Episode 212: Reporting Live From Mariners Spring Training

[00:00:00] Welcome to episode number 212 of the Marine Layer Podcast. We are live in Peoria. It's Mariners Spring Training season. We'll talk about everything we have seen so far. Here's your guys reminder before we start this podcast. As always, make sure you're downloading these episodes. If you're listening, make sure to rate, review, leave it five stars. If you're on YouTube, go like, comment, and subscribe everywhere. Go check out our Patreon, which is brand new. We would love the support over on that side. And then if you're on social media, we know most of you are.

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[00:00:46] And we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball Podcast Network, recording on Monday evening, February 24th from Spring Training. We're live here in Peoria today. What is the biggest storyline so far, do we think, Lyle? Is it that we got to see the kick change up? Is it that it's mid-80s the entire week here? Is it that we have this makeshift podcast studio in a hotel room?

[00:01:14] Or is it the fact we walked into the complex yesterday and you didn't have sunscreen? Ooh, which storyline do I want to go with? How about the fact that if people are watching on YouTube, they can see one of us made their bed and one of us didn't. Now, who do we think that was? Now, this is a hotel. You're making a hotel bed? I like this. People who get paid to do that. Well, I like to sit on a nice bed personally.

[00:01:43] Well, as the people, yeah, if you watch on YouTube, it's like, it's fine. Like, there are a few ruffles here. There's a few imperfections. But for the most part, it's fine. Whatever. It's comfortable. It's a good nap bed. We had Leo's Island today, by the way. If you guys are coming down to Peoria and you need somewhere to eat, we talked about it last year. We'll just talk about it again. If you need the ultimate plate of carbs and chicken after a spring training game, Leo's Island barbecue, you'll sit down. You'll eat the entire thing if you have a good appetite. And then you'll go back to wherever you are.

[00:02:11] And then you'll probably knock out for three hours. That's exactly what we did today. I would say this very much mirrored what happens just about every day when I get up for Brock and Salk in the sense of by the end of the show, you know, the juices are going and you're in the middle of live radio and you're enjoying it. And you're thinking to yourself, yeah, I'm up now. I might have gotten three hours of sleep last night, but I'll be fine. But then you get home and you start to relax and you realize you've had some food in you.

[00:02:37] And then you think to yourself, wow, I'm really tired. And then you fall asleep, even though every day I say I'm not going to do that. That is exactly what happened here on Monday. You scoffed at my nap idea. I did for that exact reason. I think to myself, well, I'm not doing the right. I'm not. I've done a little bit of Brock and Salk stuff this week, and I'll continue to do that. But it's not like the full four hours getting up at 430, etc. Anyway, I thought to myself, I'll be fine. Let's figure out something to do in the afternoon.

[00:03:05] And boy, was I wrong between still getting up early, being out in the sun all day, probably not drinking enough water. Had this huge play to Leo's Island and then get back to rest. Oh, yeah, we fell asleep. Not only did Lyle scoff at my nap idea, he fell asleep before I did. That's a tough look. That's a tough look for Big L, but that's good because tomorrow on Tuesday when we go to spring training, you're going to be nice and rested. You're going to be nice and rested. How many short, short jokes did we get today?

[00:03:36] You know, funny enough, didn't hear one from Divish. I thought that was going to be the second we walked in the door, and shockingly, he didn't do it. We got plenty from Brock and Salk, but from Divish, none. So I would say that'll last another day max. I'm sure by the time this podcast comes out, there will be a short-short joke. There always is. Did anyone else have shorter shorts than we did today? I'm trying to think. Do we see any? I don't know.

[00:04:04] No, I'm actually dead serious. That's a dead serious question. People should get with the times. People should get with the times. I was thinking of any of the players. I feel like a lot of guys were actually in baseball pants today, so not really. They did have a game to play today in Milwaukee. Speaking of which, we're there at the facility. This is your probably call if you're trying to go see Mariner Spring Training.

[00:04:29] You should probably get there early because for 95% of these spring training games, these guys are playing a 1 o'clock game local time. And the facility is, especially if they're a road game, desolate by, I would say, 11 o'clock. It was like, I described it today, like a half day at school. It got to 11 o'clock today, and the facility was empty. And when I say empty, I mean literally the only people left at the Mariner's facility by 11 a.m.

[00:04:59] were like support staff. There was not a single player to be seen around there. So that's your call. If you want to go see these guys, you've got to get here early. I'd say two things. Yes, get out to the facility early. But this Monday felt like a little bit of a rarity. Because there's usually still stuff going on in the backfield with minor leaguers. I mean, it was a ghost town today. Usually even when the big leaguers go off, I feel like there's still stuff going on at the backfields oftentimes. But not today. Felt like a little bit of a light day.

[00:05:28] Anyway, baseball storylines. I think there's only one thing. Well, do we want to start with the big story or do we want to let people wait for the big story? Let's do the small ones first. All right. So there is one big overarching story that I would say is the story of camp over the last few days. Yeah, let's start with a couple other things first. Ryan Bliss getting some work at third base today, which is interesting.

[00:05:52] I guess it shouldn't be surprising because if you're somebody like him in his role that either is going to be a second baseman or utility infielder, you want him to play multiple positions, try to have some versatility. So obviously second base is his main spot, but to see him working over at third base. Yeah, I guess it shouldn't be too shocking because you want to see him move around the infield a little bit. There's a positive and a negative from this. I'm going to say the positive for Ryan Bliss's part is that when you look at him, he looks like a second baseman. He's not the most physically imposing dude.

[00:06:22] He doesn't have the strongest arm when it comes to playing defense on the infield. So that's going to most of the time lead to playing second base. If he can manage third, there have been Mariners third baseman, hence Kyle Seager, one of the best third basemans the Mariners have ever had. Didn't have the strongest arm himself over there, but he made it work. He was very good at right angles and stuff and accurate throws. That's a worry with someone like Ryan Bliss playing over there at third base. Can he manage it?

[00:06:49] Do we know he's going to need to play some real games at third? I'm not talking spring training games. I'm saying real big league games at third. It's honestly maybe a better fit for his bat at the, like probably the peak of his bat. Because Mariners second baseman notoriously don't hit. Third baseman, you know, Ryan Bliss has got the tools to hit. He showed it off over the weekend. He crushed a ball. Was it Saturday? One hopped off the center field fence against the Angels, I believe that game was.

[00:07:19] It's great. So he's got a lot of thunder in that bat, which is great. So they can find a way to get his bat in the lineup a little bit more. That's great. And playing third base will certainly help him. The reason he's playing third is not bad news, but maybe something that you will keep an eye on, raise your eyebrow at. When you think about the two guys that, let's paint the picture here. So Lyle and I are sitting there in the back part where the media and the players are. And field one is the one right next to us. And we're watching infield.

[00:07:48] And if you look at that, we're standing there on the dirt watching the infielders. The two third basemen, Jorge Polanco is not participating in this. It was Miles Masturbone and Ryan Bliss. Those are the two third basemen available. Jorge Polanco was sitting inside the dugout at this point. He's still getting his knee back into good shape. So he's not out there on the infield dirt. It does sort of put in perspective where the Mariners' third base spot is. The potential production of what Jorge Polanco can bring is fantastic. It's great.

[00:08:17] But seeing what happens if a plus 30-year-old Jorge Polanco off of major knee surgery, something happens to him, it is thin, to say the least. Is thin a good describer? Do you have a different word? No, that's probably right. Because, again, if he goes down, who's really behind him at third base, you could list off Austin Shenton. But he's not really a third baseman at this point. He's just not a great defender.

[00:08:47] So, yeah, that's why you saw Bliss and you saw Masturbone out there. Which, if that's what you're resorting to, it's not a ton of depth. It's just how it is. So they kind of need Polanco out there and playing third base. I don't, I'm not going to get overly concerned yet considering it's been a week, not even since position players have reported officially. And they're just getting into the flow of things. So I'm not going to freak out yet. Hopefully in the next few days you start to see him out there and taking ground balls and starting to get acclimated and everything.

[00:09:16] But, yeah, exactly. They need some backup options if he were to be injured or if he spends any time during the year on the IL no matter what. So, to see Bliss getting work over there, the big question with him is could he make that throw? But, you want him to have some versatility. You don't want him just as a second baseman only. So I get it. The big question is just about those long throws for him. We've also, though, talked about the depth a little bit. We said, yeah, there are points on this team that are thin.

[00:09:45] And the infield, as unproven as it is, the group is also incredibly thin across the board. When you look at returning production and guys backing up other positions, it's just not really there at this point. I don't think anything encompasses that more than if you take a look at that third base option. And that's if Dylan Moore is penciled at the everyday second baseman, which takes his backup option, him being a backup option, excuse me, away from any of these other positions.

[00:10:13] So, it's almost like this snowball effect when it comes to how we look at this infield. Well, the other option here is if Polo does start the year on the IL or if just at any point during the year he misses some time, I feel like the more likely route they go is Demo just plays third and Bliss plays second. So, it's not great depth. I get it. They don't have a ton. But that's probably how they would operate the infield, if I had to guess, I think. Also, okay, let me call back something you said.

[00:10:42] Do you feel like Bliss' bat really is better for third base? I know he's got the potential to hit, but I don't really think of his bat profiling as a third baseman. I think of him more as a second base profiled bat. Are we basing it off of the MLB average? Which, by the way, third basemen recently have not been the best hitting group in Major League Baseball. So, maybe that saves my argument a little bit instead of me talking out of my ass.

[00:11:09] Or are we judging it based off of what the Mariners did last year at those positions? Well, second base and third base, if you're judging off last year, pick your poison. So, yeah, Ryan Bliss is a perfect fit at third base. Well, now you're being mean to Ryan Bliss. I'm not. I'm saying he's probably more talented than what they got out of the production at those positions last year, which you and I both said have stunk. I see. All right. All right. That's fair.

[00:11:39] Yeah. Look, if Bliss can move around, that's great. And if he can play third and he can play second, you know he can play some shortstop, too, because he also played shortstop at Auburn, and he did a little bit in the minors. So, he can move around the infield, and to see him moving around the infield is probably a good sign. I would say storyline number two is Matt Brash just continues to progress in his bullpens, which, awesome sign. He's up to 90-91. He's mixing stuff in. No setbacks yet, and hopefully there are none, but all good signs so far.

[00:12:09] We watched him and Coar throw today. They were throwing their bullpens simultaneously, and they're both rehabbing from Tommy John, and each is at a different stage. Coar is going to be ready a little bit later, I think around midseason. Brash is, as we've talked about, going to be ready earlier. So, Brash was up into the 90s. Coar was in the mid-80s. Brash sequences it this way. I did learn this from Ryan Davis, and this is why he's the best, because he knows everything.

[00:12:35] Brash, when he's rehabbing, he will go, if you see this online, just remember this from perspective as he ramps this back up. He will go every other bullpen where he throws his slider. He doesn't spin at every single bullpen, it sounds like. So, today was one of those odd bullpens where he's throwing his slider. His next bullpen that he throws, he's going to do only fastballs, and he'll probably keep it right around the same velocity of 90-91 miles an hour.

[00:13:00] I'll say it looks a lot faster standing behind it, but that's only how much it was. Jackson Carr was about 88-85 today. Even though he's big, and again, when the mitt pops, it makes it look like he's throwing a lot harder, but he was only sitting in the mid-80s today. He's still got a little bit to go in his rehab. Can I just note, shout out to the Mariners for some of these renovations at their spring training complex. As media, it is so much better.

[00:13:29] It's a great, so think about it on the patio, because you could see this if you come to the Peoria Sports Complex. You show, you as a fan can show up there, first of all. They've taken away the chain link fence that essentially separated the bullpens from the fans and the general viewing public in that little grass area where you can watch Field 1 and you can watch Field 2 where all the major leaguers are usually on.

[00:13:51] And they instead put some turf down right on the fan side of that, and then they pushed essentially the fence down and lowered it to about waist high where it's metal. You can lean on it. You can put a drink on there, a water bottle, etc. So the fans don't have like an obstructed chain link view of watching these guys throw their bullpen. They're just a little bit farther back, and there's that now turf area right in front of them where guys can get turf work in.

[00:14:16] And I think it feels like as a fan that you're a little bit closer to it, but also they've carved out a little bit more space for the media members and the players to stand behind the bullpens and watch these guys throw, which is really nice, I would say, objectively for us. And they threw in some more chairs on the patio for us, which was very nice. We can sit down on the patio in these lawn chairs, and it's fantastic. So shout out to Mariners. That was great. I love the turf. Oh, all the renovations look awesome.

[00:14:45] The bullpens were fun to watch last year, even just watching it from behind the pitcher, but being behind the catcher, 180 different perspective. Like if you were back there watching Andres Munoz throw his bullpens, geez. And we'll get to him in a minute. So Kohar and Brash are on a little bit of different timelines. One, because Brash is just doing phenomenally in his recovery, it sounds like. But also another thing that, look, I'm not a doctor, but I'll try to explain this as best as I can.

[00:15:13] And I think Kohar had the full Tommy John with the full brace, with the longer recovery. So he is taking closer to the full 14 to 18 months to work back. Brash didn't have that full thing. His timeline is about more of a 12-month timeline that he sounds like he's on track to beat right now because his surgery was a little bit different. So Brash is progressing well. Kohar seems to be progressing well. Well, that was certainly another takeaway from today, I would say.

[00:15:42] What else do we want to touch on here? Colt Emerson hit the dick out of a ball this weekend. 111.6 miles an hour. Man, I can't wait to when we get to finally go to our first game at spring training here on Wednesday. I hope he plays. Because this dude, I mean, talk about buzz. Ask anybody about Colt Emerson and the impersonation of him as a baseball player. I mean, man, oh man. Like, dude status.

[00:16:09] I don't think there's not a lot of minor leaguers. Not in the Mariner system. Not in most systems that you can comp Colt Emerson to. Because there's just that extra level. Shout out to Laz. Here on Monday, he had a home run to dead center field in the big league game against the Brewers. That was pretty cool. Michael Arroyo had a ground rule double down the left field line. That was also pretty cool. What do we think of, if we want to take a leaf out of Brock Ewert's book, what do we think of the physiques today?

[00:16:39] I got to tell you, speaking of Colt Emerson, we talked to him last year around this time in spring training. And he looked like more of a typical minor leaguer. He'd just been drafted six or seven months prior. And was just getting his feet wet in his first spring training period. He was over in minor league spring training. And he got a handful of games throughout that spring to get a few at-bats in the big league games. But he was not in big league camp. He's in big league camp this spring. He's starting to really look like a big leaguer.

[00:17:08] If you want to go the physique route here, he's starting to look pretty built. That was one of my big takeaways from today, I thought. Yeah. Who's someone else? Brian Wu, I thought, looked really good. Dude, enormous legs on Brian Wu, which is really good for him. Who else stood out? Julio obviously looks like Salk's words were chiseled out of granite, I think, today for Julio. That was good. I thought everyone looked good. I thought Munoz looked slim.

[00:17:35] I thought he looked really good, Andres Munoz, when he's out there on the bump. So that was good. No, yeah. Darius Valdez, I don't know if he's going to be on the team, but that dude's huge. That dude's a tank. He's 6'8". Crazy. Let me make one more note. Now, this was not while we were here. This is the last note, I think, before we get to our big story. This is not while we were here. This was Sunday while we were traveling in.

[00:18:03] It got reported that Cole Young's been limited a little bit over the last few days. It sounds like he's got a little bit of a sore throwing arm, so he hasn't been in the field much. He pinch hit in the game on Sunday, but that's been a... He just hasn't gotten crazy extended work, at least for now. And it doesn't sound like it's too serious, but it being this early in the year, it being spring training, I think the Mariners are operating cautiously, which is obviously smart.

[00:18:26] That being said, if possible, I would love to see a bunch of Cole Young this week because if you ask me, this is the most intriguing dude in this entire camp. And I say that because he has such a wide range of opportunity in terms of where he could be by the end of the spring. I don't think he's going to make the roster at a big league camp, but I want to see how close he truly is because of all the highly touted prospects.

[00:18:52] He is the closest one to the show, and I want to see how he handles a full six or so weeks of big league camp. He's the only top 10 prospect that has a chance at the big league roster within the first three months of the season. And that adds all the intrigue you need because the prospects, we love watching, thinking of the hypotheticals of all these guys. But really, once they make the big leagues, that's when this real interest starts in all these guys and that real impact can be made. And it's just him.

[00:19:21] Everyone's looking at him and the sort of things he can do. But like you said, we didn't see him today. There are a few prospects we didn't see today walking around. I'll be curious if we see them tomorrow. We didn't see Johnny Farmelo out there. Didn't see Ty Pete. They might have, again, just been inside like stretching or something or doing yoga. I'm going to guess that's what it was. Yeah, there were some guys that were taking it real light today. Like Shintaro Fujinami, for example, who threw yesterday. I was watching him. He spent the entire day stretching and working out, which is great.

[00:19:50] Shout out to all the pitchers who have made it to this point of their careers. I was sitting there thinking about this at spring training. Spring training and the regular season for pitchers. Yeah, you got to put your work in. You got to study. You got to craft your pitches. You got to work your bullpens. You got to be incredibly detailed. But once you make it to this point, man, off days for pitchers is great. I think it's one of the best things you could possibly reach is if you're a really good big league pitcher and you know how to utilize your schedule.

[00:20:19] Because, man, it doesn't seem like on your off days you have all that much to do. I was going to say, you want to rank best jobs in the world. NFL backup quarterbacks toward the top. That will always be toward the top. But big league dominant starting pitcher, that might surpass it. Think about if you're somebody like Garrett Cole and you're on this huge contract. You pitch one day a week or once every five days.

[00:20:45] The other four days, look, you have your work to get in and some things you have to do and bullpens you have to throw and scouting reports to go over. But essentially, you're performing one day a week or once every five days. And after that, there's a lot of just hanging out. Oh, by the way, then you get 30 plus million dollars a year. Fans love you. But you're not playing every day. It's kind of a sick job. And in spring training, that gets dialed back even more.

[00:21:11] I was thinking back to the high school baseball days where people make fun of POs because they literally like rake bullpens and run like run diamonds and stuff like that's all they do besides throw. And people make fun of them for it. Well, think about in spring training, at least in at least in the regular season, these starters have to go out and throw eight innings every five days, perhaps. In spring training, they're throwing at this point two innings, an inning and an inning and a third.

[00:21:38] So it's, you know, it's a real light workload as they're ramping up. And I use Fujinami as an example because he threw out of the bullpen yesterday. He knew he wasn't throwing today. These guys know exactly when and when they aren't throwing based on how Dan Wilson and Jerry DiPoto and Justin Hollander decide they want to stack their pitchers up because they map all this stuff out ahead of time. And he knows, man, I could just show up to the facility. I can stretch. I can, you know, get my workout in and then go do whatever I whatever I want to do.

[00:22:05] I will say he was at the facility longer than anybody. I noticed today. He was one of the few people left when we left still there at the facility today. So, you know, shout out to him. He's do I want to say fun? Yeah, fun. I think fun is a good word. An adventure is another word. It's a roller coaster watching him pitch. We saw we saw some of the highlights of him pitching on Sunday. It's a really interesting profile. I'm going to be completely honest. Will he make the big league roster?

[00:22:34] No, but in this bullpen, I mean, we're talking an upper 90s fastball. He throws a splitter at 93 miles an hour. Problem is, he doesn't really know where it's going. And in the Sunday outing really kind of highlighted that he nearly drilled Gabriel Moreno in the head. He all he Alec Thomas nearly had one implanted in his hip as not counting the two pitches. That would have hit a batter in the other batter's box against him. But he also struck out two guys. So it's like dynamite stuff that goes legitimately anywhere.

[00:23:03] Are you sure he's not going to make the big league roster out of camp? You just list out the bullpen, especially with Brash being out. You got Munoz. You got Santos. You got Snyder. You have Sauce. You would assume Gabe Spire. You would assume Trent Thornton. So there's one spot that's probably open in there. Yeah, if you list out all those guys that's up for grabs, especially with Brash being out. I wouldn't say 100% no to Fuji making the roster out of spring training.

[00:23:33] Because if he throws well, that's a pretty intriguing arm. 100% no. I will remember they traded Ryan Stanek last year who had many of the same problems that Fujinami has. And they traded him because of that. Because he could not throw enough strikes and they were sick of it, it seemed like. Because they essentially dumped him for nothing to the Mets. Does that like... So they're like trying to see something different from Fujinami. But they already know we tried this.

[00:24:00] A big right-handed reliever with electric top-tier stuff. How much time did we spend talking about Ryan Stanek's stuff last year? Like, this dude has the best stuff on the team. It's so incredible. But he can't throw strikes. And Jerry DePoto said, sorry, I can't have him in my bullpen. He doesn't throw enough strikes. Fujinami's the same way. I'd be down though because it's wildly entertaining. It would be Fernando Rodney, but he throws harder. Yeah, exactly. With probably better stuff. So... Better stuff, yeah. That bullpen spot will probably be up for grabs. So we'll see.

[00:24:29] There are other guys that are going to be fighting for it too. We'll see which route they go. Are we ready to talk about the big storyline here on our first day? I don't think there's any storyline that could possibly overtake this so far. This Andres Munoz changeup. You know, we heard about it the other day before we got down here. This is insanity. Watching it for the first time. I mean, I thought people's reactions were maybe a little bit overplayed when they were talking about it the other day.

[00:24:58] I'm sure it was a good pitch, but I thought people's reactions were a little bit overplayed. No, this thing's very for real. Wow. Wow. It's the only pitch I think I've ever seen in Major League Baseball where everyone gasps every time it's thrown. That's probably because it's new and that people, he only throws it a handful of times. But I'm dead serious. Every time he threw it in a bullpen, every time he threw it in the live session he had today, people were like... And that's how you can tell the pitch is good. It's low 90s.

[00:25:27] And when it's playing off a 101-mile-an-hour fastball, except it drops probably... So if it has... Let's do some ASU math here. Shout out ASU because we're here in Arizona. So if his fastball is what? Like 20 inches of ride? And the changeup's 10 inches? Is that right? Do I have that right? Is it 30 inches? Or am I just full of shit right now? Anyways, there's still a big separation between his fastball and his changeup.

[00:25:53] And man, I feel terrible for Cade Marlowe because he's the only one who saw that pitch in a live at-bat so far. As far as I'm aware. And yeah, he swinged and missed. It was a really, really bad swing. Really bad swing for Cade. He was a little bit overmatched against Munoz. And then Julio comes out after the fact and said this, and I quote, I don't ever plan on facing Andres Munoz again because that guy's too good.

[00:26:21] So if that doesn't tell you where Andres Munoz is at with his stuff, when it comes to the fastball, when it comes to the slider effectiveness, when it comes to this kick changeup, I mean, it's just insane. Let's not forget this change, this slider that Andres Munoz threw. Just two seasons ago in 2022 when the Mariners made the playoffs, this was a top three pitch in all of baseball. And now he's going to add a pitch that's, if it makes it to the regular season, that could be better. I would think at this point it's trending toward the regular season.

[00:26:51] He's still, I'm sure, going to have to throw it a bunch more. But the way it's trending, you would have to think it's at least something he'd use sometimes, even if it was 4-5% of the time, just to have it. I mean, right now it looks too good. And I would assume that, yeah, I mean, I would assume people are going to just tell him, keep throwing that pitch. We don't have all the data. We're not in those meetings. But if I had to assume, and I was the Mariners analytics team, if I was our front office group, if I was our pitching group,

[00:27:20] I'd say, yeah, I'd probably keep throwing that pitch because it's working and it looks unbelievable. And the idea behind the pitch is the same thing as his sinker, because he needed that pitch for lefties. And this is just another pitch against lefties. He'll have his four-seamer and his slider against righties, and then he'll have this change-up and his sinker against lefties. And then he can be the ultimate balancer. He can be the rare reliever that has four pitches that is equally balanced against lefties and righties.

[00:27:47] And then all of a sudden, Andres Munoz becomes an absolute cheap code. How much money is he making this year? $3 million? $3 million? His contract is... His contract really is something else. Because he would be a free agent after this year. Yeah. Right now, he would be an ARB 3. He'd be in his final year because he debuted in 2019, at least per SpotRack, SpotRack, SpotRack, however you say it. It says in 2025 he would currently be an ARB 3.

[00:28:16] So yeah, I mean, shout out to the Mariners for getting that contract done. Shout out to Munoz for wanting to sign it. And I'm glad he's going to be here a while because he just continues to get better and better every year. He's still pretty young. And we know he's one of the game's best relievers. If anybody's curious about the results he had against Julio in the live at-bats today, they had two. Munoz won the first one. He actually overmatched Julio a little bit in the first one. He blew a fastball by him. He had him a little bit off balance. And Julio got him back in the second one. He won hop to ball off the wall.

[00:28:46] I don't know if there's a more fascinating and entertaining live at-bat in the Cactus League than Andres Munoz versus Julio Rodriguez. Just off the top of my head, Emmanuel Classe versus Jose Ramirez would be pretty cool. That's a good one. See, I don't think starter versus star player is that interesting, even if it's an elite starter, because you see those matchups all the time. It's these absolutely dominant relievers versus the star bats with filthy stuff that you don't get to see that much.

[00:29:14] So I'm even trying to think out loud about some other at-bats. Would Mason Miller versus Brent Rooker be pretty cool? Yes. I don't think it's quite Munoz versus Julio, but another one you could argue. I'm just trying to think about some other ones out loud about those type of at-bats. I mean, maybe Shohei versus Mookie if Shohei was up there pitching. That'd be... Maybe that one tops it, but... Well, given that Shohei hasn't pitched in a long time. Right. Or even maybe Roki Sasaki versus Shohei would be another pretty unbelievable one.

[00:29:44] Point being, Andres Munoz going up against Julio in live at-bats is on a very short list for intriguing live ABs. I have one more storyline I want to talk about, but I believe you do have an ad to read. I do. And before we do that, let's talk to you guys about our friends over at Pagatches Pub 85. That's over in Kirkland. You guys know it is an awesome, awesome spot to go hang out. You want to go watch some spring training games over the next few weeks. You want to go set up for March Madness. Head over there. You can play some pool, some darts, et cetera. And if you want some awesome drinks, those are during happy hour.

[00:30:13] It's from 2 to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Drinks are three and four bucks, you guys. Awesome deals. So all of that, fun time with your friends, great food, drinks, et cetera, is all over at Pagatches Pub 85 in Kirkland. All right. Your last storyline is, I actually don't even know what it is, so let's hear it. Because it's a mystery. Just like Logan Gilbert's new pitch. Logan Gilbert threw one pitch today that was qualified as a quote-unquote, per Adam Jude's tweet, a mystery pitch.

[00:30:44] I think Logan, as far as Logan went towards presenting it, he said it was a sinker. I did see some discourse online that it could be a splinker. Hmm? Hmm? Hmm? They're not. So here's every single thing we know. We know because this is, he threw it legitimately one time today. That's it. In his outing against the Brewers today. So it is sinking action to it. He threw it for ball four.

[00:31:12] Joked and said that Cal Raleigh might not ever let him throw that pitch again because he threw it for ball four. And that he's not willing to share any more details on that pitch yet. I think splinker works a little bit better, just honestly, because Logan's extremely cool and all the pitches he develops are extremely cool. So I feel like a splinker works a little bit better. But thinking off of that as well, he already does have a splitter. So how does, how does it work when you have a splinker and a splitter?

[00:31:41] One's faster, but it's the, it's the same exact action. It's the same idea. Well, has he been watching Paul Skeens on pitching ninja? That's my question. I hope so. That feels like the type of thing Logan could do where he'd be watching some pitching ninja stuff and somebody likes Skeens. He's like, yeah, I'm going to do that. So he's only thrown it for one pitch. We'll see if he continues to throw it. But anytime Logan Gilbert adds a new pitch to his arsenal, am I going to be intrigued? Yes. Because the dude is the ultimate mastermind, always wants to get better.

[00:32:11] And most of the pitches he has coined so far in his career worked out. So I want to see him keep going. And for Logan, I don't even feel like he needs to add another pitch. He's obviously going to want to because he's Logan Gilbert. This is what he does. He tinkers. He adds. He develops. Dude has a complete arsenal. He has pitches to righties. He has pitches to lefties. He can pitch up. He can pitch down. He can pitch off speed. He can pitch breaking ball. He can pitch hard stuff. He has stuff that rides left. He has stuff that rides right.

[00:32:40] Like he legitimately does not need another pitch. But he said, yeah, so what? It's spring training. Why not? And hey, we might not even see the pitch at all during the regular season. It's like the first year of George Kirby's splitter. The first year of George Kirby's splitter. I remember we were sitting here the first year of this podcast. We sat here and talked about it. I was like, oh my God, George Kirby is a splitter. George Kirby is a splitter. George Kirby is a splitter. He didn't throw it pretty much at all, all season. Now, this past season, he threw it a lot more. But the first year, he did not. That could be one of these pitches.

[00:33:09] We're really in the experimental phase of spring training where guys are trying to see if stuff works against live hitters. And then they'll go from there to decide whether or not it's worth throwing it in games that actually count. Yeah, this was the same year that while George Kirby learned the splitter, a bunch of guys learned that splitter, including Robbie Ray, when you told people to take the overrun strikeouts. And then we had a friend that got really mad because you cost them money. Did the splitter cause Robbie Ray to get Tommy John? People will never know. I'm going to say no.

[00:33:39] I'm going to say it was probably the fact he's throwing 95 in his first spring training outing. Well, that's probably more realistic. Point being, TJ lost people money. I did. I did. Yeah. Now, there's a reason we don't do betting segments on here anymore. Really? At all. Maybe one day. We'll see. Maybe one day. Yeah. Maybe one day. Let's do a sunscreen report, dog. How are we looking? I probably could have done a tad bit better. I didn't do awful, but I can tell there's a couple spots I missed. This is always what happens on day one.

[00:34:08] You get back into the flow of putting on sunscreen. There's a spot or two you miss, and then you kind of reset and readjust the next day. And tomorrow on Tuesday, I'm going to know which spots I still have to cover my face with sunscreen. I think there's a very important point here. Number one thing that you're happy about. You did burn your ears a little bit, though. So I'd say the important thing, no nose. Peeling nose is a bad thing. So we we we escape that. The corners are not the end of the world up here. You got to watch this on YouTube, by the way, because this is really great podcasting.

[00:34:38] We look up here in the corner. It's a little bit red. But overall, I think it's good. I got this little diamond on my chest of redness. I think that's that's perfect. And I think fitting going into the rest of this week. All right. One thing you're looking forward to tomorrow is what? Let's see. I mean, I don't want to circle back to Cole Young, but I really hope to see Cole Young. I want to see him get out on the field and him start to do a little more hitting and certainly a little more infield work and just see how he matches up with a bunch of the other guys

[00:35:08] in big league camp. That is my hope. Will he be out there? We're going to have to wait and find out. But I will tell you the next time we record a podcast, which will that one will be out on Friday. We'll have three more days of spring training to recap. So we'll have Tuesday notes. We'll have Wednesday notes. We'll have Thursday notes. I'm sure we'll have a bunch of interviews that we'll have done by then. So there'll be a bunch of things to recap. But if you're asking me one thing. Yeah. I hope Cole Young. And if you want me to pick one more.

[00:35:34] I would say George is supposed to start Wednesday. Logan started today. Who is it? Tuesday. Is it Bryce? Is it Luis? I think Luis. Yeah. All right. So I'll be interested to see Luis's first start of the spring. Listen, it sounds like all of a sudden it is not a certainty. How about this? It is not a certainty who's going to start opening day. It is not a certainty. It's going to be Luis. Logan got the first start of spring training. Now that doesn't mean Luis couldn't start opening day.

[00:36:03] But I'll just be interested to see how he looks in his first start of the spring. He's a guy that even though he's still a very, very good pitcher. Can pitch a little bit better than he did in 2024. How's he going to look in his first outing of the spring? How's his stuff going to play up? Is he going to hit? Is this like is his commanding going to be good? Is he going to miss bats? That is a big one. Will Luis Castillo miss bats? Because he didn't do enough of that last year. So it'll just be the first start of the spring. You can't take home any ridiculous notes from it. But I'll just be interested to see him get out there.

[00:36:32] I hope they don't judge the opening day starter based off of spring training results more than I'd say spring training process. I think is what they're going to go for here. A.K. Like Logan got blown up today. So that's not going to go into their decision to whether or not to name him opening day starter. It's it's an interesting thing. OK. One thing I'm looking forward to. And I said tomorrow. What I meant mostly was like Lyle said the next three days before we record next on Thursday night. OK. One thing I am looking for.

[00:37:04] Hmm. I stay first. First I'd say for our guy Logan Evans who's going to pitch in a game I believe between now and then. We talk caught up with him today. Great catching up with Logan. Shout out to you Logan. That he bounces back and has another a better outing than he had his first time out. He was mentioning us today. They were trying to work on some of those bunt plays that they that he he had a play where he fielded the ball in front of home plate and he threw the ball way down the first baseline and said, hey, we're trying to work on that. Just trying to plan it out.

[00:37:33] So it's a little bit easier on the pitcher a little bit easier on the first baseman. So it's good getting to catch up there. So I hope he has a better second outing for us. Let's say it of the big leaguers. Hmm. Big leaguers. Um, while you're thinking, let me make one note on that, too. And something Logan did say to us. This is why you can't always take spring training stats into effect and can't take him too seriously is look on paper. Was that Logan's best outing of all time? No.

[00:38:00] Like he obviously gave up a few runs and and not everything was perfect. But he said, you know what? For my first start of the spring, for the things I wanted to accomplish, I was actually happy with the way my stuff was playing up and by the way I was attacking. So he said for the things I wanted to do in my first outing, like I was actually happy with it. It may be in spite of the throw down the line. So that's why don't always take it too seriously when a guy when a guy doesn't have their best outing in the world in spring training. Let's see.

[00:38:27] Let's say I want to see some live at bats on the backfields with Mitch Garver and I want to see him do well. I'd say that's what I want to see. There's a lot of things I could pick out. Like I want to see JP. I'd love to get to talk to Polo and see how he's doing. We could catch up with Polo, see how his knee's feeling. Maybe introduce ourselves to Donovan Solano and see if he's how talkative he is and what kind of guy he is. Keep an eye out. Those guys over there at third base.

[00:38:56] It's really easy to go pitchers. And I think overall just no injuries between now and then. That would be that would be that I think that would be really nice. That'd be great. Oh, yeah. That is my single favorite part of spring training, even with all the games going on and all the work you get to see. It's getting to catch up with all these guys. Like there's so many of these guys that we love talking to and are so interesting. That's my favorite part. That is the stuff I really look forward to the most, especially because you're in a setting where everybody's laid back. Sun's out. Guys are in a good mood.

[00:39:25] You know, it's fun. Spring training is fun. So all that stuff. We can't wait. We'll have more on Friday's pod with everything we've been doing at spring training. We think we're going to try to do a couple of sit down interviews this week, which we haven't done before. We hope that happens. We'll keep you posted on that. We're working on it right now. So we'll see. But we got a bunch of stuff planned the next few days. We can't wait. It's just day one at time of recording. And yeah, we're having a blast here in Peoria so far. All right. That just about wraps up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast.

[00:39:54] You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods. But make sure to download. Make sure to rate and review. Please leave it as a five-star review. Keep getting those reviews up. We want to see them keep going up with the Apple reviews, the Spotify reviews, everything. Go like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. If you're on Patreon, go check out our brand new Patreon. We're going to be adding more stuff to it as time goes on. Again, we just started it. We've had a crazy busy month.

[00:40:19] As soon as this month comes to an end, we're going to start working on more ways to get you guys implemented and interact with you guys that much more. Because that was a huge reason we wanted to start that. So go check that out and then follow us everywhere across social media. We're posting content every day at Marine Layer Pod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon.