:21:01] at 20 home run player at his peak but all the good, all the good signs showing for Dom

[00:21:09] can zone of this 24 season for him to be the breakup candidate and the last thing here

[00:21:15] that's going to sting your eardrums.

[00:21:17] The Mariners will make answer when they got into this off season had a decision to make

[00:21:21] between two left handed hitting young outfielders, Jared Kellenick and Dominic Canzone.

[00:21:27] This is the guy they chose and Jared and Dom this is the guy they chose.

[00:21:32] This is the guy they wanted in the outfield to lead to help lead the Mariners into the

[00:21:37] future.

[00:21:39] So there's a okay amount of pressure on Dom can zones shoulders to perform because he

[00:21:45] starts gaffling a little bit the same things will happen unfortunately.

[00:21:49] Even though he's a guy.

[00:21:50] Oh no, I think they made that decision the minute they traded for Dom can zone.

[00:21:55] Kellenick had already kicked the cooler by that point and then you have two club controllable

[00:21:59] left handed hitting outfielders again we've talked about at this point how we think it

[00:22:04] was pretty much inevitable.

[00:22:06] Kellenick was getting traded this off season.

[00:22:08] We'll never know but if I had to guess I think they had decided on Dom can zone being

[00:22:12] the guy basically when they traded for.

[00:22:15] At some point they made that decision.

[00:22:17] So it like some point in 2023 they made that decision and well I'm just saying because

[00:22:24] they didn't trade for Dom can zone with six years of club control to then flip them

[00:22:28] three months later in the off season.

[00:22:29] I think when they made that trade they're like this is the guy.

[00:22:32] No, well yes, yes, they liked the profile but Dom was far from a finished product and

[00:22:37] I think this off season was a big part of advancing him further than that.

[00:22:41] There's a video on Twitter that of this week of him against who's against Darvish?

[00:22:46] Yeah, he was against Darvish.

[00:22:47] He put together like a really good play appearance was shown so very good discipline we mentioned

[00:22:51] the chase issues.

[00:22:52] He was not chasing in that at bat.

[00:22:54] I mean it's good things overall on a small sample size.

[00:22:57] We've seen everything we've wanted to see from Dom including his biceps which are nice.

[00:23:02] He's done a good job with those.

[00:23:04] Well like we asked them about spring training too.

[00:23:08] Exactly.

[00:23:09] We'll put that on our social media accounts at some point.

[00:23:12] I mean we did a lot of interviews with spring training one of them or a few of them were

[00:23:15] with Dom and that was one of the questions so at some point we'll put that out on social.

[00:23:19] I also think your low bowling is home run to I think 20s low for what is max home runs

[00:23:24] can be I think he can be a mid to high 20s home run guy.

[00:23:27] I don't think it's crazy say you can hit 25 bombs this year.

[00:23:31] I think you can hit that many.

[00:23:32] We'll see.

[00:23:33] I think I think this year will give us a good gauge on what Dom can zone's future is like

[00:23:37] he also needs to hit the ball in the air more to yeah but you know what he had six homers

[00:23:43] and 59 games in his first stint in the big leagues roughly that's close to 20 already.

[00:23:51] If you pro right that through a full season and that's a rookie like I think it can go

[00:23:56] up in 24.

[00:23:59] I would not be sure I think Goldie said the same things at some point not with us but

[00:24:03] somewhere else he said if you were to tell me Dom can zone was to hit 25 homers this

[00:24:06] year I'd say yeah I believe that.

[00:24:08] I'm kind of with him.

[00:24:09] I think the same thing I see no reason Dom can't be a 25 home run guy.

[00:24:13] He's got the power to do it.

[00:24:14] He's just got to eliminate a little bit of the chase and it seems like with this new stance

[00:24:18] that can help him do that a lot.

[00:24:20] And despite all of the negatives from last season with the now rework swing is old swing chasing

[00:24:28] too much he's still like really underperformed all was expected stats.

[00:24:31] You get really good expected stats in the minors came up to the bigs and still had pretty

[00:24:36] decent expected stats for someone who didn't do all that much damage at the plate.

[00:24:41] And very, very much underperformed that we tried to pick out a couple reasons why he

[00:24:46] might have underperformed that due to swing and a lot of pitches out of the strike zone.

[00:24:50] But the opportunity is there though for Dom knowing that even with his old stance

[00:24:56] he had a ton of upside and a ton of good quality contact at the big league level and he

[00:25:03] and he's got a good chance this year so I'll give that to Dom.

[00:25:08] I mean, dude, I'm just trying to just to remind people just give people a little bit

[00:25:12] of refresher of like what Dom can zone did the PCL last year.

[00:25:16] 354 431 634 with a 151 WRC plus walking and striking out 13% of the time.

[00:25:26] He's pretty good.

[00:25:27] He was pretty good.

[00:25:28] Yeah, like AAA as we know can be a band box with PCL but that is a real hitter.

[00:25:35] And the Mariners knew that when they traded for him.

[00:25:37] I'm not saying Dom can zone is going to hit 360 in the majors because nobody does not

[00:25:42] even Luis arise.

[00:25:44] But this guy can flat out hit and he can hit for power with authority.

[00:25:48] And like you said, if he hits this year that makes a huge difference for the Mariners

[00:25:52] and and and plain, plain and honest, I think he's going to.

[00:25:56] I think you're going to see him take a big step this year.

[00:25:59] And this is a good way to segue.

[00:26:02] Dom can zone played 59 games last year right in the majors and he kind of got his feet

[00:26:06] wet.

[00:26:07] And the next year he could really break out you know who that show, you know who that

[00:26:11] mirrors a little bit?

[00:26:13] Another guy who came over from the Diamondbacks after a shortston in the big leagues to the

[00:26:18] Mariners and then an age 26 broke out.

[00:26:22] That was Mitch Hanager.

[00:26:23] Hanager to be exact.

[00:26:25] He played 34 games with the Diamondbacks in 16 got traded over in the off season and

[00:26:29] then went off.

[00:26:31] That was long ago.

[00:26:33] He is now back in Seattle as we all know.

[00:26:35] He is going to be the left handed side of the platoon one way or another, whether it's

[00:26:40] with can zone or Rayleigh.

[00:26:41] He's going to hit lefties.

[00:26:42] It's our way to optimize his strengths and also keep him healthy.

[00:26:46] But first and foremost, I'm so happy Mitch is back like you can you can just tell the difference

[00:26:50] he already makes on a team of what's a lot of young players with the experience he has,

[00:26:55] the success he's had and just how well liked he is in the organization.

[00:26:59] Mitch Hanager was the guy they were missing last year.

[00:27:01] Like just the guy in the clubhouse to keep everyone in check.

[00:27:05] That was the one major concern from last year's team that there was no leadership on

[00:27:09] the team, that there is no no one who was ingrained in the team for a long enough time will

[00:27:14] also happen to be a veteran and predict and I wouldn't say predictably but they didn't

[00:27:20] live up to performance and a lot of the young guys struggled Julio more most importantly

[00:27:25] how important would have Mitch Hanager been the last year when Julio's going through

[00:27:28] his sophomore year slump probably probably would have made a pretty significant impact.

[00:27:32] But it's not only Mitch's impact on the field but it's like mix, mix, mitch is impact

[00:27:40] and his personal life off the field like reading all this stuff about Mitch Hanager and

[00:27:46] signing his deal with the giants in the early part of last year.

[00:27:50] Mitch Hanager would play his game with the giants go home and watch the Marinor game.

[00:27:53] That's what he would do.

[00:27:54] You think you wanted to be in Seattle?

[00:27:56] Yeah.

[00:27:58] How much how like what kind of impact does that make the fact that Mitch Hanager no longer

[00:28:02] has to go home and watch a different major league team on his television after the game is

[00:28:07] over the amount of the the amount of focus he can put on one singular team and on his preparation

[00:28:15] and on his health to impact this club.

[00:28:17] I'm really I really like this role for Mitch because Mitch is most likely done being an

[00:28:22] everyday player.

[00:28:23] I think not that his bad is not good enough but his health does not allow it.

[00:28:27] It does not allow it.

[00:28:28] He's he's had some fluke injuries in his career.

[00:28:31] He's had like he had some back and oblique issues last year, which when they spring up there

[00:28:38] tough to get rid of and they're tough to swing through a season and Mitch Hanager's missed

[00:28:44] time last year really showed that.

[00:28:46] But now he's not going to have to worry about that.

[00:28:48] He's going to get true days off where he's going to sit on the bench.

[00:28:51] He might pinch it but that's it because the Mariners more likely did not won't get many

[00:28:55] D H days for Mitch Hanager.

[00:28:58] They won't throw him in center field like they didn't his first sin.

[00:29:02] He's going to be a right fielder and a pinch hitter this year for the Mariners against

[00:29:08] primarily lefties and the platoon splits as he's aged have gotten a little more discreet

[00:29:15] even though if you dial it back to 2021, they were pretty even same with 2018 and his

[00:29:21] best season as a Mariner.

[00:29:22] They're pretty even used to be like that not anymore for Mitch Hanager.

[00:29:26] So his role this year is going to be it's going to be crucial because he's going to need

[00:29:30] to play well but he's also going to need to play well in in short spurts with not being

[00:29:36] able to get in the rhythm of playing every single day.

[00:29:40] You got to give credit to the Mariners because they know with the lineup they've acquired

[00:29:44] and pieced together.

[00:29:45] There are guys on this team who are injury prone and credit to the M's they're doing everything

[00:29:50] they can to keep guys healthy and on the field.

[00:29:53] They know Mitch Garver gets injured, they say look Mitch you're not going to catch anymore

[00:29:58] or at least like unless it's an absolute emergency your D H'ing we're going to keep you healthy

[00:30:02] we're going to keep your bat in the lineup because we need you.

[00:30:05] We need you too Mitch Hanager so how can we do that?

[00:30:08] You're going to hit lefties which is your strength you'll play half the games you'll pinch

[00:30:12] hit you'll have more days off you can stay healthy.

[00:30:16] If they can do that that is imperative because you cannot lose all these guys at the same

[00:30:21] time or you're going to be really reaching for impact out of guys that you weren't previously

[00:30:26] relying on.

[00:30:27] You are relying on Mitch Hanager and Mitch Garver and Jorge Polanco and players like that

[00:30:31] to make an impact so if there are ways that you can optimize their health do it and the

[00:30:35] Mariners are doing it so to have Mitch play in this role and get back to Seattle be a clubhouse

[00:30:41] leader it's perfect and look the way he's played this spring the guys OPSing like 1450

[00:30:48] which I'm sure will not carry over to the regular season but if he can play in this role

[00:30:52] and be a 110 to 115 WRC plus guy you won't hear a word out of me I'll tell you what

[00:30:58] that is everything they could have bargained for and more out of Mitch.

[00:31:01] It's always good to have a number 17 and Teal isn't it?

[00:31:04] It is it is some say he might be superior to another 17 a 17 he took away an extra

[00:31:11] base hit from earlier this week on the Dodgers.

[00:31:13] Wasn't that over the wall?

[00:31:14] Wasn't that over the wall?

[00:31:15] Isn't that a homer?

[00:31:16] I don't think it was a homer.

[00:31:17] I think it would have been like a double.

[00:31:19] It's close.

[00:31:20] It's close.

[00:31:21] In conclusion Mitch better than show Hey confirmed here on the Marine Lier pod sorry not

[00:31:27] sorry people are saying people are saying.

[00:31:29] Well high expectations for this Mariners outfield this year.

[00:31:35] It is it's going to be a fun group if they can all stay on the field and for the first

[00:31:40] time in a while I mean you have four guys you all look at and say these guys can all

[00:31:45] impact the game in multiple ways whether it be bat defense speed and youth to you have

[00:31:52] the combination of everything like Luke Rayleigh for example this will be only a second

[00:31:57] full big league season.

[00:31:59] That's it.

[00:32:00] Yeah pretty exciting.

[00:32:02] It is last thing before we move on and this is not statistically driven or anything like

[00:32:08] that this is just a vibes thing and a feel good thing.

[00:32:12] I can't wait to see Mitch get announced on opening night CD ovation he gets people are

[00:32:15] going to be fired up to see him back in Seattle.

[00:32:18] We've already seen it in Arizona the types of ovation he's gotten.

[00:32:21] It's going to be different when he's back at T mobile.

[00:32:24] Before we get to our starting pitching preview let's hear a word from our friends at simply

[00:32:29] Seattle with the season coming up here quickly two weeks from opening day as of today.

[00:32:35] It would be the best time to go to simply Seattle and get all of your favorite mariners

[00:32:38] gear you can use our code marine 15 for 15% off your order at checkout whether you're

[00:32:44] a mariner fan see how fans on X huskies crack in whatever you want that specific Northwest

[00:32:49] sports themed you can go to simply Seattle dot com and use our code marine 15 for 15%

[00:32:55] off your order.

[00:32:57] Now to the starting pictures and starting off with the rock Louise Castillo top five

[00:33:03] Sai Young favorite in the American league this year coming off a three and a half win

[00:33:07] season in 2023.

[00:33:10] And man, this dude just keeps on rolling into his thirties the rock is going to keep chucking

[00:33:17] it this year for the mariners.

[00:33:20] Look you finished fifth and Sai Young voting last year who's to say he can't replicate

[00:33:24] that or build on that here in 2024 what's unbelievable about Louise and a while back we

[00:33:30] talked to Jason Churchill about this and he said you know I think the mariners believe

[00:33:35] when they traded for Louise Castillo they could get even more out of him than the reds

[00:33:40] were getting.

[00:33:41] And in a lot of ways we've seen that Louise Castillo's fastball was not this good in terms

[00:33:46] of production and value when he was in Cincinnati it is skyrocketed since he's gotten to Seattle

[00:33:52] guys do not hit it guys have serious trouble square enough Louise Castillo's fastball

[00:33:58] and it has been his go to pitch over the last year and a half in his tenure in Seattle

[00:34:03] it's been his bread and butter and the guy he works off it he has a ton of success with

[00:34:08] it his sinkers started to get that much better like for a guy that's entering his age 31

[00:34:13] season I still think he's getting better.

[00:34:17] It's interesting with Louise he's getting better but he's honestly evolving you can really

[00:34:22] see the mariners imprints on Louise Castillo.

[00:34:26] Last year was the first year he was not a primary primarily ground ball pitcher first time

[00:34:31] ever and I don't think it's any secret that directly correlates with the fact he threw

[00:34:36] his fastball get this 400 more times than he's ever thrown any pitch in any season of

[00:34:42] his career last year.

[00:34:44] He threw his fastball more than he has thrown any pitch of any season of his career so

[00:34:51] safe to say he was living and dying by the heater last year his four seam fastball was

[00:34:56] his bread and butter in 2023.

[00:34:59] Is he going to continue doing that in 2024 I would have to think so but there's some

[00:35:04] drawbacks with that Louise Castillo got hit a little bit harder last year gave up a lot

[00:35:08] more fly balls had a lot less ground balls and as we've known and as we've seen the mariners

[00:35:12] sculpt their bull pin this way you want less home runs and more ground balls Louise

[00:35:18] Castillo's going away from both of those in an effort to utilize his best pitch on the

[00:35:22] bottom.

[00:35:24] As long as his velocity stays where it is I think he'll be fine I think he'll be fine

[00:35:29] he'll continue throwing he'll get over 200 innings this year he'll get over 200 strike

[00:35:33] outs as well he'll be at all star he'll be fantastic I just think it's a very a very interesting

[00:35:39] and curious philosophical shift for Louise Castillo to go even farther into this realm of

[00:35:46] living and dying by his fastball again this year we spent the end at the end of last season

[00:35:52] looking at Louise Castillo's slugging percentage on his fastball in 2022 and like wow that

[00:35:58] is an incredible number under 200 against a fastball well that number sort of regressed

[00:36:02] back even though hitters weren't hitting it the slugging numbers adjusted back to what

[00:36:06] they should for the batting average hitters hit against it I hope that doesn't creep

[00:36:11] further in that direction up and hopefully it comes back down instead because that is

[00:36:16] a big key to Louise Castillo success this year again like you just documented it but

[00:36:22] it is a guy who relies heavily on the fastball all of a sudden it's funny because he used

[00:36:27] to rely on the change up like early in his career his change up was dominant I don't really

[00:36:32] know exactly what's happened to it over the years it's not really a wipe out pitch for

[00:36:37] him anymore in fact like the last couple of years it's been his weakest offering just

[00:36:41] in terms of run value so he is a guy that totally relies on his fastball now but to your

[00:36:46] point more on the positive side about getting into the Mariners pitching lab his commands

[00:36:50] as good as it's ever been like he's walking the fewest amount of guys that he's ever

[00:36:55] walked by a basis of walk rate in his career he has never thrown this many strikes so he

[00:37:01] is he is throwing his fastball more effectively and he's throwing more strikes so with that

[00:37:07] comes the regression of the change up a little bit but it's still also when it all balances

[00:37:12] out says top five in ALC young voting all star ace in the best rotation in baseball like

[00:37:20] the guy this guy is everything they've paid him to be he's everything they traded for him

[00:37:24] to be and I think he's going to continue to do that.

[00:37:27] It's remarkable how he's almost pitched through like glaring red flags when I when I mentioned

[00:37:32] the home runs he gave up a ton more home runs than he had the season prior when he first

[00:37:39] got traded to Seattle his average launching against tripled against him in the last three

[00:37:45] seasons it is tripled so usually when you look at a pitcher and you see that you go oh my

[00:37:53] god that's not a good thing but somehow this dude pitches through it.

[00:37:59] It's one of the more incredible things and which is why when I always come back to this

[00:38:06] doctor and when talking about pitchers the worst thing you can do is be average anything

[00:38:10] Luis Cazio is certainly not average his arm slot the release point of his fastball the

[00:38:17] movement profile of it is as unique as it gets and he utilizes it by throwing it as much

[00:38:22] as he humanly as he humanly can it's it's it's pretty incredible.

[00:38:26] Yeah and that fastball sinker has done wonders for the guy throwing the strike throwing has

[00:38:33] done wonders for the guy until the honest he might have finished higher and say young voting

[00:38:37] had he not got blown up in his last two starts of the year because the ZRA was even lower

[00:38:41] before that and then it ballooned up a little bit so take those out well we might have

[00:38:47] been a finalist for the guy young and we expect him to be a finalist this year.

[00:38:52] Correct another guy that could be a finalist the guy that's going to pitch right after

[00:38:56] him George Kirby not quite the strikeout guy Luis says but comes off of four and a half

[00:39:02] F four season last year led the league in walks per nine I mean like the only glaring issue

[00:39:09] in this guy's game and I don't even know if you really call it an issue it's more about

[00:39:13] preference of George Kirby is how many guys he's going to strike out that's the only

[00:39:19] thing when you look at his profile that says yeah this has to get a lot better that and

[00:39:23] he could still give up a few less hard hit balls but it's really those two things otherwise

[00:39:29] you're talking about a guy who has already cemented himself as a top 12 to 15 pitcher in

[00:39:35] this sport.

[00:39:37] There's no arm that has the upside that George Kirby does in baseball really could you

[00:39:41] name another one I don't think there is again if his strikeouts go up when you pair that

[00:39:47] with the walk rate and his unbelievable strike throwing ability you pair those two things

[00:39:54] and it becomes what DeGrom like like seriously if he starts striking out more guys paired

[00:40:00] with that command who else does that baseball.

[00:40:06] Nobody nobody at all.

[00:40:09] Nobody.

[00:40:10] Nope.

[00:40:11] This is a guy that you said you said top 10 to 12 starting pitcher.

[00:40:17] Do you want to go go over to the fine folks at MOP network and fill fill them in on that

[00:40:22] fact because I don't think I don't think they quite got it.

[00:40:26] You know what they ranked him low?

[00:40:28] Way too low 20th among starting pitchers.

[00:40:33] Yeah.

[00:40:33] You want to hear some guys they ranked in front of him?

[00:40:36] Pablo Lopez.

[00:40:37] Yoshinobu Yamamoto who is not throwing a single pitch in a big league uniform that counts.

[00:40:43] Tyler Glass now who has hardly pitched the last few years and Kyle Bradish.

[00:40:49] George better than George Kirby?

[00:40:51] No.

[00:40:52] Give me George every day of the week.

[00:40:55] Dude Kyle Bradish has like feasted off good luck especially last year.

[00:41:01] I'm pretty sure all his peripherals screamed like you got super lucky.

[00:41:05] Yeah I'm taking George Kirby over all those guys maybe we're biased because we're Mariners fans but

[00:41:10] when you look at the profile of George Kirby.

[00:41:13] I don't think any compared to the others.

[00:41:15] I mean, you're just you're talking about seven pitches a guy who doesn't walk guys

[00:41:19] and he throws 100 miles an hour.

[00:41:21] Yeah yeah yeah that checks out and the other thing the Mariners love about George Kirby

[00:41:26] and the thing I love about George Kirby.

[00:41:28] He's the best big game pitcher they have.

[00:41:30] He has some clonkers for sure.

[00:41:32] He had some clonkers against some bad teams last year.

[00:41:34] I remember the pirate start.

[00:41:35] We gave up set no the pirates at seven bombs.

[00:41:38] I don't know did he give up all seven of those regardless.

[00:41:41] He got he got blown up in that start.

[00:41:44] The pirates hit quite a few over the wall but when we're looking at the 10 starts.

[00:41:50] Kirby had against the Astros and the Rangers.

[00:41:52] He had a 114 ERA last year against the Astros and a 126 ERA against the Rangers.

[00:41:58] That's a dog.

[00:41:59] That is a dog on the mound.

[00:42:02] Oh and against the American league leading Baltimore Orioles.

[00:42:06] Oh only probably the best start the Mariners had all of last season.

[00:42:10] The nine shutout innings on Felix's retirement night.

[00:42:13] One of the best pitch games outside of Felix's perfect game that I've ever watched

[00:42:17] on television.

[00:42:18] Truly incredible.

[00:42:20] The question I have for George Kirby is like you mentioned at the start.

[00:42:23] Is he actually gonna I'm curious?

[00:42:25] Is George want to strike out badders or is he going for efficiency soft contact on the ground

[00:42:32] with his multitude of pitches keeping guys off off the plate and off the barrel?

[00:42:38] Is that what he wants?

[00:42:40] I feel like the way George Kirby pitches he could legitimately do whatever he wants.

[00:42:45] I'm dead serious.

[00:42:45] This dude picked up a two-seamer last year just for the shits and gigs

[00:42:49] and it's like the best two-seamer in baseball.

[00:42:52] So I have a feeling if George Kirby really really wanted to devastating strikeout pitch.

[00:42:57] I feel like he could dig one out.

[00:43:00] But that might not be who he is because he's like hey listen,

[00:43:03] I want to get through seven eight innings on regularity.

[00:43:06] If you strike out too many guys your pitch count is going to go up and you're going to get taken

[00:43:09] out of the game too early.

[00:43:11] It's interesting.

[00:43:12] I'm it is something gonna pop up this year for George Kirby to strike more guys out.

[00:43:17] It's kind of interesting.

[00:43:19] It's like the Ichiro thing and how they always talked about well if he wanted to hit for power

[00:43:23] he could have hit for power but he doesn't feel like he would have been the productive hitter

[00:43:27] that he quite needed to be if he had sold out for power.

[00:43:30] He preferred to hit for average and you could be right about George Kirby.

[00:43:33] That could be his philosophy too.

[00:43:34] He could say look strikeouts are fun but you know it's not fun.

[00:43:38] Getting yanked out too early in games because my pitch count gets too high.

[00:43:41] So he says let's be a little more economical.

[00:43:44] Let's get some ground balls.

[00:43:45] I'll pitch that way.

[00:43:46] Have a variety of pitches that all work even if they're not high strikeout pitches

[00:43:50] because it's case per nine or never that high.

[00:43:52] At least not yet they're not.

[00:43:54] So what does he do in 2024?

[00:43:58] He could really go either way but for how he's fair in his first two seasons

[00:44:03] he may just prefer to pitch more economically and say yeah like I'll pitch the ground balls instead

[00:44:10] look at how good I've been regardless of it.

[00:44:12] So again I would say the only things with Kirby are which side of the coin he picks and either

[00:44:19] are fine or either more than fine they're good.

[00:44:22] The one thing is he could give up a few less hard hit balls like that's the one area of his profile

[00:44:28] that could still use a little bit of fine tuning.

[00:44:31] He did give up some hard hit balls the time last year.

[00:44:33] It's to your point about how he would sometimes have some clonkers but if he can shore that up

[00:44:37] a little bit you're talking about like this guy's ceiling I legitimately believe

[00:44:42] is the best pitcher in baseball.

[00:44:45] If like if he strikes guys out at a high enough rate that's his ceiling.

[00:44:50] He can win multiple Saiyans with the command he has with the pitch repertoire he has everything.

[00:44:57] It's just a matter of is this in year three the year he goes from being what I would already call

[00:45:01] a great pitcher I wouldn't just call him good I'd call him great to being like a top two to

[00:45:06] three pitcher in baseball.

[00:45:08] I'm also wondering if George is going to increase his splitter usage this year he threw it

[00:45:13] about six percent of the time last year but we could tell the immense difference between the guy

[00:45:18] we're going to talk about next and George Kirby's splitter usage like night and day Logan

[00:45:23] Gilbert splitter you should turn into a strikeout pitch flat out.

[00:45:27] George Kirby didn't really and none of George's secondary pitches are that outlier strikeout

[00:45:33] pitch that you can get where you're like I'm going to get a strikeout 40 percent of the time with

[00:45:37] his pitch he doesn't really have that not as curve ball not his slider those aren't those aren't

[00:45:41] it those aren't strikeout pitches not the way he's thrown them last season so interested to see

[00:45:48] for George I feel like he will do what he chooses because he is that good.

[00:45:55] Let's move on to the next guy Logan Gilbert we talked about I mean this is a third guy who

[00:46:00] he might not be as favored in the eyes of Vegas to win a psi young but like this is an all-star

[00:46:07] caliber pitcher and Logan Gilbert who's going to continue to get better continue to throw the

[00:46:11] the baseball harder and we talk about unique profiles the way his fastball comes out the way

[00:46:18] his extension allows him to look like he's throwing 100 miles an hour all while developing a pretty

[00:46:24] decent slider and a splitter yet last year that he learned and turned it to all the sun one of

[00:46:32] the best strikeout pitches in this entire rotation and another guy I'm I'm very excited to watch

[00:46:38] Logan Gilbert coming up here in 2024 how many guys is he going to strike out with that splitter

[00:46:45] could be a lot I mean it looks deadly and we know Logan Gilbert is not shy about

[00:46:51] not fine tuning his arsenal that's not the right word but building on it improving on it like

[00:46:58] this is a guy who can throw a lot of pitches and this is a guy who by the way you mentioned a slider

[00:47:03] I think it was really good last year and the numbers say it was really good but you know what can

[00:47:08] make him even better with the slider and with the splitter if he can get some of the effectiveness

[00:47:14] of his fastball back like early on in Logan Gilbert's career his fastball was absolutely deadly it had

[00:47:19] hitters off balance all the time didn't quite have the same effectiveness last year but if he can

[00:47:26] get some of that back and you have three deadly pitches like this is another guy that can be in the

[00:47:32] Saiyong running this is how good the Mariners rotation is in 2021 Logan Logan Gilbert's fastball was

[00:47:38] just was deadly now if you can take that fastball and this splitter and the slider from 2023

[00:47:47] and he's got other pitches in his arsenal like such a unique arm that gets crazy extension he gets

[00:47:52] right on top of you he could take another big jump in year four so if you look at the three top

[00:47:58] starters in the rotation Castillo Kirby and Gilbert the difference between Gilbert and Castillo

[00:48:04] and Kirby is Castillo and Kirby have two different fastballs each so they can keep hitters

[00:48:10] a little bit you know dancin in the box and the ball will always move a different direction

[00:48:15] away from the barrel Logan doesn't really have that which is why he added the cutter this

[00:48:19] offseason he wanted that second fastball to move away from the barrel because if there's one thing

[00:48:26] that's Logan is really struggled with in his career he has gotten hit really hard and I mean really

[00:48:33] really hard it's improved year over year through three seasons of big league baseball but it is yet

[00:48:38] to improve past league average and I think this is the year Logan expects that to go past league

[00:48:44] so that's why he's adding the cutter he wants to have a different look coming out of his hands

[00:48:49] that moves with the velocity of a fastball about 95% of a fastball but also moves away from the

[00:48:56] barrel so guys aren't hitting it as hard the other thing for Logan he's never been a ground ball

[00:49:02] pitcher was mentioned in earlier you want to have more the more ground balls you have as a starting

[00:49:07] pitcher as a pitcher in general the more successful you're going to be and Logan has been bad getting

[00:49:12] ground balls really bad and there's a reason he's gotten hit so hard in his career because it's

[00:49:17] a lot of hard contact and a lot of stuff in the air last year it finally went over 40% I think he's

[00:49:24] envisioning with a cutter a few more soft ground balls on the ground with that pitch to help

[00:49:30] when he's not striking guys out get some easier outs and less hard hard hard fly balls

[00:49:37] yeah and again this is why the guy is always building on his arsenal not that other guys aren't but

[00:49:45] Logan Gilbert is very very tuned in on like his analytics his pitch profile and he's talked about it

[00:49:52] so it doesn't shock me at all that he's always tinkering with things to try and be the best

[00:49:57] version of himself that he can I don't know if it has anything to do with that bag of tricks he always

[00:50:01] has walking around with him I don't like people have seen that bag Logan Gilbert carries around

[00:50:07] I know you always talk about it as somebody who loves pitching you're always like what is in that

[00:50:10] bag because he got like a million different things that he takes around with them at the field

[00:50:15] and it's just the guy that again is always kind of fine tuning things and to your point again this

[00:50:21] is why he's adding yet another pitch he says look I can get more ground balls here's a way for me

[00:50:26] to get more ground balls here's a way for me to get hit less hard here's a way for me to be even

[00:50:30] better than I've been in seasons past so look so yeah he's already got the slider he's already got

[00:50:37] you know what can be a really good fastball he's already got a few other pitches like maybe this

[00:50:42] can be yet another right yeah and year four is always it just to think like for this will be

[00:50:49] the fourth year for Logan Gilbert which is pretty incredible when you think about me and you being

[00:50:53] at his debut pretty incredible that this is already the fourth major league season of Logan Gilbert

[00:50:59] pretty remarkable that we're finally now gonna he probably finally thinks I'm gonna have the right

[00:51:05] balance of pitches to be my best self right which is good this could be a fluky thing and this

[00:51:11] will be my last thing on Logan but isn't weird at all he pitches actually worse at home than on

[00:51:16] the road like his home area is almost four on the road it's it's in the three fives not much different

[00:51:24] to be honest like there's not a much not enough variation there for that to be like the problem

[00:51:29] that's it's probably fluky as you said okay but well but but over what's essentially been a three

[00:51:34] year career so far I don't know that's 50 points difference there's 40 points difference

[00:51:39] half I don't put too much stock in half a run all right two on personally then it probably

[00:51:44] is fluky and that's why I'm asking yeah okay those are the three guys that are gonna pitch at

[00:51:50] the top of the rotation there are two guys in this rotation going into their second year of

[00:51:55] big league baseball the first one is one Bryce Miller a guy that when he is at his best

[00:52:01] throws a deadly fastball does not walk guys and when you look at the start of his season last year

[00:52:08] it was on a heater first few starts he was almost untouchable but his first half and second half

[00:52:13] were a tale of two different stories so the question for Bryce Miller becomes what can he be

[00:52:19] in 2024 well he's taken some steps to try and be a little bit of a different pitcher

[00:52:24] he's adding his splitter which is showed a lot over the offseason it looks really good on video

[00:52:29] it's had some success in early spring training games so far but the question is what can Bryce

[00:52:35] Miller be in 2024 when Bryce came up there were some Spencer Strider comps because of the fastball

[00:52:45] both of them have writing fastballs high velocity writing fastballs so when Bryce Miller comes out

[00:52:52] in his first handful of starts is throwing 70% fastballs he were like oh he got the diamond and the

[00:52:57] rough got him but this is why you gotta pitch through a full season for Bryce and as he realized

[00:53:06] in his fastball got a little more predictable the location wasn't quite as good it got hit

[00:53:11] around a little bit there there's a lot of things that Bryce Miller needs to check off here in

[00:53:17] a second season the first thing I put it as simple he's got to just find a way to throw his fastball

[00:53:23] less than 60% of the time significantly less than 60% that's where he ended his season last year

[00:53:30] if you're curious because I threw out the strider comp before they throw their fastballs

[00:53:35] Bryce last year strider last year they threw it the same amount but as you can tell

[00:53:41] and as you probably mentioned if you read about Spencer Strider he's a true unicorn not something

[00:53:46] that's really replicable from for his profile so Bryce needs to find a way to be Bryce

[00:53:54] this upcoming season that's why he added a splitter to add that strikeout pitch something he did

[00:53:59] not have his short slider last year not a sweeper pitchy pretty much scrapped as he went through last

[00:54:07] season his short slider was decently effective but overperformed a little bit by some expected stats

[00:54:14] so he's got to find ways to get people off of his fastball and to overall just throw his fastball

[00:54:20] less because that's how he's going to be his best self like Bryce Miller's fastball is so good when

[00:54:28] it's on and we don't when he doesn't have to rely on it too much it's such a good pitch there's

[00:54:34] a reason he got Spencer Strider comps but when it's too predictable and you don't have secondaries

[00:54:40] to go with it that are really working like that's when you run into trouble and I think a lot of the

[00:54:45] second half that's where Bryce Miller saw himself run into trouble now if his slider can take

[00:54:50] another step because it was good last year the short slider the one he's sticking with

[00:54:55] and this splitter is really as effective it is that it appears it has the potential to be

[00:55:02] then the fastball you should usage can come down he can use it in more favorable counts he can use

[00:55:08] it up he can play it up he can use it to really punch out hitters and then also use the second

[00:55:14] aries when needed because if he's pitching off his fastball this is a guy that can be more like

[00:55:20] the guy you saw early in the year I'm not saying he's going to have a 1 ERA all season but he can

[00:55:26] look a lot like the Bryce Miller that was the guy that debuted and really use that fastball well

[00:55:32] but also can mix in some of the second areas to keep hitters off out and less like the guy who

[00:55:38] hitters started waiting for it hitters started time in it up because they knew it was coming

[00:55:43] like that has to happen a lot less than year two and you know what when you're a rookie pitcher

[00:55:48] and you have to work through things in year one it's not that crazy to have what happened to Bryce

[00:55:53] Miller occur so in year two and a new and improved pitch well an improved pitch in the slider

[00:55:59] and a new pitch in the splitter yeah he's got the tools to really step forward stuff plus says

[00:56:04] Bryce Miller has by far the best fastball on the team by far especially amongst starters by

[00:56:10] for the best fastball of those five so we need Bryce needs to find a way to utilize that properly

[00:56:17] the other thing would just similar with Bryce and Brian Wu not surprising for a rookie pitcher but

[00:56:24] they really struggle against lefties really struggled against lefties I'm going to break out this

[00:56:32] calm I saved it for Brian I had it written down for Brian Wu but it compares for both both

[00:56:38] both Brian Wu and Bryce Miller so I'm just going to break it out now because I wow I can't sit on

[00:56:41] this any longer it's one of one of my best some of my best work of all time so Brian Wu and

[00:56:47] Bryce Miller against righties this year they made righties look like a betoro but lefties hit both

[00:56:55] of them like one sodo just for some context a betoro as right handed hitters one sodo as left handed

[00:57:03] hitters polar opposites so I love to say you're wrong but the numbers do back that up so Bryce

[00:57:15] Miller specifically had righties putting up a 549 OPS against them for the year and he had lefties

[00:57:23] putting up a 917 OPS like that's what lefties averaged against the guy so yeah that's going to

[00:57:29] have to come down in year two yeah it's going to have to and we're anticipating some improvements of

[00:57:37] the secondary pitches he did not scrap because as far as we know the splitter was the only pitch

[00:57:42] Bryce added in the offseason so it's going to be how's he going to mix how's his pitch mix

[00:57:49] going to evolve where is he going to work his splitter and they've been very cautious with him

[00:57:53] working his splitter in and spring training he's been on like a limit per start of how many

[00:57:58] splitters he can throw which is interesting I'm wondering even when the way that makes it sound

[00:58:05] with opening day two weeks away in his first start is he going to have a limited amount of

[00:58:11] splitters is he going that he's allowed to throw I think that'll be an interesting question that

[00:58:16] a wonder if they will answer or say in his first start we'll find out and then

[00:58:22] you know like and then getting lefties off like getting lefties off the ball it's interesting I don't

[00:58:27] know if a splitter alone does that but it certainly helps and the splitter will not be perfect

[00:58:33] in year number one I don't know if Bryce Miller will throw it more than 12 to 15% of the time

[00:58:40] but that 12 to 15% could be enough to give him that step forward and breathe there to work on

[00:58:46] other things as well well between the splitter and the slider that could be enough and the hope is

[00:58:52] the slider which which he's already thrown in the big leagues a decent amount can take another step

[00:58:57] in your two because it was a good pitch for him last year I'm not going to say it was an elite

[00:59:01] pitch but it was a good pitch so if he can have two secondaries that work you're looking at a guy

[00:59:07] who could really take a big jump so Bryce Miller has the tools as we know to be a very very good

[00:59:13] starting pitcher the question is how he utilizes all of it in your two last guy of the starting rotation

[00:59:21] that's Brian Wu who I really am a fan of and he's so different than the rest of this rotation

[00:59:28] like Bryce Miller George Kirby Logan Gilbert those three what do they have in common they're

[00:59:32] pretty over the top they have like hard fastballs Wu does too but those guys specifically

[00:59:38] like have very hard over the top fastballs and they don't walk anybody Brian Wu has to refine

[00:59:44] the command a little bit in year two but this is a guy that is so deceptive like his arm slot

[00:59:50] compared to the fastball rise that he gets makes him so tough to pick up for opposing hitters

[00:59:57] that is part of what makes him so unique and so effective it's part of why the Mariners love

[01:00:02] the guy he had two pitches in year one that really worked for him and it was the two hard offerings

[01:00:08] fastball and the sinker because guys had real real fits trying to hit those the hard stuff was

[01:00:15] the soft stuff was bad in summary Brian was first big league season the second big league season

[01:00:22] will we'll see like can he dial in one of those off speed pitches out of the four guys like he did

[01:00:30] not out of this rotation did not add a pitch this off season and nor should he has five pitches

[01:00:37] he doesn't necessarily need to add it and if you take a look at stuff plus stuff plus likes his

[01:00:43] secondary pitches two of his three secondary pitches stuff plus has a good grade on in a grade

[01:00:49] that can improve with more refinement and better location as well so there's that and then there's

[01:00:56] the elephant of the room for Brian Miller Brian shit of course I said Brian Miller Brian Wu

[01:01:04] is that how like how many innings is he gonna be at this year through about 130 last year

[01:01:10] and you know he's gonna have the luxury the first month of the season he does not have to pitch on

[01:01:15] normal rest what's it going to be like when Brian Wu I almost did it again when when Brian

[01:01:22] Wu has to pitch on normal rest and they're going to rely on him for start say in August once we get

[01:01:27] to August what is Brian Wu gonna look like is he gonna get there because eventually he's gonna

[01:01:33] need even though he's just 24 he's gonna need to cross the threshold to be out there every fifth day no

[01:01:38] matter what it's not gonna be this year that's for certain but how is he gonna look when it starts

[01:01:43] getting to that point in this year because when it was last year as good as he was as a rookie he

[01:01:48] was hurting him down hurting them down the stretch when he was at a gas hey you have to pitch through

[01:01:54] it and to be honest like even that last outing he made against the Rangers it certainly was by no

[01:02:01] means his best outing but he kept them in that game and they still won that game but you're right

[01:02:08] like the way Brian Wu pitched in that last outing is not the level that he holds himself to

[01:02:13] and it's not what the Mariners want him to be what they want him to be is a really really good starting

[01:02:19] pitcher and part of the reason I love Wu is because his ceiling truly is a like top of the rotation

[01:02:28] starter with the stuff that he has he has the ability to be a top line starter now it may not

[01:02:34] happen this year he's probably not gonna throw the innings to do that it may be more of a 2025

[01:02:39] thing when you really see that come into fruition but he has all the pure stuff to do it like his

[01:02:45] sub-on page jumps off the page like it's for a guy that was a rookie it's almost all red there's

[01:02:51] a couple things he can still work on like like Bryce Miller he still has to get lefties out we know

[01:02:57] he's gonna have to build up the durability we know he has to refine his command a little bit

[01:03:02] and give up a few less walks but when you talk about again that deceptive delivery the fastball

[01:03:08] rise the arm slot it comes out of and the pure stuff spin rate velocity of all his offerings

[01:03:15] sick and this is the guy yeah and this is a guy that in year two like this is a guy who

[01:03:22] he even was a proponent of some bad luck last year like for all the things he could still work on

[01:03:26] his x-e-ra expected a-ra 348 348 and this is essentially your five starter this guy is this guy's

[01:03:35] the real deal the stuff is also good enough where we should see improvements in chase rate

[01:03:41] and ground ball right again two things that you want to see from all of your pictures get guys to chase

[01:03:47] and get guys to hit balls into the ground something that Brian will for his good sub-on page both

[01:03:52] those bubbles were blue and you want those to be read instead of blue so all stuff good stuff

[01:03:57] for Brian would go forward here in in 2024 again I wonder how is he gonna look when when he's at a

[01:04:04] guess we can note Emerson Hancock here at the end because he'll probably be a guy that will get

[01:04:09] some starts in the Mariners rotation this year the velocity spin up he the Mariners are anticipating

[01:04:15] a big impact from Emerson Hancock this season if Brian would needs to get skipped Emerson Hancock's

[01:04:22] gonna be the first guy up from Tacoma to come up and pitch in place of Brian Wu I mean I'm excited

[01:04:28] to see Emerson Hancock eventually pitch in Seattle he said his goal in spring training was to make

[01:04:33] the roster unfortunately unless someone gets hurt he's not but that doesn't mean Emerson Hancock can't

[01:04:40] bring back a little bit of his prospect status like we're gonna have to ask Jim Callis when we

[01:04:44] have one next week if even though Emerson debuted last year if he could recoup any of that by

[01:04:51] chucking some 98 mile an hour babies in the minor leagues well his three starts that he made in

[01:04:57] the big leagues last year he had some real flashes and back then he was throwing 91 92 and combined

[01:05:03] with the fact now I preface what I'm about to say with the statement of I'm not saying he's this

[01:05:08] anymore but whenever said Hancock was drafted he once upon a time was believed to have the highest

[01:05:14] ceiling of all these arms this was before they traded for Louise but had a Gilbert had a Kirby

[01:05:20] had others he may not be quite that anymore but if he's getting his velocity back which he is

[01:05:27] who's to say he can all of a sudden get up to the big leagues at some point and make an impact

[01:05:31] and at some point they're gonna need him too if somebody has a start skater heaven forbid somebody

[01:05:36] does get injured like they're gonna rely on him and if he really can be somewhat of the Emerson

[01:05:41] Hancock that he once was when he was drafted like look out that's your six guy what year was it

[01:05:48] that Kirby came in a spring training throwing 101 because that's kind of what I'm tying Emerson's

[01:05:54] spring training this year too I believe that was 2021 I don't think that was the year he got up

[01:06:02] to the majors I think it was 21 yeah yeah I don't think he made his debut that year but I remember

[01:06:08] seeing headlines at a spring training George Kirby who was supposed to be you know mid mid 90s

[01:06:14] when he was drafted in in camp throwing 102 miles an hour yeah so Emerson Hancock when he was

[01:06:21] drafted this is how hard he threw injuries took their toll on the minor leagues his velocity dipped

[01:06:27] it was well noted but if he's healthy you know who's to say that some of that velocity can't come

[01:06:33] back doesn't need to be 98 but 95 94 95 96 is certainly better than 92 91 so if he can bring

[01:06:42] back a little bit of that I mean we certainly will be huge fans of Emerson Hancock having that

[01:06:46] ability to step into this Mariners rotation and not miss a beat not miss a beat as well he's another

[01:06:52] guy who's not fully stretched out with all the injuries he's had certainly not going to be a guy

[01:06:58] who will throw 200 innings this year so it could be a good balancing act eventually when we sort of

[01:07:03] brainstorm this idea of if the Mariners were going to sign Blake's now they put Brian will in the

[01:07:08] bullpen to manages innings and stretch him out eventually a little bit if Emerson Hancock's down

[01:07:13] in the minor leagues they can manage his innings down there a little bit better than they could at

[01:07:17] the big league level because wins at the big league level or more important than wins at the minor league

[01:07:21] and swap swap them out something like that if they need to over the course of the season so

[01:07:28] be interested to see how they handle that but the Mariners have six pretty good options five of

[01:07:34] them homegrown drafted guys which is always really cool to see I'm going to take a swing that I

[01:07:40] don't think any other rotation in baseball saying yeah we got five dudes we drafted and developed in

[01:07:44] the last five years that are going to be in our rotation this year and they all have the ability

[01:07:51] to be studs it's pretty cool it's very cool and if you even want to throw Levi Stout in as the

[01:07:57] seven I mean not I guess he's not technically a total homegrown guy anymore but somewhat of a homegrown

[01:08:03] guy and a guy the Mariners really like before they traded him away that's your seven and it's a guy

[01:08:07] that's pretty young and still is upside it's a pretty exciting group of starters that they have

[01:08:12] and I don't think it's any stretch to say that on paper this is the best rotation in baseball

[01:08:17] they've got a chance to prove to be exactly that in 2024 with five guys that can all be serious

[01:08:24] serious impact arms I cannot wait all right let's get to speak your mind speak your mind spot

[01:08:32] that would be unwise what is necessary is never unwise on this speak your mind this week a bit of

[01:08:45] a special special edition we got we got back from spring training earlier this week and we wanted

[01:08:52] the platform to talk about the trip a little bit I'm going into that trip to start off

[01:08:58] I mean hide some high expectations we anticipated we were going to be very busy we're going to talk

[01:09:03] to a lot of players we're going to talk to a decent amount of media members we're going to get some good

[01:09:07] sunshine we're gonna see a lot of baseball that trip excuse me still exceeded my expectations

[01:09:14] to be honest I mean wrapping it up on Sunday was sadly to leave the complex and I was blown away

[01:09:22] not only with the like the seeing in person some of the relationships we built with some of these

[01:09:29] guys I keep spire Taylor Sausato Sam Haggity Dom Can Zone Reed Van Scooter Ty Adcock all these

[01:09:38] guys that we've had on the offseason yeah Taylor Tremel sorry I knew us for getting one this off

[01:09:43] season that we're able to go see in person and talk to but then just like everything else it

[01:09:50] just blows blew me away of how casual it felt and how much we felt like we just fit in

[01:10:00] I'm like I was thinking I mentioned this to you as we were leaving I remember I remember going

[01:10:05] back to going to spring training when we were in school and feeling like an intruder like

[01:10:13] seriously feeling like a intruder like you probably shouldn't belong there I'm worrying ever

[01:10:17] at worrying everywhere I'm walking like I shouldn't be here like this is really weird

[01:10:22] and feel that for a single second at Mariners Camp not for a single second it felt

[01:10:27] just it felt like the right thing to be honest yeah it felt it feels a whole lot different than

[01:10:33] the first time I was ever out at the ballpark like I felt the same way you felt back when we were

[01:10:38] covering spring training in school about yeah like this kind of feels like a little bit of an

[01:10:43] out of body experience but then even the first time I was at the ballpark again it was like it was so

[01:10:49] different in the sense of like well again I've never been out there before there's a little bit

[01:10:53] of the imposter syndrome thing especially when everybody else that covers the team one isn't really

[01:10:58] like us in the sense of like the type of like content we're doing paired with it's people that

[01:11:04] have covered the team forever like like like at least back then like who are we but fast forward to

[01:11:09] now like I'm with you everybody is so welcoming they're helpful everybody's fun to talk to and

[01:11:16] the fact that guys continue to be receptive to the type of stuff we we do with them content-wise like

[01:11:23] it I mean it means the world to us and it makes the experience all that much better just like

[01:11:29] like it was so much fun I'm like you I didn't I don't want to leave I was thinking myself can we get

[01:11:33] two more weeks of this I'd love to be out here the rest of the spring like it was yeah blue my

[01:11:38] expectations out of the water too and even to you know getting to catch up with Ryan Devish

[01:11:43] always the best like he is he's he's awesome he's like so authentically himself and everything he does

[01:11:54] in the way he tweets in the way he talks in the way he acts like I'm a truly a man of no vegetables

[01:12:00] none and lots of alcohol so the fact that like every single day we get to catch up with Ryan

[01:12:07] Devish and he treats us really well you know he's covered this team for so long we're two 20

[01:12:13] somethings you know trying to do a bunch of things and all he does is like throw corny jokes at us

[01:12:19] and laugh and offer us jack Daniels as we walk out of the meteorome and then like even to like I'd

[01:12:26] not met Shannon Dreyri at Shannon could not have been nicer to us down there spring training and

[01:12:30] answering questions we had and talking about the team and and stuff like that I mean just so

[01:12:37] so so cool and then to the players that we hadn't gotten to talk to yet and Jerry willing

[01:12:43] to do content with us so cool Jerry DePoto saying yes after all of the stuff that has gone on

[01:12:48] this offseason for Jerry DePoto to say yes to to to join some we didn't it's super cool I'm not

[01:12:55] going to spoil what we did because I want you to see it when we release it on our social media but

[01:12:59] we did get Jerry which is pretty cool and and I feel like the ultimate capper on you know this

[01:13:06] content journey we've been on to sort of cover all of our bases within the within the Mariners organization

[01:13:12] I'm gonna ask you Lyle you can add on to that but I'm gonna ask you what your favorite moment was

[01:13:16] from the trip. Ooh yeah it's hard to pick one um I will say with Jerry like we we we did

[01:13:24] preface everything when we asked him with I promise like it's laid back it's lighthearted

[01:13:29] it's nothing too crazy like because you know like we all know that it like they're what this

[01:13:35] offseason was so and and so we wanted to preface it by saying look we're not trying to get anything

[01:13:40] out of here we're just trying to have some fun and he was really receptive to that which was awesome

[01:13:44] and he was awesome with us like like wanted to talk to us a little bit like wanted to you know

[01:13:50] make sure you knew our names what we were doing all that stuff like he's he's a really good dude

[01:13:54] but my anyway my favorite moment from the trip aside from the misery I watched you endure of your

[01:14:01] flight from Portland to Phoenix that was cool. Can that be my channel last airlines yeah so we told

[01:14:08] this story on the vlog which by the time you're listening to this podcast there's two of our

[01:14:12] three spring training vlogs out we'll put out one more sometime next week but for those who don't

[01:14:18] TJ had to turn around like 45 minutes when he was into the air because as he put it this plane

[01:14:24] smelled like electrical fumes yeah it did it was not good as soon as we took off I was like

[01:14:33] and then when my phone stopped charging I was like that's not good

[01:14:37] they've ever took in like a full what like 180 bank on a plane going full speed

[01:14:42] no yeah yeah well you would know if you did because it's like

[01:14:48] anyways got in a little bit later than I anticipated on Wednesday night led to

[01:14:55] a little bit lack of sleep but I'll shout out Chick-fil-A breakfast for forget me through that day so

[01:15:03] okay anyway I'm dodging around the question my favorite moment

[01:15:08] yeah I'm really trying to pick one and I'm trying to think about it out loud here I mean the

[01:15:11] Jerry one was was really cool the fact we were able to do so much on that final day I mean we did

[01:15:17] a lot period but we were kind of then like we were in like ultra content mode that last day it's

[01:15:22] like we knew with our last day let's do every single thing we can possibly do and when we saw Jerry

[01:15:28] flagging him down and having him agree to do that with us that one was up there I would honestly

[01:15:33] pair that maybe this is a funny answer but I would honestly pair that with that same day

[01:15:39] us getting to talk to Felne and Celeste and do a few questions with him and what intrigued me so

[01:15:45] much about doing that and why I was so excited about it it's not just the fact that this may be

[01:15:51] the most coveted prospect the Mariners have now had since Julio and in the coming four to five years

[01:15:57] until he's in the big leagues or whenever it is it may be their most coveted prospect since Julio

[01:16:02] like overall those years but it's also the fact that like nobody's done anything with them yet

[01:16:07] content wise like there haven't been many interviews with them you haven't seen him on TV much he hasn't

[01:16:12] played in any like true games that count yet and quote unquote professional baseball so the fact that

[01:16:18] we got to go talk to him and ask him a few questions was awesome and by the way his English is very good

[01:16:24] like shout out to Felne that cannot be an easy thing for all these guys for that matter

[01:16:29] like I was really really impressed he had he like he answered all the questions we had for him

[01:16:34] and he was an awesome dude so between those two yeah though I would say I would say those were my

[01:16:40] favorite moments which came on Sunday I would say the coolest content moment for me I really

[01:16:46] enjoyed the one I did with Cal that was good yeah I don't think we we've released any of that yet

[01:16:51] we will here coming up soon I'd like to give a shout out to Luis for helping us with with who

[01:16:57] we met on the backfields knows does some Instagram work with a lot of a lot of the prospects and was

[01:17:03] able to help us get get Felne and and make the connection super cool appreciate him for doing that

[01:17:09] and helping us out the coolest overall moment though I don't want to toot my horn it was really

[01:17:14] cool to meet all of our listeners down there that were down there such I mean just blows me away

[01:17:20] that there are that many people who sit down and listen to us might maybe not every every episode

[01:17:25] but enough to come up and when they see us and say hello and that's that super cool you're going

[01:17:30] to know the moment I'm referencing it was day two so the Mariners hometown nine kids were there at

[01:17:38] that spring training and the the two kids there were were getting shown around the facility meaning

[01:17:46] all the players like doing doing their whole rounds super cool experience for them

[01:17:53] you know just oh and just for reference I was gonna say these they're probably fresh

[01:17:57] been or sophomores in high school about that age I would say yeah yeah give it take and I think

[01:18:01] they get they get they get they're going to get their college paid for them pretty sure

[01:18:05] is what the I think that's what the hometown nine is anyways so they were there and they

[01:18:10] they walked up to us on the warning track and and introduced us say oh we're listeners of your

[01:18:14] podcasts it was like that was super cool super cool and like it was good to meet them and like

[01:18:20] talk to him for a little bit and then they went around they met you know Kirby Logan Julio Cal

[01:18:25] etc. whole team they got the whole rounds awesome experience for them it's the next day

[01:18:30] we're standing outside the clubhouse and Ben the photographer for the Mariners walks up to us

[01:18:36] you know 8 30 in the morning we're just kind of hanging out who walks up there's like

[01:18:41] you know pretty pretty bizarre experience guys the fact that so Ben was with those

[01:18:48] the with those two kids walking around walking around the fields taking photos of them

[01:18:53] so they could post them online and Ben walks up to us and says

[01:18:56] you know all these big ligures all stars potential MVP's siong favorites all around this field

[01:19:04] and those two kids looked right past all of them and pointed at you guys and said we want to go talk

[01:19:09] to you and I was like whoa like wow how does that make any possible sense in the world is what

[01:19:19] I would say it doesn't and again I'm not really trying to like sit out here and go lie yeah

[01:19:24] wow look how popular we are we're so famous but like holy shit dude I don't get that down here

[01:19:31] like getting to see like the actual kind of impact we make with people is unbelievable it is

[01:19:38] it's crazy like what like Julio's right over there and look past him

[01:19:44] doesn't make any sense like no it doesn't I don't think I would it would take me a lifetime and

[01:19:49] a half to ever get used to that I don't think I would ever get used to it to be honest it like

[01:19:54] to be honest with you like somebody came I don't even think I told you that somebody came

[01:19:57] up to me in the airport like on our flight back I was on the like the air train back from you know

[01:20:02] because you fly into that was at the end gate at C-Tac and you have to take the train back toward

[01:20:06] baggage claim and somebody came up to me because we were sitting in the same train car he kind of

[01:20:10] looks over is like can you do the marine layer podcast so it's like yeah like I was like like what

[01:20:17] I was like we're in the middle of C-Tac airport so it's like how in the world does that happen

[01:20:21] but yeah like I was thinking more along the lines of like I guess the content aspect and everything

[01:20:27] but yeah to your point like this is why we do all this stuff is like is like for all these you know

[01:20:34] we do it because like you guys all make this happen that's what I'm trying to say like everybody that listens

[01:20:39] it's all thanks to you guys that we can do everything we've been able to do so it actually gets a

[01:20:43] meet some of these people in person it was awesome because I think anybody would tell you

[01:20:48] that does content podcasting anything like it's very easy to get caught up in the numbers

[01:20:53] and and transparently like you know everybody looks at it everybody that's in content

[01:20:58] always looking at that stuff because you're trying to find ways to keep growing but when you have

[01:21:02] real life experiences when you realize like there are actual people out there sitting and listening to

[01:21:08] and and like consuming the stuff that you do and it's more than just a number it's it's such a

[01:21:15] surreal experience like the fact anybody wanted to take a picture with us I was like why I mean

[01:21:20] like like not that I don't appreciate it it's like I mean I could not appreciate it anymore but

[01:21:24] I'm just thinking myself like like with me like with TJ like like the two of us like just two normal

[01:21:30] people yeah like like I mean again just the wildest thing but we we could not appreciate it any

[01:21:37] more than we do yeah like that you're right that was truly the coolest part and like there

[01:21:41] there've been some people that it came up to us at the ballpark last year at T-Mobile I mean

[01:21:46] but I'd almost say this spring training experience took it to a bit of a different level like

[01:21:51] that I didn't realize just think of how much we've grown since the end of the season I mean yeah

[01:21:56] like it's it's pretty remarkable to be honest the amount of the amount of traffic we've increased

[01:22:02] since the final pitch was thrown at the beginning of October it's pretty insane yeah so just to see

[01:22:09] all that and potentially even the amount of people who walked up to us who didn't listen to us at

[01:22:12] the end of the season and found us in the op season is true would be pretty crazy I don't think we

[01:22:17] found anyone I was exactly that but no one said it specifically so that could absolutely be the case

[01:22:23] last thing for me Leo's Island barbecue lived up to the hype that place was was unreal again shout

[01:22:29] out Ryan divis for for tuning the horn of that place forever we went twice in four days that tells

[01:22:36] y'all you need to know and we never went while we were at school I think divis has been

[01:22:40] tweeting about this place for a year I'm pretty sure he's tweeting about it back when we were at ASU

[01:22:44] but we never went even the few times we went out to Peoria to go to the games we never managed to stop

[01:22:49] over this time we made it a point to do it and we're like all right like this lived up to the

[01:22:54] hype divis divis wasn't pulling our leg as divis show he says no vegetables vegetables extra

[01:23:01] Mac yeah it's the way to go I ordered it twice that's the way to go yeah oh I'm gonna throw one

[01:23:07] more in there too and then I promise I'm cap and head shout out Alvin Davis to who might

[01:23:11] straight up even nicest like the nicest human being on planet earth which was that was pretty cool

[01:23:16] Alvin Davis introduced himself to us I think it was I mean part of it we got to give credit to

[01:23:23] TJ he's wearing his ASU sweatshirt which is Alvin Davis's Alvin Davis is an alum of ASU just like

[01:23:30] we are so Alvin's thought TJ wearing the hoodie and he walked right up it's like I'm a son devil

[01:23:35] I'm like yeah we know so are we that was that was that was pretty cool is like yeah I'm Alvin yeah

[01:23:42] Alvin mr. Mariner we know we know you are but you know what we're gonna we're gonna introduce ourselves

[01:23:49] right so yeah that was yeah that was awesome and shout out my camera too yeah just awesome overall

[01:23:58] fantastic experience I think we covered pretty much all of our bases with what we did on the trip

[01:24:04] if you want even more details about it you can go watch our vlogs two of them are on YouTube

[01:24:08] there will be one more next week make sure to go check those out ultimately yeah awesome and like

[01:24:13] we said at the end of our third vlog which is not out yet but you'll see it soon enough

[01:24:17] I think we plan to run it back next year I think we're planning to go back

[01:24:21] because it was so much fun and it gave us the opportunity to do so much so thank you to all you

[01:24:26] guys as always like we always say it's it's really really not possible without all your help so

[01:24:31] you guys are the best with that that'll just about wrap up this edition of the Marine Lair podcast

[01:24:37] you guys know the drill you want to listen to the full form pod you can do so wherever you get your

[01:24:41] audio podcast make sure a rating review five stars leave a written review download the episodes

[01:24:46] that's all on the audio side if you're watching hit that red subscribe button why not right

[01:24:51] it's super easy takes like a second to do like and comment on the video as well and then follow us

[01:24:56] on social media we're on Instagram TikTok Twitter and YouTube shorts at Marine Lair pod that's

[01:25:02] TJ I'm Lyle as always we thank you guys for tuning in talk to you soon

[01:25:32] you