Episode 118: Logan Evans (Mariners Prospect), Bryce Miller Has Unlocked New Highs, But The Mariners Have Unlocked New Lows

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 118 of the Marine Layer Podcast.

[00:00:04] We welcome on the hottest prospect in the Mariners minor league system, Logan Evans.

[00:00:08] We talk about his pitch arsenal, his growth as a pitcher, and just learning a little bit more about his personality.

[00:00:14] We also have our two Mariners storylines. The Mariners continue to underperform over the past week, though we have a good start from Bryce Miller, so we'll dive into that.

[00:00:24] Here's your guys' reminder.

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[00:00:51] Let's get it rolling.

[00:00:55] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network.

[00:01:11] Recording here post game on Monday, April 8th.

[00:01:14] And I can officially say that over the first 11 games of the 2024 Mariners season, they are doing exactly nothing well.

[00:01:24] You know, I wish I had a rebuttal for that.

[00:01:27] But there's not much I can push back on other than certain points.

[00:01:33] There's been good moments. There haven't been good trends.

[00:01:36] Logan Gilbert had a really good start in his first time out.

[00:01:39] Bryce Miller had a really good start in Milwaukee. We'll talk about that.

[00:01:42] Dom Kanzon's had some nice moments, but not many trends.

[00:01:47] Mm-mm. George Kirby had a good start. Is that where it like ends?

[00:01:52] Besides for you pumping up D-Mode, that's it.

[00:01:57] D-Mode might actually be the only good trend of the 2024 season.

[00:02:01] D-Mode has looked very good.

[00:02:03] Very good.

[00:02:04] Yeah. Unfortunately, what? Are we up to 16 played appearances yet?

[00:02:10] Well, that's the role he plays. You want him playing every day?

[00:02:13] That's not that's not how he's best suited.

[00:02:15] Well, there are some people who think he should play every day.

[00:02:19] Well, as much as I am a D-Mode fan, I think he is best suited in the exact role he's playing right now.

[00:02:25] But aside from D-Mode playing like that, there's not enough guys around him picking them up.

[00:02:31] Like, not enough.

[00:02:34] No, there's not. Let's get into our Mariners storyline so we can dive a little bit more into this issue.

[00:02:39] But like, I'm serious when I say I'm diving through the numbers before we start recording here.

[00:02:45] Like, the Mariners really have not done anything well so far this season.

[00:02:49] Not like there's not one area of their game where you can sit there and say they have done that really well.

[00:02:55] Offense? No, not really good.

[00:02:57] The defense? It also really hasn't been good.

[00:03:01] They're 27th in the league and out above average so far this season.

[00:03:05] And they're starting pitching what we sat here on this podcast before the season started and said the starting pitching was supposed to be the best in baseball.

[00:03:14] They have had a grand total of three quality starts in the first 11 games of the season.

[00:03:20] Three quality starts, not even elite starts. We're talking a 4.5 VRA over six innings.

[00:03:26] Three runs and six innings and they've only done that three times in 11 games.

[00:03:34] So that would be George's first start, Logan's first start and Bryce's second start. And that's it.

[00:03:39] Yet you want to start with the starting pitching because the area that they're supposed to thrive in through 11 games is not there.

[00:03:46] Look at some of these rankings. This is Entering Monday.

[00:03:49] So Entering Monday's game against the Blue Jays before the series had started.

[00:03:53] Here's where they rank in some categories.

[00:03:56] They were 23rd in ERA, 23rd like the best rotation in baseball.

[00:04:01] Team ERA plus 75.

[00:04:05] They're 25% below league average as a pitching staff as we currently sit entering this week.

[00:04:14] And there's other numbers too like their FIPS low, they're giving up a bunch of home runs,

[00:04:18] they're batting average against his bottom 10 or 11 in the league.

[00:04:22] Like this is supposed to be the best unit in baseball.

[00:04:25] They don't look like it right now.

[00:04:27] And I don't have any response. Like how are you supposed to defend that?

[00:04:30] Like what are we supposed to defend that with?

[00:04:32] The stuff looks fine. I don't know if it's a stuff issue.

[00:04:35] It's just not getting done.

[00:04:37] Like I don't think George Kirby's stuff deteriorated from the first outing where he looked great

[00:04:42] to the second outing where he gave up eight runs.

[00:04:45] There was no difference I thought in stuff.

[00:04:47] He just wasn't good.

[00:04:48] Logan Gilbert was okay against Milwaukee in his second start, gave up home runs.

[00:04:53] Conclusion as we talked about with Castillo in our last episode, don't give up home runs.

[00:04:57] And speaking of, Luis Castillo just made his third start the first mariner to get to three starts here on Monday.

[00:05:03] And again, didn't perform.

[00:05:05] He might have gotten a little unlucky, but it's still like still just didn't execute.

[00:05:11] The only one where you can say like you could have a legitimate like you can make points that both starts had quality and maybe caught a bad break.

[00:05:22] It was Bryce, which we'll talk to in the second one.

[00:05:25] But we're going to save Bryce's last his start he made over the weekend against Milwaukee for a second storyline.

[00:05:32] But I want to talk about his first start.

[00:05:34] I mean, Bryce essentially, he gave up a home run.

[00:05:38] That was a three run home run he gave up to the Red Sox.

[00:05:42] But that came right.

[00:05:44] That was a three run home run.

[00:05:46] Right.

[00:05:47] I remember it was two or three.

[00:05:48] Regardless, a majority of his runs in that start came on a home run after he got jobs out of a bad check swing call.

[00:05:55] Where, you know, he got, he made the count two and two could have gotten outpitched.

[00:06:00] Instead they missed a check swing call went to three and one and he gave up a home run on the three one pitch the next pitch.

[00:06:05] It's a different count three one two two.

[00:06:08] So you can make like an argument there for Bryce Miller.

[00:06:10] But otherwise, I mean, man, like Emerson Hancock in his his start over the weekend in Milwaukee was not good.

[00:06:18] Like not serviceable for number five starter.

[00:06:21] Unfortunately, it stinks.

[00:06:23] I think we want you and I both really wanted to see Emerson succeed in that five spot and at least keep the Mariners in it.

[00:06:30] And he survived in his first start.

[00:06:32] His second start at the Brewer's just hammered him.

[00:06:35] It was, it was, it was hard to watch.

[00:06:38] So on our live stream on Sunday night, which again, for those of you who don't know every Sunday night at 7pm now,

[00:06:45] we go live on both Instagram and YouTube and just take all your guys questions.

[00:06:49] If you guys are ever hanging out on Sunday night, come hang out with us and send us some questions.

[00:06:53] We talked about Emerson a little bit on Sunday saying will we see him go back to Tacoma and then make a corresponding move when his next turn in the rotation occurs.

[00:07:03] That should be Saturday instead because it was clear the Mariners needed some bullpen arms.

[00:07:09] And we thought one of the ways to get a couple arms up here was to send Hancock down.

[00:07:13] It didn't end up being the case.

[00:07:15] They called up Tyson Miller, that one we expected.

[00:07:18] They called up Brett de Geisse, de Gius de Giu.

[00:07:21] I'm going to get his last name wrong.

[00:07:23] That's fine.

[00:07:24] Yeah, I'm not.

[00:07:25] I don't know.

[00:07:26] I'm asking the wrong person.

[00:07:27] TJ botches a lot of a lot of names.

[00:07:29] But yeah, I'm not great.

[00:07:30] So they called up those two guys and Colin Snyder went on the IL.

[00:07:36] We expected that after he unfortunately got hit in the knee with a comeback or in Milwaukee and Cody Bolton is currently back in Seattle.

[00:07:44] Apparently easily Scott service.

[00:07:46] He's going through some kidney stone stuff.

[00:07:48] That does not sound fun.

[00:07:49] No point being they do have two new relievers up here in place of Bolton and Snyder.

[00:07:56] So if Bolton's back on the roster this weekend, then maybe they do send Hancock back to Tacoma and call somebody else up.

[00:08:04] If they do not have Cody Bolton back by this weekend, Hancock will make his next start.

[00:08:09] Oh, Bolton can't be on the roster this weekend.

[00:08:12] He's on the IL.

[00:08:13] Did he officially get placed on the IL?

[00:08:15] Yeah, he's on the IL.

[00:08:16] Oh, then never mind.

[00:08:17] So then yes, Emerson Hancock is making his next outing in Seattle, most likely.

[00:08:23] Yeah, most likely they could send him down and bring up Dallas Kajkel.

[00:08:29] But I don't think Kajkel's on the 40 man.

[00:08:31] So they'd have to put them on there.

[00:08:33] So that would be the next question.

[00:08:36] So still up in the air, Dallas Kajkel in his last bit in the majors wasn't great.

[00:08:41] But it's watching what Emerson Hancock did in Milwaukee.

[00:08:47] We're just kind of curious to put him back out there again.

[00:08:51] I don't know if it's really to his benefit to go back out there and really, really struggle again at the big league level.

[00:08:57] It's clear he's still got some things to work on down in the minor leagues.

[00:09:00] And if he goes down into coma and works on what he does, and you and I talked about it a little bit on the live stream,

[00:09:06] there could be a point as we watch him not hold his velocity really again.

[00:09:10] We saw the velocity continue to dip in his start against Milwaukee,

[00:09:14] eventually a move to the bullpen could be an Emerson's future.

[00:09:18] I don't know if that's a this year thing.

[00:09:20] But if he struggles with his velocity and continues to struggle with it,

[00:09:25] that could be something we see.

[00:09:26] So that's something to keep your eye on.

[00:09:28] Do you have something else before I move on?

[00:09:30] Well, I was just going to say that the whole idea here with this number five spot is

[00:09:35] whether they sent Hancock back to Tacoma or whether they keep him in the rotation to make his next start.

[00:09:41] It's all about bridging the gap back to Brian Wu.

[00:09:44] It's not Emerson Hancock making 30 more starts the rest of the year in Seattle.

[00:09:48] It's about finding a way to at least hold serve in the games that you're in in that number five day until Brian Wu is back.

[00:09:56] That's what they're trying to do.

[00:09:57] They're trying to bridge the gap, whether they continually down Emerson Hancock out there where they call Dallas Keichel up because

[00:10:02] and the reason TJ talked about Keichel, we mentioned this in the live stream too.

[00:10:05] It would be his turn in the rotation.

[00:10:07] So it lines up plus he threw five shutout innings into coma this weekend.

[00:10:11] So there is some correlation there, but they're trying to bridge the gap back.

[00:10:16] And until then, until Brian Wu is back, they got to find a solution.

[00:10:19] But it's not just an Emerson Hancock thing.

[00:10:21] This is an overarching theme.

[00:10:22] We've gotten totally away from the rest of the team underperforming, but just talking about the pitching stuff first.

[00:10:28] This is the group you expect to thrive.

[00:10:30] It's not thriving.

[00:10:31] You want to talk about another group that's supposed to thrive?

[00:10:34] How about the top five in the Mariners lineup?

[00:10:37] Tough subject because I wrote these numbers down before JP and Cal hit their home runs today on Monday.

[00:10:45] But entering Monday's game in Toronto, here's the top five in your lineup that's supposed to...

[00:10:52] These are supposed to be V5 best hitters in your lineup.

[00:10:55] JP Crawford at a 29 WRC plus entering Monday.

[00:10:59] Hulia at a 52.

[00:11:00] Polanco at a 46.

[00:11:02] Garver at an 85.

[00:11:04] And Cal had a 43.

[00:11:06] How are you supposed to score runs like that?

[00:11:10] Let me give you an answer.

[00:11:11] You're not.

[00:11:12] You're not going to score runs like that.

[00:11:14] I'm sorry.

[00:11:15] Ty France down there in the seven and eight hole cannot be the best hitter in the lineup.

[00:11:19] That cannot happen.

[00:11:21] Ty France and Dylan Moore are supposed to be complimentary pieces.

[00:11:25] And if Ty France bounces back to all star Ty France, great.

[00:11:28] But to put that expectation on him already isn't fair.

[00:11:31] You can expect somewhat of a bounce back from Ty France.

[00:11:34] I think everybody believes he'll be better than he was last year.

[00:11:36] But to ask for all star Ty France again, we've got to see it until then if he's doing his job out of the number seven and eight spot.

[00:11:43] He's hitting the ball harder right now.

[00:11:45] That's like if you look at his baseball savante page, his numbers are up and that's a positive.

[00:11:49] We saw him get three hits on Monday.

[00:11:51] That's a positive.

[00:11:52] But for now he is a bottom third hitter in the order.

[00:11:55] He's going to hit six, seven, eight and do his job there.

[00:11:58] Him and Dylan Moore are not supposed to be the best hitters on the team.

[00:12:01] They're supposed to be complimentary pieces for now.

[00:12:03] When every single guy in the first five of that lineup is way under 100 with their WRC plus.

[00:12:08] You're not going to win game.

[00:12:10] That lines up with the fact they're team OPS plus 78.

[00:12:14] So you're talking about a team ERA plus of 75 on the pitching side and a team OPS plus of 78, which is bottom five in baseball.

[00:12:23] That's not going to win you games.

[00:12:25] That's a recipe for 105 losses is what that is.

[00:12:28] That's not going to sustain itself throughout the season.

[00:12:31] But at its current rate, that's not good.

[00:12:33] This like gives me too much deja vu to like what happened last year.

[00:12:37] This is like, this is constantly showing if your best players don't show up.

[00:12:40] It literally doesn't matter what else happens.

[00:12:42] It does not matter.

[00:12:44] I'm like, I'm thinking it like this feels exactly like when we're looking at last year and how the lineup was constructed.

[00:12:49] When Julio, Teo, Gino and Ty all scuffled at the exact same time.

[00:12:53] The Mariners weren't very good.

[00:12:55] And people were complaining about other things with a lineup and with the pitching staff.

[00:12:59] It's like no, like the four best hitters in your lineup are not performing and it's killing the team.

[00:13:05] And that ended up hurting them all season long.

[00:13:09] Right?

[00:13:10] And this feels like a very similar scenario.

[00:13:13] The Mariners hope and some of Monday's results show that this hopefully is not sustainable.

[00:13:19] The Mariners hitting the ball hard, Julio hit the ball hard four times.

[00:13:23] It had no hits to show for it, hoping eventually those land for hits.

[00:13:27] But until those guys start producing and more specifically number 44 starts producing

[00:13:32] and doing some damage to the baseball, it's going to hard to just say, yeah, these guys have turned it around.

[00:13:38] There's going to be people out there that complain about they didn't do enough in the off season.

[00:13:43] They should have done this.

[00:13:44] They should have done that.

[00:13:45] We can always have that conversation, but I've got news for people.

[00:13:48] If your answer right now is, well, they should assign Matt Chapman.

[00:13:51] Matt Chapman at time of recording is hitting 186 with a 627 OPS for the Giants.

[00:13:58] And even if Matt Chapman was here and going off, they still wouldn't be winning because guess what?

[00:14:03] When the other five guys in the lineup are doing what they're doing right now, you're still not going to win games.

[00:14:09] Everything they have done this off season is totally negated aside from the Polanco, well, the Garver edition too.

[00:14:17] Those guys are supposed to be the meat of the order.

[00:14:19] If your best players don't hit, you're not going to win games.

[00:14:22] So sure, you want to complain about third base.

[00:14:24] You want to complain about other things.

[00:14:25] You want to complain about some contracts they dumped.

[00:14:27] You can do that, but it doesn't change the fact that if Julio is not hitting, if JP is not hitting, if Cal's not hitting and the two new additions in Polanco and Garver aren't hitting, you can't win.

[00:14:38] No, you can't.

[00:14:40] Let's get to the last little bit here before we actually talk about something positive.

[00:14:44] Yeah.

[00:14:45] Positive things that happened this week actually, believe it or not.

[00:14:47] Yeah, there are.

[00:14:49] Can I actually just throw one last thing in before we get to the defense?

[00:14:52] While we're talking about third base, I do want to at least mention the fact that Josh Rojas is hitting really well through the first 11 games and Luis Arias batting average is not high, but through a very short sample so far.

[00:15:03] OPS is 770.

[00:15:05] So the offensive production at third base is not what's holding this team back right now.

[00:15:12] Not at all.

[00:15:13] It's been one of the better spots when you look at the offensive production at certain position.

[00:15:16] The defense we can get to in a minute, but I just wanted to say that the offensive production at third base.

[00:15:21] It's not the issue.

[00:15:23] The defensive production at third base.

[00:15:26] A different story.

[00:15:29] So the Mariners right now are 27th in baseball and out above average, negative six.

[00:15:34] I was kind of curious.

[00:15:36] Went year by year and I took a look at the bottom teams and out above average and saw if they made the playoffs.

[00:15:42] Bottom eight teams all missed the playoffs last year and out above average.

[00:15:46] The 2023 playoff field, bottom eight teams missed.

[00:15:49] 2022, 13 of the 14 bottom teams missed.

[00:15:53] Funny enough that one team who was in that, the bottom 14 of that list was the Philadelphia Phillies.

[00:16:01] You made it to the World Series somehow.

[00:16:03] Then you have 2021.

[00:16:05] Like this is where it gets kind of wonky.

[00:16:07] Like the 30th rated Red Sox in out above average made it and they made it all the way to ALCS just as well as the 24th rated Yankees, 23rd Dodgers, 22nd Brewers.

[00:16:15] It's not a perfect formula.

[00:16:18] Here, actually here's the best example of this.

[00:16:20] I had to look at 2019 too.

[00:16:22] The two best teams in the American League were first and 30th and out above average in 2019.

[00:16:27] The Astros and Yankees first and 30th.

[00:16:29] Not a perfect formula.

[00:16:31] But the last two years I think articulate it pretty well that if you don't play very good defense, man, it is really hard.

[00:16:39] Really hard to make it to the promised land at the end of the season.

[00:16:42] And you could look at some of the other reasons on those teams of why they actually ended up making it.

[00:16:47] But the defense certainly does not help those teams.

[00:16:52] The quest for the Mariners for the rest of the season on defense is to try and be average.

[00:16:59] Just try.

[00:17:00] Somehow creep up to higher than 20th of out above average.

[00:17:06] Try and just be an average defensive team because it's going to be kind of difficult to overcome otherwise.

[00:17:14] Did Gino and Kelmick make that much of a difference defensively?

[00:17:17] Because I was even thinking about how much different is the defensive alignment from last year to this year?

[00:17:23] Their base is different.

[00:17:24] Left field is different.

[00:17:26] But right field, Mitch Henniger.

[00:17:28] Seconds different.

[00:17:29] Yeah, but here's my point.

[00:17:31] Right field you've got a different guy out there.

[00:17:33] But Mitch Henniger versus Teosker Hernandez defensively does not feel very different.

[00:17:37] At second base, Jorge Polanco versus Colton Long does not feel all that different.

[00:17:42] Is it that different?

[00:17:43] That's what's crazy to me.

[00:17:44] Teo was like average out above OAA last year?

[00:17:48] He was slightly below.

[00:17:49] Slightly below.

[00:17:50] I think Mitch might be a little bit below that though, that mark that Teo had last year.

[00:17:56] So.

[00:17:57] Yeah.

[00:17:58] So that'll make a little bit of a difference.

[00:17:59] And then just and think about it this way.

[00:18:01] So Rayleigh had his play on Sunday in the outfield charges in on a ball doesn't make the catch like this.

[00:18:06] Kelnick catch that?

[00:18:08] Probably right.

[00:18:10] And that's like, and that makes a big difference in defensive statistics making plays like that.

[00:18:14] And Luke Rayleigh is at negative two outs above average right now, which is kind of crazy considering one, he does have speed and two that he's barely played.

[00:18:25] I'm shocked that his defensive metric says been that bad with that little sample size.

[00:18:31] It's kind of confusing why he hasn't really played that much doesn't.

[00:18:36] I said that to you earlier.

[00:18:37] I don't exactly know what their blueprint here is for Luke Rayleigh, but he's essentially a bench bat right now.

[00:18:43] He's not getting in the starting lineup very much.

[00:18:45] He's not pinch hitting all that much.

[00:18:47] I don't know what the plan here is because it seemed like they're very adamant about having Domkanz own hit righties.

[00:18:53] And you know what?

[00:18:54] Domkanz own on Monday here against the Blue Jays had another good day.

[00:18:57] Look good at the plate.

[00:18:58] He had a double late in the game.

[00:18:59] That's great to see.

[00:19:01] Where exactly does Rayleigh fit into all this?

[00:19:03] Mitch Hannigar wasn't supposed to be playing this often, at least from what we expected.

[00:19:09] He was going to be facing lefties and otherwise seeing a lot more time off his feet to preserve his health.

[00:19:15] It's not happening right now.

[00:19:17] Instead, Luke Rayleigh's barely playing.

[00:19:19] Plans changed quickly as it appears.

[00:19:22] It can be a vote of confidence combined at Mitch Hannigar and Domkanz own alone that once you establish that both those guys can face both lefties and righties,

[00:19:33] then it kind of ends the conversation on Rayleigh and he does become a bench bat.

[00:19:38] And he's speed off the bench and he's a defensive replacement for Hannigar if they need it.

[00:19:42] But they haven't done that.

[00:19:44] No.

[00:19:45] Really?

[00:19:46] So...

[00:19:47] I don't know what the plan there is.

[00:19:49] Yeah.

[00:19:50] So this is going to get better because as we've just outlined, you can't get much worse than this.

[00:19:56] Your five best hitters in the lineup are not going to hit like that all year.

[00:19:59] Your elite starting rotation is not going to pitch like this all year.

[00:20:03] Even for those of you now freaking out about three Luis Castillo starts,

[00:20:07] I can almost guarantee it's not going to look like this for much longer.

[00:20:10] What if TJ and I said on June 1st, let's assess Luis Castillo.

[00:20:15] There's still issues lingering on June 1st.

[00:20:17] We'll talk about it then.

[00:20:18] Until then, you have to expect those two groups are going to very much improve.

[00:20:23] The defense as we said last week, I don't know.

[00:20:26] You're just going to have to hope it gets marginally better.

[00:20:29] So yeah, that's about it.

[00:20:32] Okay.

[00:20:33] We've got another storyline to get to one that's much more positive.

[00:20:35] I think we're all looking forward to that.

[00:20:36] Before that, you want to talk about a positive experience that would be heading over to Pagacius Pub 85.

[00:20:41] That's our place to hang out.

[00:20:43] It's over in Kirkland, especially when there's Mariners games on and sporting events on.

[00:20:47] You can go over there with your friends.

[00:20:49] Have an awesome time.

[00:20:50] You can watch some games.

[00:20:51] You can have some great food.

[00:20:52] There's awesome drink specials, including happy hour deals on Monday and Monday through Friday from 2 to 6pm.

[00:20:59] Those deals are $3 domestic beers, $4 manis and blue moons, $4 Mackinjacks, $4 wells and $4 house wines.

[00:21:07] So you want to go play some darts, have a good meal, have some drinks, hang out with your friends.

[00:21:11] Head over there.

[00:21:12] That's Pagacius Pub 85 over in Kirkland.

[00:21:15] So second storyline here, positive.

[00:21:19] I'm looking forward to the positive.

[00:21:21] Bryce Miller, that dude carved the brewers up on Saturday.

[00:21:26] Man, does he look much improved from last year.

[00:21:29] Best start he's ever had, period.

[00:21:33] Think about this against lefties.

[00:21:35] We've spent plenty of time in the off season talking about how bad Bryce Miller was against lefties

[00:21:40] and how important it was that both him and Woo figure out a way to get lefties out.

[00:21:46] You know what lefties were on Saturday against the brewers?

[00:21:49] 0 for 13 with four strikeouts.

[00:21:52] Now, that doesn't just happen by chance.

[00:21:55] That comes with the evolution of Bryce Miller.

[00:22:00] Think about this.

[00:22:01] Think about Bryce Miller's first couple of starts in the big leagues.

[00:22:04] He was 60 to 70% foreseeing fastball.

[00:22:08] He had his two sliders, the bullet slider and the sweeper.

[00:22:13] And that's about it.

[00:22:15] That's what Bryce did.

[00:22:16] He tried to live off his fastball.

[00:22:18] And as the season caught up to him, he couldn't just go 60 to 70% fastball because that would,

[00:22:24] he'd get hammered.

[00:22:25] People would hunt fastballs and they would hit it over the fence.

[00:22:29] We know Bryce Miller's fastball mix was on Saturday against the brewers.

[00:22:34] He dropped it all the way down to 35%, sorry, 36% through two starts this season.

[00:22:41] 36% foreseeing fastballs for Bryce Miller through two starts.

[00:22:47] That's a remarkable evolution for Bryce Miller because he finally has,

[00:22:52] it seems like, other pitches to rely upon that keep hitters honest and that he has

[00:22:58] what he thinks a viable attack strategy to both lefties and righties.

[00:23:03] And it has been effective so far.

[00:23:05] Bryce Miller is throwing way more pitches than I expected him to in terms of his arsenal.

[00:23:11] Last year, to build off what you just talked about, combine his fastball and slider usage,

[00:23:17] 77% of the time.

[00:23:19] Those were his two pitches.

[00:23:21] And I think part of the reason the second half was a bit of a struggle for him.

[00:23:24] Teams caught up to that, especially the Rangers, especially the Astros.

[00:23:27] They started to time them up.

[00:23:29] Look at what he's doing now.

[00:23:31] Yes, this is through two starts, but his fastball is being used through two starts

[00:23:36] like you mentioned about 36% of the time.

[00:23:38] Splitters are 23% of the time.

[00:23:40] Sinkers at 17%, sliders at 14%, and the sweepers at 7%.

[00:23:46] That is a healthy balanced breakfast right there.

[00:23:49] That is a perfect variation of a bunch of different pitches that right now

[00:23:53] through two starts, a lot of them are working for Bryce.

[00:23:56] We talked about the splitter.

[00:23:57] It looks awesome.

[00:23:58] We'll continue to talk about how awesome the splitter looks.

[00:24:00] But the fact he's throwing five pitches at somewhat of a consistent percentage,

[00:24:05] that matters.

[00:24:06] Not only is that going to help him get lefties out more often,

[00:24:09] it's going to help keep hitters so much more off balance rather than only having to try to time up two pitches,

[00:24:15] which is what he was basically throwing at the end of last year.

[00:24:18] Bryce knows he can use his fastball to get righties out.

[00:24:21] Like that's what he did last year.

[00:24:23] He would use his fastball and righties would have a hard time with the right on that pitch.

[00:24:27] Well, now he has the balance of using his splitter against lefties, which when he throws his splitter,

[00:24:32] it's truly a guessing game.

[00:24:34] That thing is like half splitter, half knuckleball of where it goes when it comes out of his hand.

[00:24:39] It is going all sorts of different directions.

[00:24:42] When it comes out of his hand, it could run armside.

[00:24:44] It could go glove side.

[00:24:45] It could go straight.

[00:24:46] Regardless, it's dropping and hitters are having a really hard time swing at the pitch.

[00:24:51] 52% went freight so far on that splitter.

[00:24:54] He threw some splitters against the Barreurs on Saturday that I thought were sweepers.

[00:24:59] I thought that was his cannonball, but it wasn't his cannonball.

[00:25:02] It was his splitter.

[00:25:03] You go back and look, splitter is the one that's logged as all the strikeouts.

[00:25:06] He did use his sweeper.

[00:25:08] He does throw it, but it's nice that he no longer has to use that pitch as a strikeout pitch

[00:25:13] because as we saw last year, it's not really a strikeout pitch.

[00:25:16] He couldn't get strikeouts on that pitch.

[00:25:18] People were fouling it off, but he wasn't getting whiffs on that pitch.

[00:25:21] His splitter is a whiff pitch.

[00:25:23] Just like his fastball is a whiff pitch.

[00:25:25] So if he can throw the off speed to keep, throw the splitter to keep guys off his fastball

[00:25:32] and then vice versa with his fastball, he'll sneak one by you.

[00:25:36] What a combo.

[00:25:37] Yeah.

[00:25:38] 100% what a combo.

[00:25:40] And it kept all those Brewer's hitters off balance.

[00:25:43] It was like we talked about in the Red Sox start too.

[00:25:45] I thought he looked good in the Red Sox start.

[00:25:47] He had a couple of hard hit balls that got the best of them,

[00:25:49] but a check swing that was a bad call by the umpires did not help his luck.

[00:25:55] And then it resulted in a couple of hard hit balls.

[00:25:58] But aside from that, I thought his outing against Boston looked really sharp,

[00:26:01] but he only built on that Milwaukee seven shutout innings three hits.

[00:26:05] Didn't give up a run struck out seven.

[00:26:07] That's an outing right there.

[00:26:09] That doesn't look like a number four starter.

[00:26:11] That looks like a guy who had a hell of an off season got in the lab said,

[00:26:14] okay, I need, I know I need more of a variance pitches.

[00:26:17] And now comes back in 2024.

[00:26:20] Pretty transformed.

[00:26:21] He still has the four steam fastball that works well against righties.

[00:26:24] He does a lot of different stuff now.

[00:26:26] It was crazy about that splitter too.

[00:26:28] They, they sunk it up.

[00:26:29] Somebody posted a chart.

[00:26:31] It was sunk up against Kevin Gosman's, which is the model splitter in baseball.

[00:26:35] It's probably the best splitter in baseball and Gosman's usually stays in the same spot.

[00:26:40] But to your point, what you were talking about with Millers,

[00:26:42] it's all over the place.

[00:26:43] It's not very easy.

[00:26:44] Even if you're going to try and time it up and you know it's coming,

[00:26:47] you don't always know where it's going to land.

[00:26:49] Gosman's as good as it is usually lands in the same spot.

[00:26:51] Millers goes everywhere.

[00:26:53] And that's a good thing because he can't time it up.

[00:26:56] And we'll see if that normalizes.

[00:26:58] I'm curious to see if it normalizes as the season goes along.

[00:27:01] Usually the bigger sample stuff like that might,

[00:27:03] it might go into the same movement problem, but it might not.

[00:27:07] So we're going to have to see that's like that's truly fascinating.

[00:27:10] The other thing, one other thing that stood out to me about Bryce,

[00:27:13] that's sinker kind of snuck up on me.

[00:27:16] I wasn't expecting how effective that pitch would be,

[00:27:19] but it resulted in not a whole lot of hard contact when he was throwing it.

[00:27:24] If it's going to be at like a third of your pitches,

[00:27:26] you still don't want that pitch to get hammered at all,

[00:27:29] but it wasn't.

[00:27:30] It was having a good amount of arm side movement into righties,

[00:27:33] a way to lefties, a fastball variant to get guys off his foreseamer.

[00:27:39] And it worked.

[00:27:40] And yeah, it's, it is very, very good to see.

[00:27:44] So how about the overall through two starts?

[00:27:46] How about these numbers against lefties this season?

[00:27:49] A 194 weighted on base average and a 26% strikeout rate against lefties.

[00:27:56] That will play.

[00:27:57] Sounds pretty good.

[00:27:59] That sounds pretty, pretty, pretty good as Larry David would say.

[00:28:04] Should we talk about what unfolded when he came out of the game?

[00:28:08] Cause I do have this in my notes.

[00:28:09] I don't know if, I don't know if you have much on it, but people obviously had their gripes

[00:28:14] because Bryce Miller was at less than 80 pitches through seven innings.

[00:28:17] They yanked him out of the game and went to the bullpen.

[00:28:19] And I think a lot of people on Twitter were really mad that they didn't keep them in.

[00:28:23] And I appreciate Scott's service for this because the media asked him what

[00:28:27] the reasoning was behind the decision the next day or after the game

[00:28:31] and then a little bit more the next day too.

[00:28:33] And Scott gave a very detailed, in-depth answer to it.

[00:28:38] Ryan Divish did a big thread on it with a bunch of quotes from Scott about it.

[00:28:41] And he gave a very, very detailed explanation and there's a lot that went into it.

[00:28:46] For those of you who think that they're just making a, like a heat of the moment decision

[00:28:51] saying, you know what?

[00:28:52] I've seen enough.

[00:28:53] We're going to take them out.

[00:28:54] There's real thought that goes behind this.

[00:28:57] And I'm not going to go for five minutes about everything that Scott said.

[00:29:01] But if you just want a 30 second spark notes version of what kind of went into it,

[00:29:07] going through the lineup of fourth time played a factor.

[00:29:10] The fact Bryce Miller is not as built up as Logan George and Louise plays a factor

[00:29:14] along with it being his second start of the season.

[00:29:16] And they also gave a couple of scenarios.

[00:29:19] This is what Scott said to the media.

[00:29:20] They said, okay, let's say we let Bryce go back out for the eighth inning,

[00:29:25] but we give them two batters.

[00:29:26] Well, then what happens?

[00:29:27] We bring in Spire.

[00:29:28] If we give him two batters, then Gabe Spire does it.

[00:29:30] Then Gabe Spire doesn't get the matchup we wanted him to have because instead of facing a lefty,

[00:29:34] he would face a right handed pinch hitter, which doesn't favor him.

[00:29:38] Obviously, Gabe's great at getting lefties out.

[00:29:40] Scott said, okay, what if we let Bryce go for three hitters in the eighth inning?

[00:29:43] And then we still have to finish the job.

[00:29:45] Then you get Austin both in against William Contreras who they did not want Bryce to face again

[00:29:50] because Contreras had the best of bats against them that day.

[00:29:52] And Contreras, sure that's a fine matchup for both.

[00:29:55] But after that, then it becomes Yellich.

[00:29:57] Yellich is a bad matchup for both.

[00:30:00] And Service talked about that.

[00:30:01] They didn't want both facing Yellich.

[00:30:03] I went a little longer than 30 seconds there.

[00:30:05] But you see where I'm getting at here?

[00:30:07] This is not Scott Service saying, yeah, I've watched enough.

[00:30:10] You're done for the day.

[00:30:11] There are meetings that go on all day with all these situations that get played out

[00:30:15] and all these different factors that go into their decisions.

[00:30:19] It's well thought out.

[00:30:20] You can agree with it.

[00:30:21] You can disagree with it.

[00:30:22] You can believe that Bryce Miller still should have gone out there for the eighth inning.

[00:30:25] That's fine.

[00:30:26] That's a good point.

[00:30:27] That's a good point.

[00:30:28] That's a good point.

[00:30:29] I don't think Scott Service, Jerry DePoto, Justin Hollander and the entire Mariners Pigeon Group

[00:30:33] is not putting real thought into this because they are.

[00:30:36] That was a really good explanation by Scott.

[00:30:39] I'm glad he put the detail under there.

[00:30:41] And just for people to remember as well, the result of what came in,

[00:30:46] like what happened to the bullpen after which they nearly blew the lead

[00:30:50] is independent of the decision Scott Service is making.

[00:30:52] Scott Service is not pulling Bryce out of there expecting his bullpen to blow a lead.

[00:30:56] He's pulling it based on matchups.

[00:30:58] And if the matchups don't execute and the pitchers don't execute,

[00:31:01] well that's a completely independent problem of pulling Bryce out.

[00:31:04] Mind that.

[00:31:05] There were a lot of people, I'm going to admit myself included,

[00:31:08] that was sitting there perplexed in the eighth inning

[00:31:10] as it seems like the lead is slinking away.

[00:31:12] And oh boy, this show might have been a little bit worse

[00:31:15] if that lead had been blown on Saturday as well

[00:31:18] and the Mariners would be just in sort of early season freefall

[00:31:21] if they hadn't held on to that lead.

[00:31:23] But thankfully actually we got a pretty good outing to end on Sunday

[00:31:26] so Andres Munoz ended on a high note

[00:31:28] and everyone can breathe and there's at least some

[00:31:31] to end a positive note here in the first week plus of the season.

[00:31:36] So.

[00:31:38] Yeah, like don't get me wrong.

[00:31:40] I was confused too right in the moment for why he got taken out.

[00:31:43] Aaron Goldsmith and Mike Flowers were talking about it on the broadcast.

[00:31:46] They said there does have to be some thought that goes into your mind

[00:31:49] right of why did Bryce Miller leave this game?

[00:31:51] They were talking about it and Goldie did by no means

[00:31:54] the question managerial decisions.

[00:31:57] He wasn't saying that he was having a conversation obviously about

[00:32:00] okay, there's got to be some people that are thinking this.

[00:32:03] But then when you listen to Scott after the game,

[00:32:05] again guys, this is all thought out.

[00:32:07] This is not them making spur of the moment decisions

[00:32:10] because I feel like doing this.

[00:32:12] No, it's there's a plan whether you agree

[00:32:15] you should have been taken out or not.

[00:32:17] So the plan.

[00:32:18] So the wording of that is if it was Castillo, Logan or Kirby,

[00:32:24] they're out there in the eighth inning without probably without question.

[00:32:27] Probably yeah.

[00:32:28] Yeah, but Bryce isn't there yet.

[00:32:30] He's not built up enough.

[00:32:31] Now if we're talking this is in September when you've got

[00:32:35] playoff races on the line and Bryce Miller is more built up

[00:32:39] and then he's had a seven inning shut out outing at less than 80 pitches.

[00:32:43] I bet you he goes out then.

[00:32:45] But it's also his second start of the year in early April.

[00:32:48] So that's part of it too.

[00:32:49] Yeah.

[00:32:50] Yeah.

[00:32:51] Well, I'm glad Scott gave that explanation and solved one

[00:32:55] of the great mysteries of the early season.

[00:32:57] So that's good.

[00:32:58] No need to call and Sherlock Holmes for this one.

[00:33:00] So we're talking about Bryce Miller's pitch mix and his evolution

[00:33:04] and his addition throughout the offseason.

[00:33:06] If we're talking about a guy with a lot of pitches,

[00:33:08] Logan Evans has a lot of pitches.

[00:33:11] And we talked quite a bit about that with him.

[00:33:13] A fun personality that I think when you and I decided to have him on,

[00:33:17] he like he's a guy that people don't really know a lot about.

[00:33:20] There's not a lot in on the internet about Logan Evans.

[00:33:25] So what better way than having him tell us a little bit about himself?

[00:33:30] And you know, he's a start in now in Arkansas.

[00:33:33] He's he's there in Arkansas.

[00:33:35] They're going on the road this week.

[00:33:36] But one start in officially a member of the Arkansas travelers

[00:33:41] up there in double A.

[00:33:42] And let's just say he is excited and rearing to go being up at this level this season.

[00:33:48] You know, I'll give credit to Logan Evans about two.

[00:33:51] I think Logan Evans knows there's not a lot out there about Logan Evans

[00:33:55] because he said to us afterward, he said, yeah,

[00:33:58] I thought this would be a cool chance for fans to learn a little bit more

[00:34:02] about me because he said, I feel like I am a little bit of a mystery to people.

[00:34:05] So I'm really glad that I got to have a platform to talk

[00:34:09] and let people learn a little bit about me, who I am as a pitcher, who I am as a person.

[00:34:13] I think we cover all of that.

[00:34:14] Yeah, from his pitch mix to talking about even some of his favorite TV shows he likes

[00:34:19] to playing sports in high school to his draft process with the Mariners

[00:34:23] to a bunch of different stuff.

[00:34:24] It was a cool conversation for a guy that for those of you who may not know

[00:34:28] and aren't incredibly tuned in on minor league prospects,

[00:34:31] Logan Evans has been the talk of the town in the minor league

[00:34:35] since spring training started.

[00:34:36] He was the talk of spring training throughout camp in Arizona.

[00:34:40] He was the talk of the minor league system when he started the year in double A

[00:34:43] because he only threw 15 innings last year after getting drafted.

[00:34:46] Now I was in Modesto and the Arizona complex league,

[00:34:49] but he is really shooting up the systems fast to the point where

[00:34:54] is he going to be a big leaguer at the tail end of 2024?

[00:34:58] I'm not going to promise you he is, but when you're a starting pitcher

[00:35:01] in double A, you're one call away.

[00:35:03] If he throws that well, we'll see.

[00:35:05] So I would keep an eye out for this guy because he's got real stuff.

[00:35:09] He's got a lot of pitches and he's a cool personality.

[00:35:12] He's got a lot of helium going in his direction.

[00:35:15] He's got a lot and if he keeps it up in Arkansas, I mean really nothing,

[00:35:19] nothing is out of the question.

[00:35:21] So we'll just have to wait and see.

[00:35:22] But until that point you can listen to his interview.

[00:35:25] So let's get to our conversation with Logan Evans.

[00:35:30] All right, we've got on Mariners pitching prospect Logan Evans now with the double A

[00:35:36] Arkansas travelers and people have a lot to learn about you.

[00:35:40] I think not even just Mariners fans who are starting to learn a little bit

[00:35:44] more about who you are, but I feel like people in general,

[00:35:47] like just doing some prep and research for this interview.

[00:35:50] There's not that much on you out there.

[00:35:52] Like here's what I've learned about you from a personal standpoint.

[00:35:55] You were a two way guy in high school.

[00:35:57] You were a couple different sports.

[00:35:59] Like there's not a ton.

[00:36:01] So like this is a very, very broad way to start this interview,

[00:36:04] but I'll kick it off like this.

[00:36:05] Like what's a fun fact you think people should know about you?

[00:36:09] Fun fact.

[00:36:12] I think a fun fact that I can share down the road is I scored 12 points

[00:36:17] on Amani Bates when he was number one player in the country.

[00:36:21] I played him in high school basketball, but yes, you are right.

[00:36:25] I feel like I'm getting that mystery vibe lately, but yeah,

[00:36:30] that's a fun fact for you.

[00:36:32] What kind of player were you?

[00:36:34] Were you forward?

[00:36:36] Were you a two?

[00:36:39] I grew up playing like two and three and then I stopped playing

[00:36:44] my sophomore and junior year.

[00:36:46] I just focused kind of on football and baseball.

[00:36:49] And then back to my senior year, I came back and I was like

[00:36:53] the tallest guy on the team.

[00:36:54] So I technically played center, but I was that guy who hung out

[00:36:56] in the corner shot a few threes didn't get as many rebounds

[00:36:59] as I should have.

[00:37:00] But yeah, that was kind of my play style.

[00:37:02] PJ Tucker.

[00:37:03] Is that a good comparison?

[00:37:05] I don't think I got a good, good enough corner three for

[00:37:08] that.

[00:37:09] But yes, I would say that I just hung around three point

[00:37:11] line for sure.

[00:37:12] Okay.

[00:37:13] As a center, were you able to still block shots though?

[00:37:16] I think that like you had to you had to get down there

[00:37:18] and scrap a little bit.

[00:37:19] Yeah.

[00:37:20] Yeah.

[00:37:21] No, I had some block shots.

[00:37:22] I did get some rebounds when I needed to, but I wasn't like

[00:37:27] going out there trying to get 10 to 12 boards every game.

[00:37:30] I can tell you that.

[00:37:31] The Imani Bates thing is interesting because that was

[00:37:34] one of my follow ups here early on was were there any

[00:37:37] athletes you went up against in high school who are

[00:37:39] noteworthy names now?

[00:37:40] And if Imani Bates is not the biggest name, is there

[00:37:43] somebody else you went up against that is now a big

[00:37:45] name?

[00:37:46] No, that's got to be the biggest.

[00:37:49] I remember we didn't really get that much fans for our

[00:37:53] high school basketball games, but when he came that gym

[00:37:56] was packed.

[00:37:57] And I actually crossed over missed the crossover and

[00:38:01] it went right in his hands.

[00:38:02] I just vividly remember him just going down like

[00:38:05] when mill dunk whole crowd erupts and like, dang,

[00:38:09] that's pretty cool.

[00:38:10] Was there a bunch of scouts in the stands and

[00:38:12] everything for that too?

[00:38:13] Yeah.

[00:38:14] I think Tom Izzo was there actually.

[00:38:15] So there you go.

[00:38:16] Yeah.

[00:38:17] You could have pitched yourself like look at me.

[00:38:20] I'm six, what six four?

[00:38:22] Yeah.

[00:38:23] You guys could use a big two like me.

[00:38:24] Yeah.

[00:38:25] No, I actually grew up wanting to play for Tom Izzo

[00:38:29] so bad.

[00:38:30] Like I grew up a huge Michigan State basketball

[00:38:32] fan.

[00:38:33] So it was cool seeing him, but I realized that

[00:38:35] day that I was not built for the court.

[00:38:37] I was built for the diamond.

[00:38:38] So here's where the dynamic is interesting.

[00:38:42] So if I go on your Twitter, I see retweets of

[00:38:46] Michigan football, not Michigan State.

[00:38:48] Michigan football really?

[00:38:50] Yeah.

[00:38:51] Maybe you saw one.

[00:38:52] Maybe you saw so my uncle is the voice of

[00:38:55] Michigan football.

[00:38:56] His name is Doug Karsh.

[00:38:57] Oh.

[00:38:58] We saw that retweet that is my uncle.

[00:39:00] That makes more sense.

[00:39:01] I believe it was his first Michigan Ohio State

[00:39:04] game and they ended up winning.

[00:39:06] So my family, not me and not my like dad,

[00:39:09] mom, brother, but like my extended family.

[00:39:12] They're all Michigan fans.

[00:39:13] So that was a big day for them.

[00:39:15] And a very interesting point because you grew up,

[00:39:17] you were born at least and grew up closer to

[00:39:20] Michigan than you did to Michigan State.

[00:39:22] So I think it's the easy assumption.

[00:39:24] Oh yeah.

[00:39:25] Big Jim Harbaugh guy.

[00:39:26] No, no, I did grow up like five minutes away

[00:39:29] from campus, but I am anything but a Michigan

[00:39:32] fan.

[00:39:33] Well, you fit right into this podcast then.

[00:39:35] Really?

[00:39:36] With the Jim Harbaugh thing.

[00:39:38] Oh, okay.

[00:39:39] Yeah.

[00:39:40] Well, I guess he is always with the

[00:39:42] chargers.

[00:39:43] So we'll see how that goes.

[00:39:44] I mean, they're not heading in the hot direction.

[00:39:46] Okay.

[00:39:47] Speaking of the NFL though, if we were talking

[00:39:49] about doing research on you, some other

[00:39:51] retweets on your Twitter.

[00:39:52] Yes.

[00:39:53] A lot of Titan stuff on there.

[00:39:54] Like are you like Michigan?

[00:39:55] But you're from Michigan?

[00:39:57] Like how does that work?

[00:39:58] It's hard growing up a Lions fan on their

[00:40:01] own 16.

[00:40:02] So you find another team and in Pee We

[00:40:06] football, like we always like chose a

[00:40:09] team and my dad was a coach.

[00:40:11] So we just print out stickers, put them on the

[00:40:13] side and we love the Titans logo.

[00:40:15] So we were the Titans and I was like, oh,

[00:40:17] it's pretty cool.

[00:40:18] And then I've always been like a fan, a big

[00:40:20] fan of running back.

[00:40:21] So like growing up, I was a huge Reggie Bush

[00:40:23] guy.

[00:40:24] And then once that torch was passed, it was

[00:40:27] Derek Henry and then Derek Henry got

[00:40:29] to draft the Titans.

[00:40:30] I was like, oh, this is sick.

[00:40:32] And then I kind of loved that and then

[00:40:34] became a diehard after that.

[00:40:36] And it's hard to see him leave for the

[00:40:38] Ravens, but hopefully he does well.

[00:40:40] And I feel like the Titans future is pretty

[00:40:42] bright.

[00:40:43] So I'm interested.

[00:40:45] It's quite a mix.

[00:40:47] Yes, it is.

[00:40:49] It really is.

[00:40:50] But I did grow up a Pistons and Tiger

[00:40:52] Span.

[00:40:53] So I would say that I kept it pretty in

[00:40:56] state besides football.

[00:40:57] So I think this would be a good way to

[00:41:00] sort of get onto the baseball track.

[00:41:02] Trying to like couldn't, I was, couldn't

[00:41:06] find someone who you felt like you

[00:41:08] modeled your game after and you could think

[00:41:10] of yourself as unique.

[00:41:11] Every pitcher I think in some way is unique.

[00:41:13] But as you're growing up, you had some

[00:41:15] really good pitching staffs to watch

[00:41:17] there in Detroit with Furlander and

[00:41:19] Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez and the

[00:41:22] Phantom Cy Young of Rick Porcelo.

[00:41:24] I mean, you had the whole group there.

[00:41:26] Yeah.

[00:41:27] Was there one of those guys you like

[00:41:28] really stood out to and you're watching

[00:41:30] them and like, yeah, it kind of

[00:41:31] emulate that a little bit.

[00:41:32] I wouldn't say like anything mechanical,

[00:41:35] but like I just loved watching the fire

[00:41:39] of like Furlander and Scherzer.

[00:41:41] Obviously, two of like the greatest to do

[00:41:43] it.

[00:41:44] But like just everything they did, like

[00:41:46] it felt like so professional and I

[00:41:48] could tell from a young age.

[00:41:49] I was like these guys carry themselves

[00:41:51] well.

[00:41:52] They put in the work.

[00:41:53] So that's one thing that I would

[00:41:55] say I took away.

[00:41:56] Funny enough, you bring that up.

[00:41:58] Actually, I tell people all the time

[00:41:59] that 2013, 2014 Tigers rosters, like

[00:42:02] those were crazy.

[00:42:03] But actually, Robbie Ray was on one.

[00:42:05] Yeah.

[00:42:06] But yeah, I wouldn't say I modeled my

[00:42:09] game or anybody.

[00:42:11] I feel like the only time that I did

[00:42:13] model my game around someone growing up

[00:42:15] is I went over.

[00:42:16] I started going over the head and

[00:42:18] that's because I played with Brayden

[00:42:19] Howaday of his toy.

[00:42:21] His dad was Roy Howaday.

[00:42:22] And then I had like a Walker Bueller

[00:42:25] leg kick for a little that I really

[00:42:27] liked, but I just couldn't control

[00:42:29] the ball.

[00:42:30] But those are like the two times that

[00:42:32] I feel like mechanically, I tried to

[00:42:34] really emulate someone.

[00:42:36] But yeah, isn't it kind of insane

[00:42:38] those teams never won a World Series

[00:42:40] like 12, 13, 14?

[00:42:42] Those teams were there were pretty

[00:42:44] stacked.

[00:42:45] Yeah, it's it's sickening.

[00:42:47] You got Boston Posey who they

[00:42:49] swept us and then big poppy hit a

[00:42:51] homerun the right field and toy

[00:42:53] hunter go over the fence and the

[00:42:55] cops going like this and every

[00:42:57] Detroit fans like just head down

[00:42:59] like that's brutal.

[00:43:01] But yeah, it is wild that they

[00:43:03] didn't win one.

[00:43:04] Yeah, all mixed in with

[00:43:05] Miggie won a triple crown right in

[00:43:07] that stretch too.

[00:43:08] So like just the icing icing on

[00:43:10] the cake, I guess, you know,

[00:43:11] speaking of speaking of hitting,

[00:43:13] I know we've gotten into the

[00:43:14] baseball portion of this thing

[00:43:15] here, but I am curious.

[00:43:17] One other fun fact about you

[00:43:19] is you led your team and home

[00:43:21] runs in high school.

[00:43:22] So clearly you played two ways.

[00:43:24] We asked us to we've asked us

[00:43:25] to a lot of the guys now in

[00:43:26] some of the social media stuff

[00:43:27] we do, but okay, I'll do

[00:43:29] this as a two parter.

[00:43:30] If you were still to pick up a bat

[00:43:32] now, could you still swing it?

[00:43:34] Oh yeah.

[00:43:35] Yeah, for sure.

[00:43:36] I go on the hit track sometimes

[00:43:38] at least at Pittsburgh and I would

[00:43:40] hit nukes on the hit track.

[00:43:42] So I think I could swing it

[00:43:43] so.

[00:43:44] So here's a great follow up to

[00:43:45] that.

[00:43:46] Your teammate and friend of this

[00:43:47] pod read band scooters been on

[00:43:49] here before if you want to face

[00:43:50] Reed in the box right now, he's

[00:43:52] on the mound like how does it

[00:43:54] go down?

[00:43:55] Can you get a hit off him?

[00:43:56] I mean, that dude pictures

[00:43:58] on pinpoint like he does not

[00:44:00] miss the globe.

[00:44:01] So I'm probably not going to get

[00:44:03] a hit, but I'm going to get my

[00:44:05] hacks off.

[00:44:06] I can tell you that I'm not going

[00:44:07] to be the pitcher who goes up

[00:44:08] there looking at strike one

[00:44:09] straight two straight three

[00:44:10] like I'm going to swing.

[00:44:11] I probably just won't make

[00:44:12] contact.

[00:44:13] Okay, I like that.

[00:44:14] Yeah, that's a good answer to

[00:44:16] still answer the question in a

[00:44:18] in a good way to give a little

[00:44:19] bit of an in depth detailed

[00:44:20] answer to it without having to

[00:44:22] go to read the next day when

[00:44:23] you guys get on the bus here

[00:44:24] this week and it's like, yeah,

[00:44:25] I take you deep.

[00:44:26] Yeah, no, I don't think so.

[00:44:28] It's funny because in college, I

[00:44:30] thought I could still maybe hit.

[00:44:32] I was like, maybe I could get up

[00:44:34] there and get a hit.

[00:44:35] And then I started standing in

[00:44:37] on like the bull pens in the

[00:44:39] spring.

[00:44:40] And I was like, yeah, no shot.

[00:44:42] These dudes are nasty.

[00:44:43] There is no way I'm hitting

[00:44:45] any of them.

[00:44:46] So while we're on the topic

[00:44:48] of Arkansas when you when

[00:44:50] the Mariners tell you you're

[00:44:52] going to Arkansas to start the

[00:44:54] season, your reaction is what?

[00:44:56] I'm just absolutely

[00:44:58] blessed.

[00:44:59] Like I feel like that's my

[00:45:00] perspective and everything through

[00:45:02] the Mariners.

[00:45:03] Obviously getting assigned to

[00:45:05] Arkansas is a huge deal.

[00:45:07] But like Matt

[00:45:10] here, concept or pitching

[00:45:11] coordinator, like.

[00:45:13] I put in the work and they

[00:45:15] helped me out and it was like

[00:45:16] a collaboration that

[00:45:18] they felt worked very well.

[00:45:20] And this is just kind of the

[00:45:22] results of it.

[00:45:23] So I mean, I would

[00:45:25] thank them every single day until

[00:45:27] the day I die for everything

[00:45:29] they've done for me.

[00:45:30] They've truly helped me

[00:45:32] become like the best version

[00:45:34] of myself.

[00:45:35] But yeah, that was just on my

[00:45:37] honest reaction is I was just

[00:45:38] like kind of blown away

[00:45:39] surprised.

[00:45:40] But I was like, wow, like this

[00:45:42] is the best situation for me

[00:45:44] as being a Mariner.

[00:45:45] Now this is all hindsight.

[00:45:47] Now that everything is official

[00:45:49] and that you are on the roster

[00:45:51] there, but going into spring was,

[00:45:53] I mean, were you thinking Everett?

[00:45:55] Like what was like what were the

[00:45:57] goals you had set out when

[00:45:59] February and rolled around?

[00:46:00] If I'm going to be completely

[00:46:02] honest with you, I didn't even

[00:46:04] worry about what affiliate I was

[00:46:06] going to like at that point in

[00:46:08] the offseason.

[00:46:09] It was just like

[00:46:11] what my player plans

[00:46:13] player plan goals where it's

[00:46:15] like throw as hard as I can.

[00:46:17] It was distinguished my slider

[00:46:19] goals and I was like, I'm going to

[00:46:21] go back to the next step.

[00:46:23] I was like, I'm going to go

[00:46:25] better.

[00:46:26] And those are really what I was

[00:46:28] focused on.

[00:46:29] I was never focused on like

[00:46:31] when I go back to Modesto, am

[00:46:33] I going to go to Everett?

[00:46:35] Could I possibly go to Arkansas?

[00:46:37] Like if you start thinking

[00:46:39] about those future results that

[00:46:41] I couldn't really control, it's

[00:46:43] like I'm just chasing

[00:46:45] something there that there's

[00:46:47] a lot of people that are

[00:46:49] looking for a way to

[00:46:51] control that.

[00:46:52] So you have like an

[00:46:54] oh, like, oh, whoa type of

[00:46:56] moment when you see the radar gun

[00:46:58] and you're starting to see 98

[00:47:00] 99 up or 90s on that radar

[00:47:02] gun, like for the first time, did

[00:47:04] you ever have a woe moment or

[00:47:06] could you feel it kind of

[00:47:08] building up?

[00:47:09] Um, well,

[00:47:11] like you guys said earlier,

[00:47:13] there's not like a lot of

[00:47:15] people that are looking for

[00:47:17] a way to control that.

[00:47:19] So I was like, I'm going to

[00:47:21] go back to the Penn State at

[00:47:23] Penn State.

[00:47:24] And I was sitting probably like

[00:47:26] four to five at that time.

[00:47:28] So I kind of knew I had it in

[00:47:30] me.

[00:47:31] But the past few years I was

[00:47:33] just like trying so hard to

[00:47:35] throw hard.

[00:47:36] And that's realistically not

[00:47:38] the answer to it.

[00:47:39] It's kind of when you're

[00:47:41] throwing your heart is kind of

[00:47:43] like, I'm throwing it hard.

[00:47:45] I was like, whoa, I'm

[00:47:47] throwing pretty hard right now.

[00:47:49] I felt good.

[00:47:50] I was definitely adrenaline up

[00:47:52] like I went to go get a water

[00:47:54] before going out.

[00:47:55] My hand was shaking.

[00:47:56] So adrenaline did factor in a

[00:47:58] little there.

[00:47:59] But yeah, I just, I don't know.

[00:48:01] I wouldn't say I was surprised

[00:48:03] in like a cocky way, but I

[00:48:05] thought that I could do it.

[00:48:07] It's just finally the pieces

[00:48:08] were starting to come

[00:48:09] together.

[00:48:10] And so would you say the

[00:48:12] challenge in you now is it just

[00:48:14] doesn't feel like you're trying

[00:48:16] to throw us hard.

[00:48:17] It's just coming more natural to

[00:48:19] you.

[00:48:20] Yeah, I realistically think the

[00:48:22] biggest thing is when I got

[00:48:24] dropped in the Mariners they

[00:48:26] helped me get out of my own

[00:48:28] way.

[00:48:29] I was a big like thinker out

[00:48:31] there.

[00:48:32] Like I thought a lot about

[00:48:34] mechanics.

[00:48:35] I tried to make everything

[00:48:37] perfect.

[00:48:38] I tried to throw hard like I

[00:48:40] thought I could do it.

[00:48:41] And yeah, I feel like from the

[00:48:43] velocity side, like I said, it

[00:48:45] doesn't even feel like I'm trying

[00:48:47] to throw hard.

[00:48:48] It's just I'm going out there.

[00:48:50] I feel like my body is on time

[00:48:51] and that's the result of it.

[00:48:53] We've gotten asked this

[00:48:54] question so many times of guys

[00:48:56] who have come into this

[00:48:57] organization and really like

[00:48:58] turned their careers around and

[00:49:00] stepped their pitching profile

[00:49:02] up a ton for what you could

[00:49:04] share.

[00:49:05] Walk us through that first

[00:49:07] conversation with the Had The

[00:49:08] Mariners.

[00:49:09] What do you think about the

[00:49:11] pitch and how much does the

[00:49:13] ball spin?

[00:49:14] How much does the ball move

[00:49:16] horizontally or vertically?

[00:49:18] But when you get into the

[00:49:20] Mariners draft camp, like they

[00:49:22] just simplify it.

[00:49:23] They're like throw strike one.

[00:49:25] There's no pitch in baseball

[00:49:27] that's better than throwing

[00:49:28] strike one.

[00:49:29] Like if you go and break down

[00:49:31] the numbers, a hitter's

[00:49:33] chance of getting on bases

[00:49:34] significantly lower than

[00:49:35] the pitchers.

[00:49:36] And I think that's the

[00:49:37] biggest advantage of getting on

[00:49:39] bases significantly lower if you

[00:49:41] throw strike one compared to

[00:49:43] throwing ball one in an

[00:49:45] OO count.

[00:49:46] And then the second most

[00:49:48] important count is one-ones.

[00:49:50] And we really hammer that home.

[00:49:52] So winning that count is

[00:49:54] another statistical advantage.

[00:49:56] But realistically, they don't

[00:49:58] tell you anything.

[00:49:59] It's kind of, I mean you

[00:50:01] guys watch plenty of Mariners

[00:50:03] games like if you see Cal

[00:50:05] really like setting up

[00:50:07] anywhere crazy.

[00:50:08] It's most of the time down the

[00:50:10] middle and just let our stuff

[00:50:12] play.

[00:50:13] So that's really what they

[00:50:15] preached to us when we got there

[00:50:17] at draft camp.

[00:50:18] And a lot of us just ran with it

[00:50:20] and are seeing success.

[00:50:21] What was the difference between

[00:50:23] that and college for you?

[00:50:25] Like I said previously, I was

[00:50:27] just trying to be perfect.

[00:50:28] Just trying to nibble the

[00:50:29] corners, trying to read swings,

[00:50:31] trying to create better pitches

[00:50:33] just like I make a good pitch on a

[00:50:35] slider.

[00:50:36] Like if it's a one-one count, I

[00:50:38] make a good pitch on a slider

[00:50:39] then it's one-two.

[00:50:40] I'm trying to make it better.

[00:50:41] But for no reason.

[00:50:42] Like he was already a good

[00:50:43] pitch.

[00:50:44] Like I don't need to try to do

[00:50:45] something crazy.

[00:50:46] And that's kind of what the

[00:50:47] Mariners preach and everything

[00:50:48] is kind of taking care of

[00:50:49] itself.

[00:50:50] So it's so interesting you

[00:50:52] talk about this and it seems

[00:50:53] like the fit between you and

[00:50:54] the Mariners itself has been

[00:50:56] a match made in heaven.

[00:50:57] But you want to kind of

[00:50:58] backtrack to the draft

[00:51:00] process.

[00:51:01] We're reading that you didn't

[00:51:02] have all that much communication

[00:51:03] with them leading up to the draft.

[00:51:04] It was you filled out a

[00:51:05] questionnaire and that was the

[00:51:07] extent of it until they called

[00:51:08] you on draft days.

[00:51:09] So when your phone rings and

[00:51:11] you hear it's Seattle saying

[00:51:12] we're interested, are you

[00:51:14] surprised?

[00:51:15] Absolutely.

[00:51:16] Yeah.

[00:51:17] Like you said, like I filled

[00:51:18] out that questionnaire that they

[00:51:20] send to a lot of the players

[00:51:22] through this draft portal.

[00:51:23] They were actually the first

[00:51:24] team to invite me ever way

[00:51:26] back in high school.

[00:51:27] And then just kind of over

[00:51:29] the years they must have been

[00:51:30] just keeping tabs on my

[00:51:31] and then just keeping tabs on

[00:51:32] me.

[00:51:33] And then yeah, when it was day

[00:51:34] three, it was in the morning,

[00:51:35] got the call and they said it

[00:51:37] was the Mariners.

[00:51:38] I was like, okay, sent them to

[00:51:40] my agent and then obviously

[00:51:42] it worked out and that was

[00:51:43] one of the best days of my

[00:51:44] life.

[00:51:45] So when you go into that

[00:51:47] draft, how many teams do you

[00:51:48] have in mind?

[00:51:49] Because I think you saw like

[00:51:50] hopefully at the end of day

[00:51:51] two, if not it's going to be

[00:51:52] day three.

[00:51:53] Or do you already have say

[00:51:55] five teams in mind that

[00:51:57] you think are going to be it

[00:51:58] when you go into that process

[00:52:00] Yeah, you hear from teams.

[00:52:02] I probably said I heard from

[00:52:03] like seven teams, but

[00:52:05] realistically there was one

[00:52:06] team that I thought was like

[00:52:08] really interested in.

[00:52:09] It was actually the Reds.

[00:52:11] I talked to them all throughout

[00:52:13] my last year at Pitt.

[00:52:15] I went to an end or not

[00:52:17] individual but like 20 man

[00:52:19] workout at Great American

[00:52:21] Ballpark.

[00:52:22] I believe it's called the

[00:52:23] Great American Ballpark.

[00:52:24] I think it's called the

[00:52:25] Great American Ballpark.

[00:52:26] I think it's called the

[00:52:27] Great American Ballpark.

[00:52:28] I believe it's called and

[00:52:30] then leading up to the draft

[00:52:32] we were talking.

[00:52:33] I thought for sure it was

[00:52:34] going to be the Reds and then

[00:52:35] just randomly out of nowhere

[00:52:37] as it was the Mariners.

[00:52:38] So did you know anybody in

[00:52:40] the Mariners organization like

[00:52:42] Player wise before you got

[00:52:43] drafted there?

[00:52:44] Yes, and unfortunately he

[00:52:46] went to the raise but his

[00:52:47] name is Tatum Levens.

[00:52:49] I played with him at Pitt

[00:52:51] and then I got to play

[00:52:52] with him last year in

[00:52:53] Modesto and then he

[00:52:54] unfortunately got traded

[00:52:56] to the raise but yeah that was

[00:52:58] the only guy I knew and then

[00:53:01] I knew of Cal Raleigh

[00:53:04] and I knew of a lot of the

[00:53:06] guys but I knew of Cal Raleigh

[00:53:08] more because my coach at Pitt

[00:53:10] was the pitching coach at

[00:53:12] Florida State when he was there.

[00:53:14] So that's kind of another

[00:53:16] connection and I talked to

[00:53:17] Cal during the spring just

[00:53:19] briefly but yeah those were

[00:53:21] like the two guys I knew.

[00:53:23] Were you aware of the

[00:53:25] Mariners pitching reputation

[00:53:27] before you got there?

[00:53:29] Not their philosophy but that

[00:53:33] they were good at pitching.

[00:53:35] I knew that they had Castillo,

[00:53:37] I knew they had Gilbert,

[00:53:39] I knew they had Kirby, I was like

[00:53:41] alright these guys are like a

[00:53:43] three-headed monster.

[00:53:45] I didn't hear much of Woo and

[00:53:47] Miller prior to coming up or

[00:53:49] Emerson but like I knew

[00:53:51] that they had that three

[00:53:53] and then obviously Julio was

[00:53:55] like Julio so I knew of him

[00:53:58] but yeah I didn't really know

[00:54:00] that their pitching philosophy was

[00:54:02] far and beyond better than most

[00:54:04] of the teams in the MLB.

[00:54:06] I want to revisit what we were talking about

[00:54:08] before we started recording.

[00:54:10] Really interesting stuff, you had the game on

[00:54:12] behind you just like I had the game on

[00:54:14] behind my computer and Castillo's

[00:54:16] on the mound tonight in Toronto recording

[00:54:18] here on a Monday and you're like well

[00:54:20] when Castillo's on I have to

[00:54:22] show intriguing watching a pitch.

[00:54:24] What interests you so much about the

[00:54:26] style of how he goes about it?

[00:54:28] We did talk about it but like

[00:54:30] how he trusts his fastball

[00:54:32] I mean

[00:54:34] I reference this to is like

[00:54:36] his first outing was like 75%

[00:54:38] fastball like as a starter that

[00:54:40] is very impressive and

[00:54:42] it shows that he really trusts

[00:54:44] his stuff and we all know

[00:54:46] he's nasty with all

[00:54:48] of his pitches but he truly

[00:54:50] trusts that fastball and feels like

[00:54:52] he can attack hitters and

[00:54:54] he's not scared and he throws strike one

[00:54:56] and it's fun to watch

[00:54:58] because it's really what we preach

[00:55:00] so

[00:55:02] I mean that's why I feel like I have to watch

[00:55:04] him every time he's on the mound same

[00:55:06] with Currie, same with Gilbert.

[00:55:08] But it doesn't

[00:55:10] sound like from what we talked about

[00:55:12] pre-recording that you're going to be a part

[00:55:14] of the splitter group that's the one thing

[00:55:16] you said you don't think you're doing.

[00:55:18] I cannot throw a splitter

[00:55:20] I miss arm side

[00:55:22] and yank it every time I try

[00:55:24] but if I try another pitch then maybe

[00:55:26] I talked to Pierpon about

[00:55:28] maybe adding an aqua ball

[00:55:30] Yeah, I know Currie

[00:55:32] threw one so it was

[00:55:34] pretty nasty too but yeah we'll see

[00:55:36] if I can throw an aqua ball later

[00:55:38] on down the road. Have you ever

[00:55:40] seriously thrown one?

[00:55:42] Yes

[00:55:44] which is funny enough

[00:55:46] I was like

[00:55:48] 11 or 12 I played for

[00:55:50] Team Michigan in the U-Triple SA

[00:55:52] Midwest series

[00:55:54] and I threw an aqua ball

[00:55:56] and a kid took me deep

[00:55:58] to left field and I was like yep

[00:56:00] puttin' it away and then I started messing with it again

[00:56:02] in high school never ended up throwing it

[00:56:04] in the game

[00:56:06] but I still mess around with it

[00:56:08] and catch play all the time

[00:56:10] I forgot who said it exactly

[00:56:12] but you shall be working on the next pitch

[00:56:14] maybe we'll see

[00:56:16] So it wiggles?

[00:56:18] Does it have the movement you want?

[00:56:20] It kinda has the butterfly

[00:56:22] like sometimes

[00:56:24] there's sometimes that

[00:56:26] I get this weird

[00:56:28] no spin straight to the left

[00:56:30] sometimes I get that butterfly

[00:56:32] and then

[00:56:34] sometimes I'll get that tumble

[00:56:36] and that's the one where you just cannot throw in the game

[00:56:38] because that's just a meatball

[00:56:40] it's not in the land

[00:56:42] What's the perfect velocity?

[00:56:44] You think you'd need to throw that pitch?

[00:56:46] Kirby's one was what? 70

[00:56:48] when he threw it?

[00:56:50] I think it was about 70 miles an hour

[00:56:52] that he threw which I think is a little bit on the slower side

[00:56:54] I think when Dicky threw his

[00:56:56] it was in the

[00:56:58] didn't R.A. Dicky get his in the 80s

[00:57:00] when he was throwing it?

[00:57:02] My educated guess

[00:57:04] was gonna be around 77

[00:57:06] I feel like that's very specific

[00:57:08] but that's where I feel like

[00:57:10] 70s would be sound right

[00:57:12] I feel like low 80s you have to be

[00:57:14] chucking that thing

[00:57:16] and that's where it could spray or get that tumble

[00:57:18] that has no movement

[00:57:20] then that's no point

[00:57:22] out

[00:57:24] You'd be a good person to ask about this

[00:57:26] I've wondered this forever

[00:57:28] why don't more pitchers

[00:57:30] incorporate knuckleballs to the point where they're just mixing them in

[00:57:32] 5, 6, 7% of the time

[00:57:34] because it feels like it's either

[00:57:36] one side of the totem pole

[00:57:38] or the other just in the sense of

[00:57:40] you're like R.A. Dicky or Tim Wakefield and you're throwing it all the time

[00:57:42] or you're not throwing one at all

[00:57:48] Probably

[00:57:50] speaking for other pitchers they probably just don't trust it

[00:57:54] I see that a lot

[00:57:56] with pitchers just like trying to

[00:57:58] add new stuff and messing around in catch play

[00:58:00] realistically

[00:58:02] I know people have been asking

[00:58:04] how do I add all these

[00:58:06] pitches from college till now

[00:58:08] most of it's just like

[00:58:10] messing around in catch play

[00:58:12] and then just figuring out

[00:58:14] different grips, you talk to different guys

[00:58:16] bounce stuff off each other

[00:58:18] that's really how you add a new pitch

[00:58:20] so I don't know why more people

[00:58:22] don't mess with knuckleballs

[00:58:24] because realistically if a hitter sees a knuckleball

[00:58:26] and they're not expecting it there's no way they're swinging

[00:58:28] so I don't know

[00:58:30] it's a really good question

[00:58:32] Which one of your pitches was the most accidental developed

[00:58:34] like truly messing around

[00:58:36] unserious and it turns

[00:58:38] oh actually this is not bad

[00:58:40] Probably my curveball

[00:58:42] I think last year in Modesto against Fresno

[00:58:46] they had a decent amount of lefties

[00:58:48] and I was still on that sweeper

[00:58:50] kept getting 12 balls and I had talked

[00:58:52] previously to Jake Witt

[00:58:54] the pitching coach at the time

[00:58:56] in Modesto

[00:58:58] and Matt Pierpont

[00:59:00] and I was like what plays better to lefties

[00:59:02] than a curveball, they're like anything with depth

[00:59:04] so in game and I've told Pierpont

[00:59:06] this I shouldn't be doing this

[00:59:08] but I was like you know what I'm gonna try a curveball

[00:59:10] so I got a depthy compared to my sweeper

[00:59:12] I was like oh I'm gonna add that

[00:59:14] and start throwing it in the bullpen and it worked out

[00:59:16] so here's like the fourth inning

[00:59:18] you're like well I'm gonna try this

[00:59:20] who gave you the grip

[00:59:22] I've always known

[00:59:24] like a curveball grip

[00:59:26] I hold it under the horseshoe

[00:59:28] on the right side

[00:59:30] I'm like that's my feel

[00:59:32] realest if you're watching

[00:59:34] probably on the side of it a little

[00:59:36] but yeah I was kind of new it

[00:59:38] and I was just like

[00:59:40] I'm just gonna throw it to what happens

[00:59:42] and I know who it was against

[00:59:44] his name is Aiden Longwell

[00:59:46] I'm actually family friends with him

[00:59:48] and he had

[00:59:50] I gave up my first professional hit to him

[00:59:52] and I saw on a scout report at the time

[00:59:54] he's just not good with curveballs

[00:59:56] two strike counts

[00:59:58] what was the look on his face

[01:00:00] he's like I know you don't throw that

[01:00:02] yeah it was a little like

[01:00:04] the headshake disappointment look down

[01:00:06] but he talked about it later

[01:00:08] he's like dude it's pretty good

[01:00:10] I was like thanks I kind of just added it

[01:00:12] see that answer right there

[01:00:14] is a perfect thing

[01:00:16] to resonate with anybody out there

[01:00:18] that sees your high school buddies

[01:00:20] or college buddies throwing out in the outfield

[01:00:22] and they're messing around with certain pitches

[01:00:24] and you're like you're the person looking over

[01:00:26] and you're not gonna throw that

[01:00:28] I'm just gonna throw it to your left

[01:00:30] look at this curveball

[01:00:32] or look at the slider I'm gonna mess around with

[01:00:34] and you're rolling your eyes and saying

[01:00:36] why don't you just throw the ball

[01:00:38] like you're never gonna throw this

[01:00:40] you giving that answer

[01:00:42] is a perfect reason for people to say

[01:00:44] oh maybe there's a purpose here for them doing

[01:00:46] that maybe they're not just messing around

[01:00:48] maybe it'll lead to something

[01:00:50] cause for you it did

[01:00:52] yeah just give some hope

[01:00:54] this gets so robotic

[01:00:56] and just always throw from like a pitching wind

[01:00:58] up and their catch play is the same

[01:01:00] every day like we incorporate

[01:01:02] different size baseballs

[01:01:04] different weighted baseballs

[01:01:06] like as pitchers

[01:01:08] will like actually we're taking ground ball

[01:01:10] throw it from sidearm or

[01:01:12] actually we're getting a ground ball

[01:01:14] in the outfield and pulling down

[01:01:16] like at the other guy like we're just trying to mix up

[01:01:18] our main goals be athletic

[01:01:20] and it kind of goes along the lines

[01:01:22] just like messing around throwing different pitches

[01:01:24] so a knuckleball would give you

[01:01:26] six pitches

[01:01:28] uh technically

[01:01:30] seven

[01:01:32] I have right now

[01:01:34] um most of the fastballs

[01:01:36] you'll see me throw is like a sinker

[01:01:38] um I have been messing

[01:01:40] out with a four seamer I've gotten to click

[01:01:42] a few times um few other times

[01:01:44] it's it's alright

[01:01:46] um and then

[01:01:48] I throw a cutter

[01:01:50] a sweeper

[01:01:52] a curveball and a changeup

[01:01:54] so four seam sinker cutter

[01:01:56] sweeper curveball changeup

[01:01:58] and that's the six right now if I got a knuckleball

[01:02:00] then I'd take me to seven and then

[01:02:02] I'd be in almost eudarvish land

[01:02:04] I was over

[01:02:06] yeah I was gonna say Shohei Reigns

[01:02:08] Shohei has what nine pitches when he's on the mound

[01:02:10] like yeah you're getting close

[01:02:12] yeah no like there are some guys that are out there

[01:02:14] and they could not like Shohei and eudarvish

[01:02:16] like those dudes like are so good at baseball

[01:02:18] like it's just unfathomable

[01:02:20] they just pick up the ball and do whatever they want with it

[01:02:22] I saw this

[01:02:24] proposed by Trevor May this week

[01:02:26] and I want to bring this up as an exercise

[01:02:28] to you you might not be able to name

[01:02:30] all of them but he said you should

[01:02:32] instead of just calling your pitch

[01:02:34] a fastball a sinker a cutter

[01:02:36] a slider sweeper whatever

[01:02:38] you just have to flat out name your pitch so we can differentiate

[01:02:40] it for everybody

[01:02:42] do you have any names for any of your pitches

[01:02:44] oh

[01:02:46] um

[01:02:48] no

[01:02:50] I don't really I guess like

[01:02:52] the old saying is like

[01:02:54] people used to say snapdragon

[01:02:56] and they would always say it to me because I was like

[01:02:58] that kid who can never shut his mouth growing up

[01:03:00] and I'd always I fell in love with the word snapdragon

[01:03:02] so like maybe we can call my sweeper

[01:03:04] the snapdragon but

[01:03:06] that's about it I got one name

[01:03:08] so I think just to compare

[01:03:10] I believe Bryce Miller sweeper

[01:03:12] is called the cannonball

[01:03:14] the cannonball

[01:03:16] the snapdragon and the cannonball

[01:03:18] I believe that's it

[01:03:20] okay yeah

[01:03:22] do you know who Sam Carlson is by chance Logan?

[01:03:26] I know of him

[01:03:28] I didn't get to talk to him I know he was with

[01:03:30] the org last year

[01:03:32] but no I don't I don't know him personally

[01:03:34] okay so

[01:03:36] that's what he called his sweeper

[01:03:38] was the snapdragon and and he

[01:03:40] yeah it's his thing so he did

[01:03:42] for at least for a while he's not doing it as much

[01:03:44] of it now but he did a bunch of

[01:03:46] like tiktoks and social media content for a while

[01:03:48] and he was big on calling that pitch the snapdragon

[01:03:50] so he's with the brewers

[01:03:52] now there is a void to be filled

[01:03:54] so if you like that name and you want to bring it back

[01:03:56] like there is there is

[01:03:58] an opening here so

[01:04:00] yeah I'll stop

[01:04:02] then I'll take it I'll take the name

[01:04:04] well there's your homework assignment

[01:04:06] as as the season goes on

[01:04:08] if you're just sitting out in the bullpen

[01:04:10] or in the dugout on days you're not starting and you think to yourself well

[01:04:13] that would be a cool name for this pitch

[01:04:15] maybe you can add it right into your back pocket

[01:04:17] alright yeah that's that's cool of me

[01:04:19] I guess my buddy

[01:04:21] my buddy Brady who I played with that

[01:04:23] you used to call my sinker the

[01:04:25] turbosynculus so

[01:04:27] there's another name I don't really know

[01:04:29] if that's like a true word but

[01:04:31] he called it the turbosynculus so

[01:04:33] I like that I think we got to get it down to one word

[01:04:36] though okay somehow

[01:04:38] we'll see what I can create

[01:04:40] can we do turbosync like or is that still too much

[01:04:43] I don't know

[01:04:45] I don't know I feel you guys are the judge

[01:04:48] so that's up to you

[01:04:50] I'm kinda asking TJ like is turbosync too much TeeJerry

[01:04:52] we still gotta cut it down

[01:04:54] so we say the turbosync like you could technically

[01:04:56] make that one word

[01:04:58] you could I feel like there's an apostrophe in there

[01:05:00] where you could make you could

[01:05:02] say that as one word we could just invent things

[01:05:04] you can make it up that's fine

[01:05:06] okay there's no rules

[01:05:08] yeah exactly and you know what if you think of a better one

[01:05:10] as the season goes on use that

[01:05:12] like so yeah

[01:05:14] um

[01:05:16] you were a Modesto last year like you talked about

[01:05:18] I am curious between that and between

[01:05:20] the spring breakout game that you played in

[01:05:22] just getting to play with

[01:05:24] some of these other Mariners prospects especially

[01:05:26] some of the guys on the younger side that are coming up through the system

[01:05:28] are there any

[01:05:30] that you saw for the first time and

[01:05:32] really just stood out to you whether it was

[01:05:34] Colt or Johnny and Tai and

[01:05:36] Modesto or whether it was somebody you saw

[01:05:38] in the spring breakout game like is there

[01:05:40] somebody you played with where you saw them for the first time

[01:05:42] and you said whoa

[01:05:44] um

[01:05:46] I feel like this is a very broad answer

[01:05:48] but all of them

[01:05:50] I mean I watched them play

[01:05:52] and I'm like dude those kids are

[01:05:54] literally teenagers like I cannot

[01:05:56] believe they can play baseball at that high level

[01:05:58] um

[01:06:00] I mean Colt is

[01:06:02] all around

[01:06:04] nasty that dude can swing it play in the field

[01:06:06] Johnny can run

[01:06:08] like no other he can swing it

[01:06:10] Tai P I mean I saw him hit

[01:06:12] two homers in one game

[01:06:14] like that's so impressive Aiden Smith I feel

[01:06:16] like that dude's got five tool potential

[01:06:18] um

[01:06:20] I mean he's nasty Colt Young I get to play up

[01:06:22] in Arkansas with like

[01:06:24] he's

[01:06:26] put together like that you look at that kid and you're like wow he's going to be a big leader

[01:06:28] he's going to be a name

[01:06:30] um

[01:06:32] Harry Ford I mean that dude's hands are

[01:06:34] lightning like

[01:06:36] I've never seen someone's hands that quick at the plate

[01:06:38] um but yeah like

[01:06:40] playing in the pro-play game was an absolute

[01:06:42] blessing and it was so awesome but to share

[01:06:44] with those guys is like such a cool

[01:06:46] such a cool thing I mean

[01:06:48] it was the first year they were kind of doing it or

[01:06:50] bringing it back I kind of heard that they might have done it in the past

[01:06:52] but I'm not really sure

[01:06:54] um but yeah there's such an awesome

[01:06:56] experience and like sharing with those guys was

[01:06:58] was unbelievable

[01:07:00] you realize out of all those young guys you

[01:07:02] mentioned they weren't even the youngest guys on the field

[01:07:04] the Padres had like a real like a

[01:07:06] 17 year like a former a 16

[01:07:08] year old who played last year 17 this year

[01:07:10] that makes you it makes you feel any older

[01:07:12] yeah that uh

[01:07:14] the solidest kid he's

[01:07:16] he's amazing behind the plate I think

[01:07:18] being 17

[01:07:20] um facing

[01:07:22] upper 9s

[01:07:24] mid 9s at 17 like that's kind of hard to

[01:07:26] hit um I would have zero chance when I was

[01:07:28] 17 but behind the plate

[01:07:30] he looks so mature like he looks like

[01:07:32] as good as a catcher behind the plate

[01:07:34] that I've ever seen really

[01:07:36] um and for him to be doing at 17

[01:07:38] is remarkable

[01:07:40] hey you were hitting nukes when you were 17

[01:07:42] yeah yeah and

[01:07:44] in cold weather in arbor not in the

[01:07:46] frostbite game but I tried

[01:07:48] my best

[01:07:50] one start in how

[01:07:52] is the chemistry been throwing a harry

[01:07:54] forward um

[01:07:56] I'm very excited

[01:07:58] uh

[01:08:00] we got off to a little rocky

[01:08:02] start um obviously

[01:08:04] having six pitches and

[01:08:06] not throwing to him practically ever besides

[01:08:08] one and two thirds ending in the

[01:08:10] frostbite game um is

[01:08:12] a little hard to know me as a pitcher

[01:08:14] and me knowing him as a catcher

[01:08:16] but like once we got into that third

[01:08:18] and fourth inning like I love pitching

[01:08:20] to him he's super super good back there

[01:08:22] and uh I feel like we started

[01:08:24] rolling and I'm excited for this

[01:08:26] upcoming week is that a tendency

[01:08:28] thing where he's not

[01:08:30] where you know he's he's

[01:08:32] he's just not cycling through the

[01:08:34] the I would say the two pitches you have

[01:08:36] in mind for a certain count right

[01:08:38] because you you have a lot to go through

[01:08:40] and the timers up against you and you're like

[01:08:42] alright well let's try not rush this too much

[01:08:44] but in the end there's just like

[01:08:46] like what like

[01:08:48] is there a pitch that there that

[01:08:50] you need to get like a feel of more

[01:08:52] or so that was a those very

[01:08:54] complicated question but like

[01:08:56] what no I understand what you're saying

[01:08:58] I um I mean I just

[01:09:00] take like four responsibility honestly

[01:09:02] what happened like the first two innings I didn't

[01:09:04] feel like I gave him the rundown on kind of what pitches

[01:09:06] I want to use to which hitters

[01:09:08] um I didn't feel like it was

[01:09:10] like a thing where I

[01:09:12] need to throw a certain pitch

[01:09:14] uh to like

[01:09:16] feel better out there I just felt

[01:09:18] like there were some pitches out there that I could have

[01:09:20] used in certain counts

[01:09:22] and um I didn't

[01:09:24] prep Harry the right way

[01:09:26] um and we just kind of got

[01:09:28] sped up with that clock but once we got into

[01:09:30] the dugout and kind of talked it out it

[01:09:32] started to click and that's when the results

[01:09:34] started to go in our favor

[01:09:36] how do you like use the pitch come

[01:09:38] um unfortunately

[01:09:40] we don't get to use it down here but

[01:09:42] in the spring game it was

[01:09:44] absolutely electric I really thought

[01:09:46] like my my prior thought

[01:09:48] going into it is like maybe I won't be able to hear this

[01:09:50] like the crowd

[01:09:52] um maybe they don't

[01:09:54] want it too loud for the hitter you can hear it

[01:09:56] like as well it's

[01:09:58] pretty loud honestly I'm

[01:10:00] maybe you can hear from the box I don't think so but it's

[01:10:02] like it'll be like

[01:10:04] fastball I'm like alright that's kind of cool

[01:10:06] I like that

[01:10:08] whose voice is it by the way or is it like

[01:10:10] series voice from the iPhone

[01:10:12] uh it's like

[01:10:14] a male robotic voice

[01:10:16] like that's how I'd describe it

[01:10:18] it's definitely not

[01:10:20] series

[01:10:22] or like Alexa

[01:10:24] but yeah it's like a male

[01:10:26] robotic voice it's kind of weird but

[01:10:28] I mean it does the job

[01:10:30] at least uh at least it didn't go over

[01:10:32] the television broadcast like they did on ESPN

[01:10:34] this past week

[01:10:36] I forget who they

[01:10:38] I forget who they mic'd up but you could hear

[01:10:40] it loud and clear so you know

[01:10:42] the other teams dug out certainly had ESPN

[01:10:44] on to listen to that

[01:10:46] yeah no that's uh yeah that's a fluke

[01:10:48] on their part for sure

[01:10:50] I did want to make sure I asked you this

[01:10:52] because I'm genuinely curious a little bit ago

[01:10:54] you mentioned Brian Woo and starting to learn more

[01:10:56] about the Mariner starting pitchers as

[01:10:58] you got into the system has

[01:11:00] any but I know your

[01:11:02] like pitch arsenals are a little bit

[01:11:04] different and the way you go about things is different

[01:11:06] but has anybody in the Mariner's system

[01:11:08] since you've gotten into the org

[01:11:10] you to Brian Woo at all and the reason I ask is

[01:11:12] because Woo I feel like there's some similarities

[01:11:14] between you two where maybe your

[01:11:16] basic counting stats in your college

[01:11:18] career didn't go exactly the way you wanted

[01:11:20] it to but Mariners loved your guys

[01:11:22] stuff you clearly lit up the radar

[01:11:24] you got drafted a little bit later

[01:11:26] but they bring you into the system and with Woo

[01:11:28] it's okay here's how we're going to make you the best

[01:11:30] version of yourself and you look at him now he was

[01:11:32] awesome last year like has anybody given

[01:11:34] you that confident

[01:11:36] not in the Mariners org

[01:11:38] I mean I've seen the stuff

[01:11:40] a few things

[01:11:42] written up about how

[01:11:44] Woo was kind of struggling in college

[01:11:46] and that's kind of the same

[01:11:48] boat for me and just kind of

[01:11:50] getting the Mariners org and they help us out

[01:11:52] I don't think that

[01:11:54] anybody's really compared me to

[01:11:56] like the way he works or his arsenal

[01:11:58] I guess the only thing is like

[01:12:00] and I haven't really got to

[01:12:02] watch him like pitch pitch I've just kind of

[01:12:04] seen him throw it out and

[01:12:06] I feel like he kind of takes the same approach

[01:12:08] it's like

[01:12:10] pretty smooth

[01:12:12] it's not really herky jerky

[01:12:14] I feel like that's maybe the only thing that

[01:12:16] we're really in common

[01:12:18] with like

[01:12:20] when I watch him

[01:12:22] it doesn't look like he's throwing

[01:12:24] really hard but he is

[01:12:26] and he controls it so

[01:12:28] I mean I feel like that's the one similarity

[01:12:30] that like Michael Morales

[01:12:32] actually told me that so

[01:12:34] okay

[01:12:36] no that's interesting I was genuinely curious

[01:12:38] just because again I felt like

[01:12:40] your college path to where you are now

[01:12:42] was a little bit similar and now

[01:12:44] for the both of you it feels like

[01:12:46] you are better pro arms than

[01:12:48] you were college arms which is why I was just genuinely curious

[01:12:50] and you've just gotten better as time's gone on

[01:12:52] especially since we got into the system

[01:12:54] so yeah

[01:12:56] the Mariners are wizards I mean I know you guys

[01:12:58] probably know that but they truly do take

[01:13:00] like a lot of pitchers

[01:13:02] who might have struggled in the past

[01:13:04] and just like

[01:13:06] find a few tweaks and then just

[01:13:08] say like go play baseball

[01:13:10] and then it just works

[01:13:12] yeah next spring training if you ever get a chance

[01:13:14] go talk to some of those

[01:13:16] bullpen guys Sausato

[01:13:18] Spire like two of our like

[01:13:20] two of our closest friends to the pod

[01:13:22] like there are stories of coming from

[01:13:24] other organizations to

[01:13:28] to the Mariners and seeing their stuff explode

[01:13:30] and really play at the big league level it's like

[01:13:32] it's truly incredible and it's a

[01:13:34] story worth hearing and gives everyone

[01:13:36] inspiration to come

[01:13:38] succeed in this organization, Ty Adcox and other guy too

[01:13:40] I mean just come

[01:13:42] to the Mariners organization and really like

[01:13:44] felt the message resonate

[01:13:46] and it's like you can kind of feel it without

[01:13:48] so it's pretty cool

[01:13:50] yeah I uh

[01:13:52] touching on that I don't know much

[01:13:54] about Sausato but I do

[01:13:56] know kind of

[01:13:58] the backstory from the playing of like that

[01:14:00] Gabe Spire

[01:14:02] I know that I believe

[01:14:04] he came from the Royals and wasn't like

[01:14:06] anything special I mean

[01:14:08] I mean he was in the league so like

[01:14:10] he was good enough to get there but like it wasn't

[01:14:12] anything that he's doing now and

[01:14:14] the biggest thing for

[01:14:16] them with the Mariners and his

[01:14:18] adjustment was just telling him to throw strike one

[01:14:20] just attack the heart of the plate

[01:14:22] and his results have taken care

[01:14:24] of it and uh he's

[01:14:26] obviously nasty at the end so

[01:14:28] if you ever need to know anything about

[01:14:30] Taylor Sausato just ask him about the North Star

[01:14:32] about the North Star

[01:14:34] the North Star yeah

[01:14:36] yeah well

[01:14:38] 20 second synopsis and then we'll let him tell you

[01:14:40] more if you ever talk to him is

[01:14:42] they were at a Kraken game last year

[01:14:44] phone died he was supposed to call an Uber

[01:14:46] it didn't show up

[01:14:48] because again he didn't know where to meet

[01:14:50] the Uber and lo and behold

[01:14:52] he tries to walk his way home

[01:14:54] the Kraken game to wherever he was staying

[01:14:56] and five hours later he was

[01:14:58] still lost in the middle of Seattle in the middle of the night

[01:15:00] oh no

[01:15:02] at that point in five hours I mean

[01:15:04] brother could have found someone with a charger

[01:15:06] that's what I said like you couldn't

[01:15:08] find anybody that said hey do you have a portable

[01:15:10] charger around or something

[01:15:12] someone had to have recognized him too

[01:15:14] I mean he's on the big league squad

[01:15:16] I mean someone must have hooked him up

[01:15:18] but yeah that's what I said

[01:15:20] I mean

[01:15:22] if you ever get the chance to

[01:15:24] talk to him and I'm sure you're going to like yeah

[01:15:26] he's full of stories so

[01:15:28] you'll hear him

[01:15:30] Spire to your point they told him to throw strike one

[01:15:32] and maybe you've heard this stat

[01:15:34] he throws more first pitch strikes now than anybody in baseball

[01:15:36] so it was a total transformation

[01:15:38] yeah no yeah that's what

[01:15:40] they told us at that meeting

[01:15:42] when they were breaking down his numbers it's like this dude

[01:15:44] went from like being

[01:15:46] okay to like being

[01:15:48] dominant because he throws strike one

[01:15:50] and they show us his numbers

[01:15:52] and the difference in there

[01:15:54] and every time they bring it up like it's never

[01:15:56] incorrect it's never like you never

[01:15:58] really see a pitcher throw

[01:16:00] really good like

[01:16:02] has a really high percentage in oh oh and one

[01:16:04] one and doesn't succeed

[01:16:06] like it's like pretty simple math

[01:16:08] like just throw those two counts

[01:16:10] like as best as you can and usually

[01:16:12] positive things happen

[01:16:14] Logan if we were to wrap it up with

[01:16:16] five rapid fire questions

[01:16:18] just so fans know a little

[01:16:20] bit more about

[01:16:22] about you

[01:16:24] we run through the same five

[01:16:26] that we've had and they're pretty good ones

[01:16:28] so first up first question

[01:16:30] that people want to know what is your go to

[01:16:32] pregame and post game meal

[01:16:34] you can post a meal okay

[01:16:36] my pregame meal

[01:16:38] is usually

[01:16:40] I'll eat

[01:16:42] some sort of like pasta

[01:16:44] like get carbs in obviously

[01:16:46] it's a pretty long game

[01:16:48] and then my post game meal

[01:16:50] if I could choose

[01:16:52] probably a mo's stacked

[01:16:54] burrito that thing is fire

[01:16:56] like I get it all the time and it's really

[01:16:58] good so that'd be my post game

[01:17:00] where's that from

[01:17:02] mo's southwest grill

[01:17:04] oh yeah

[01:17:06] I've never been to mo's

[01:17:08] really where are their mo's

[01:17:10] usually they're by like

[01:17:12] college campuses but they actually

[01:17:14] have one here in little rock so

[01:17:16] that's pretty big but yeah it's not as

[01:17:18] big as like your chipotle

[01:17:20] or your qdo bus but

[01:17:22] if you do go there it's

[01:17:24] get the stack

[01:17:26] trust me it's good

[01:17:28] that sounds pretty good

[01:17:30] I feel it so we went to ASU

[01:17:32] I thought ASU pretty much has

[01:17:34] in Phoenix pretty much has every fast food

[01:17:36] joint you could ever want from all

[01:17:38] areas of the country but I don't think mo's

[01:17:40] was one of them which is kind of unfortunate

[01:17:42] yeah I maybe

[01:17:44] it was like I mean there's so much to

[01:17:46] do in that Phoenix area

[01:17:48] so like maybe it was

[01:17:50] in Chandler

[01:17:52] Glendale maybe it wasn't

[01:17:54] where is it where is the ASU again

[01:17:56] in Tempe

[01:17:58] yeah Tempe yeah it wasn't there

[01:18:00] the next time I see a mo's

[01:18:02] if I ever see one I'm going to take you up on it

[01:18:04] I'm going to walk in I'm going to get the stack because it does sound good

[01:18:06] okay we'll reward

[01:18:08] back to you when we have it for the first time

[01:18:10] okay our second one for you

[01:18:12] is what are your three

[01:18:14] favorite TV shows ever

[01:18:16] TV shows watching

[01:18:18] for the second time Game of Thrones

[01:18:20] Ozark Breaking Bad

[01:18:22] okay now Logan

[01:18:24] I'm going to tell you that you said you've watched Game of Thrones

[01:18:26] Thrones through twice

[01:18:28] yeah I'm up to four times

[01:18:30] really yeah

[01:18:32] this is this I'm rewatching for the second

[01:18:34] time because I don't really remember

[01:18:36] the first time like it was

[01:18:38] I watched it

[01:18:40] my freshman year college

[01:18:42] kind of around there and I wasn't

[01:18:44] like that into it and then me

[01:18:46] and my girlfriend like restarted it

[01:18:48] and worked out in right now we just watched

[01:18:50] Battle of the Bastards

[01:18:52] and that

[01:18:54] that episode is sick so two follow

[01:18:56] questions to that first off do you feel

[01:18:58] like you're catching way more things

[01:19:00] that now that you know the story and you have

[01:19:02] the background and you know what to pay attention to

[01:19:04] mm-hmm oh yeah yes

[01:19:06] did you notice like

[01:19:08] there's like a scene they put in there from

[01:19:10] the final season like a precursor

[01:19:12] to the final season I think in season 5

[01:19:14] like that I noticed

[01:19:16] and I was like wow that's super cool

[01:19:18] like something like that

[01:19:20] I don't know if I picked up on that

[01:19:22] okay yeah maybe I'm just a geek it's alright

[01:19:24] second of all did you want have you

[01:19:26] watched like the the like the dance

[01:19:28] the Dance of the Dragons the one that's

[01:19:30] just come out like the new ones

[01:19:32] the extra one

[01:19:34] the new series okay no I have

[01:19:36] not I'm going to watch it after I finish

[01:19:38] Game of Thrones okay so

[01:19:40] then my task for you is then to re-watch

[01:19:42] Game of Thrones again not maybe not all the way through

[01:19:44] I'm kidding with that but they

[01:19:46] they make some references to that series

[01:19:48] in the Game of Thrones show

[01:19:50] yeah really yeah and after

[01:19:52] I went back and rewatched it again it literally

[01:19:54] blew my socks off I was like I can't

[01:19:56] like this is such a deep cut that

[01:19:58] like I had no idea about when I watched this

[01:20:00] years and years and years ago

[01:20:02] where this thing ever hit the television

[01:20:04] screen it's just yeah that's pretty crazy

[01:20:06] yeah I will

[01:20:08] definitely watch it I'll get back to you guys

[01:20:10] on how that is but I also am

[01:20:12] like a super nerd about that stuff

[01:20:14] like I'm a really big Harry Potter guy

[01:20:16] okay so like when I

[01:20:18] watched like all the

[01:20:20] um like ones with like Newt's

[01:20:22] Commander and all them like that was

[01:20:24] really good and then I

[01:20:26] guess I would throw in one more honorable mention

[01:20:28] I'm a big stranger guys or

[01:20:30] I love things too

[01:20:32] I love stranger things

[01:20:34] so I will say I'm like you where I've watched Game of Thrones

[01:20:36] through twice I've not watched it

[01:20:38] four times like TJ and

[01:20:40] my goal with it maybe you feel the same way

[01:20:42] is I just try to remember every character's name

[01:20:44] and I think it's impossible there's

[01:20:46] so many characters

[01:20:48] in the show they're like you can remember all the

[01:20:50] main ones but I don't know how you remember everybody's

[01:20:52] I think it's almost impossible

[01:20:54] it's wild it's hard

[01:20:56] it really is hard

[01:20:58] so I think it's a great

[01:21:00] topic of television you realize your catcher

[01:21:02] has like his full name is Harrison Ford

[01:21:04] right yes yes

[01:21:06] pretty crazy and the fact that

[01:21:08] his see goes by Harry and he's British

[01:21:10] yes and I

[01:21:12] see him every day and I go

[01:21:14] you're a wizard Harry every time I see

[01:21:16] him so but I did

[01:21:18] I didn't know that his name is Harrison Ford

[01:21:20] which is also crazy so

[01:21:22] yeah we have this idea

[01:21:24] for him in spring training which we thought would have been fun

[01:21:26] where we had this idea where we'd say

[01:21:28] like do a social media kind of segment with

[01:21:30] them where it was finished the Han Solo line

[01:21:32] but he's not a Harry Potter fan

[01:21:34] but not a Star Wars fan I was like okay so that probably wouldn't

[01:21:36] work so maybe one day I'll watch

[01:21:38] Star Wars but it makes sense since he has so many British

[01:21:40] so much British like background and British

[01:21:42] roots make sense that he's a big Harry Potter guy

[01:21:44] you should run Indiana Jones by

[01:21:46] him maybe he likes Indiana Jones

[01:21:48] yeah that's another one okay maybe

[01:21:50] Indiana Jones he'd do better with so we'll

[01:21:52] have to follow up on that

[01:21:54] out of the road

[01:21:56] Logan what would you be doing here's a third question

[01:21:58] what would you be doing if you weren't playing baseball

[01:22:00] hmm

[01:22:02] ooh

[01:22:04] oh that's

[01:22:06] a really good question not involved

[01:22:08] with baseball because I did want to like become

[01:22:10] like a pitching coach but I won't give you that

[01:22:12] how people have answered something in the baseball realm

[01:22:14] but if like if it's still in baseball but not playing

[01:22:16] just if you're not playing

[01:22:18] yeah like uh

[01:22:20] you know what I'm gonna scratch that I'm not gonna do

[01:22:22] that's probably a main answer

[01:22:24] if I were to do I would probably

[01:22:26] try to become a chef I really

[01:22:28] enjoy cooking so

[01:22:30] I'd probably do that like I'd

[01:22:32] put my hard work towards that

[01:22:34] okay what's your best dish

[01:22:38] I can make a pretty good steak I'm gonna

[01:22:40] be a grill dad I hope one day

[01:22:42] I hope I'm gonna be a grill dad so

[01:22:44] I can make a decent steak

[01:22:46] well who doesn't like a good steak right so

[01:22:48] that's a good one that's a good one to have in your

[01:22:50] bag pocket

[01:22:52] what is

[01:22:54] you're not that far into your minor league career so

[01:22:56] I'm curious to hear the answer on this

[01:22:58] what is the best and worst baseball road

[01:23:00] trip you've ever taken it can be college

[01:23:02] in high school too road trip okay

[01:23:04] um

[01:23:06] um

[01:23:08] best road trip is

[01:23:10] we

[01:23:12] went to Fresno to clinch

[01:23:14] last year um

[01:23:16] obviously we had that pretty historic winning

[01:23:18] um and there was just so much build up

[01:23:20] and I could feel it from like the season

[01:23:22] because a lot of the guys didn't think they were

[01:23:24] gonna make the playoffs because they were

[01:23:26] down and out almost

[01:23:28] um and then made that pretty big

[01:23:30] win streak and then went and clinched

[01:23:32] and it was awesome to be a part of that

[01:23:34] and help that Modesto squad

[01:23:36] um when a championship

[01:23:38] and then my worst

[01:23:40] is probably

[01:23:44] in college my

[01:23:46] first year when we went to Virginia

[01:23:48] Tech um I was

[01:23:50] kind of riding a high horse I was doing pretty

[01:23:52] well to start off the year and that's kind

[01:23:54] of when things went south

[01:23:56] and I faced that Virginia Tech lineup at the

[01:23:58] time was not

[01:24:00] ranked and I was like wow these guys like

[01:24:02] just rocked me like you can't be

[01:24:04] that good and then you look at their lineup

[01:24:06] and almost every single one of their hitters got drafted

[01:24:08] they had Gavin Cross

[01:24:10] Jack Hurley Carson

[01:24:12] Carson Jones who's with us now

[01:24:14] um

[01:24:16] D Martini like there's a lot of dudes that got

[01:24:18] drafted off that squad so that was probably my worst

[01:24:20] okay

[01:24:22] and then the final question here Logan

[01:24:24] your favorite all-time baseball player

[01:24:28] it's a really good question it's between

[01:24:30] two of the Tigers that we

[01:24:32] talked about probably

[01:24:34] I'll probably go with Miguel Cabrera

[01:24:36] um I mean

[01:24:38] Wizard with the bat

[01:24:40] always laughing

[01:24:42] loves the game you could tell like he just

[01:24:44] not only

[01:24:46] was he really good at like putting in

[01:24:48] his work and getting his but like

[01:24:50] I feel like he took a lot of players under

[01:24:52] his wing um like

[01:24:54] I said like he was always just enjoying the game

[01:24:56] messing around and then just

[01:24:58] uh he's a winner

[01:25:00] and he won the triple crown and when

[01:25:02] I was a kid growing up like

[01:25:04] that was awesome to see so Miguel Cabrera

[01:25:06] is probably my favorite player of all time

[01:25:08] okay you know what we lied

[01:25:10] I have one more for you because I wanted to ask this one too

[01:25:12] sure

[01:25:14] for you this one I think is is relevant

[01:25:16] is it actually easier to pitch

[01:25:18] in those sports goggles rather than

[01:25:20] have contacts in I've always wondered that

[01:25:22] okay so there is a backstory to that

[01:25:24] this is something else the fans can learn

[01:25:26] I wear contacts

[01:25:28] those are actually non-prescription

[01:25:30] I've been hit in the eye three

[01:25:32] times and in the mouth

[01:25:34] um so I do wear

[01:25:36] those for protection I've tried

[01:25:38] now two

[01:25:40] times to

[01:25:42] get the radars what they're called

[01:25:44] like the big ones um

[01:25:46] my prescription but they mess it up every

[01:25:48] time and it just like looks funky

[01:25:50] so I was like you know what I'm gonna scrap it

[01:25:52] and just use them

[01:25:54] and they're not prescription but I do use them for protection

[01:25:56] I've almost lost my eye

[01:25:58] now twice so it's uh

[01:26:00] yeah and my mother is actually

[01:26:02] an esthetician so she does

[01:26:04] a thing called micro needling and can get us your

[01:26:06] scars away so I don't even have really scars

[01:26:08] anymore in my left eye but

[01:26:10] they used to have some pretty gnarly ones up there

[01:26:12] whoa I'm actually glad I asked that

[01:26:14] question that's not the answer I was expecting

[01:26:16] but that's actually very very interesting

[01:26:18] okay so you wear contacts and

[01:26:20] the sports goggles so that's

[01:26:22] I'm uh I'm blind

[01:26:24] I'm like practically blind I can't

[01:26:26] see anything with all my uh my contacts

[01:26:28] or glasses so

[01:26:30] but when you can see you're throwing 99

[01:26:32] so it all works out right

[01:26:34] yeah I guess so yeah it works out

[01:26:36] yeah Logan this has been awesome

[01:26:38] dude thanks so much for

[01:26:40] sitting and hanging out with us for a bit

[01:26:42] I think fans have gotten to learn a lot more about you now

[01:26:44] we've certainly gotten to learn more about you

[01:26:46] and we're wishing you all the success this year

[01:26:48] and moving forward because we're looking forward

[01:26:50] to watching you pitch

[01:26:52] absolutely thank you guys I appreciate it

[01:26:56] that was a lot of fun talking to Logan Evans

[01:26:58] that is a really cool personality

[01:27:00] paired with what is now a dynamite arm

[01:27:02] and has the potential to be a big

[01:27:04] lead contributor in the not so

[01:27:06] distant future whether that's this year next

[01:27:08] year or more time moving forward

[01:27:10] it's TBD we're going to see how

[01:27:12] we go how he does in double a Arkansas this year

[01:27:14] we are very excited to watch

[01:27:16] them I know a lot of you guys are too

[01:27:18] so hopefully that interview gave you a little bit

[01:27:20] more of a chance to learn more about him because we certainly

[01:27:22] did so

[01:27:24] that'll just about wrap up this edition

[01:27:26] of the Marine layer podcast you guys know the drill

[01:27:28] if you want to listen to the full form podcast

[01:27:30] you can do so wherever you get your audio pods

[01:27:32] make sure to download leave us a five star

[01:27:34] review leave a written review it all helps

[01:27:36] make sure to like comment subscribe on

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[01:27:44] shorts at Marine layer pod

[01:27:46] that's TJ I'm Lyle as always

[01:27:48] we thank you guys for tuning in

[01:27:50] talk to you soon

[01:28:00] you