October 12, 2025 • 20 mins
Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman reveals how the club celebrated and prepared for the ALCS. He also analyzes Aaron Judge’s crazy home run last round and former teammate Orion Kerkering’s costly error.
Jeff also explains what he’s seen from Vlad Jr. and how happy he is that he didn’t end up in Baltimore.
Hosts: Kevin Pillar, Erik Kratz, Scott Braun
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Here comes Blue Jay's closer, Jeff Hoffman, joining us right
now on FT Jeff, thanks for joining us busy times,
and congrats on cracking the alcs. How has life been
over the last forty eight hours to celebrate slash prepare.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, just a little bit of recovery.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
We uh we got after a little bit on the
on the flight home and the celebration and everything. So
we got a good day of rest yesterday and back
to workouts later today.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Would you wish the flight was longer? Based on the
good time that you guys were having. Sometimes the good
times those flights like can we like, can we circle
a little bit? I don't need no turbulence or nothing,
but can we circle a little bit?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Those are the ones where you kind of hope that
there's like a delay on the tarmac or whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
But yeah, we uh we.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
We only had a quick one, but we got the
most out of it and to get back to work tonight.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Yeah, you kind of answered my question. I saw you,
you know, forty eight hours ago, and you were kind
of right at that tipping point of like you were
still there, You're still coherent, but you came out saw
your family. I know you went back inside, So I imagine
you guys were getting after it. But I guess my
question to you is, obviously you played in an amazing
place in Philadelphia. I was on the other end of
(01:24):
losing to you guys when I was the Atlanta Braves.
I know how crazy that fan base can be, on
how exciting they were. Take me back to Game one
in Toronto. What that experience was like with the fans.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, unbelievable, from the anthems all the way through the end.
You know, it's the amazing you know, feeling what you
feel when you play in Toronto. It's definitely a lively
group and they all they all really kind of show
(01:58):
their true colors and it's it's amazing to see and
we feel the support every single night. And yeah, they
come to play just like we do.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Do you feel like the fans have kind of grown
with this team? I mean, you weren't here the other years,
but throughout this season, like when it start getting nice
and they start opening the roof, that's when you guys
started to kind of start playing better. And all of
a sudden, now it's packed every single Friday night, stupid
day game, Saturday, stupid day game, Sunday. Do you feel
(02:30):
like they've grown with you guys, and then like that
crescendo to the postseason.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I mean as as the summer went on, we definitely
saw that it seemed like every single night was a sellout. Yeah,
we definitely you know, feed off that, and uh, it
makes it fun to come to work and to go
out and put put out a good product on the field.
And that's what we are as a group, great product.
And and we play together and we played a win
(02:58):
every single night, and and we definitely feed off the
the energy.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Of the crowds.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Yeah. I was gonna ask you. Playing against you in Philadelphia,
had always felt like that team was really really tight,
and I'm sure they were, but I get a sense
that this is probably another level of tightness what we're
experiencing with Toronto.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Absolutely, I mean I I say it all the time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I mean, this is what it feels like.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
This is what it's supposed to feel like to play
on a good team.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
This, Uh, you know, we're good because we're tight.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
We're you know, everybody spending the maximum amount of time
in the clubhouse every single day, which is which is
awesome to see, you know, even when we have down time,
everybody's together. So uh, we we really matched together well
as a group. And you know, if it feels it
feels like we have you know what it takes to
(03:57):
to do it all right.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
The post is a time when everything's amped up. When
you close the game out and you looked over at
the at the Yankees side of the dugout. How much
of that is an emotion that comes out in the moment,
And how much of that because then we saw that
you guys played New York, New York after after my
(04:20):
guy Schneider's speech, how much of that is like pre
planned and talked about and give you emotion to win
these huge games.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, I think it's it's pure emotion, you know. I
think it would be the same no matter who was
on the other side. At the end of the day,
you're the team that gets to move on and keep
playing and that that, you know, means everything to us.
So yeah, I mean all the New York, New York stuff, that's, uh,
(04:52):
that's all great, But at the end of the day,
I was just us kind of letting loose and you know,
enjoying the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And you know, after that night, we kind of set
our sights forward to next.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
All right, you got the last out of that game,
and I have to I have to remember back to
like catching the last out, or like meeting my pitcher
part way, and I watched Kirk come out to you
and you guys pounded whatever you guys did. If there's
a moment when or when looking ahead when you close
out the next series, do you feel like you could
(05:25):
catch him if he jumps into your arms or do
you want to jump into his arms and make him
catch you.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Nah, I want him doing the jump in. I got him,
I got him.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We're uh, we're really looking forward to that. And I
hope there's a I hope there's the opportunity to do that,
and uh yeah, I'll have to. Uh, I have to
make sure I'm I'm getting primed up for that one.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Yeah. I want to just kind of go back in time.
Obviously drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays a couple of
different stops, kind of just take me through this kind
of full circle moment that you've had to be drafted
by the Blue Jays in the first round, be traded,
go on a couple other places throughout your career. Now
coming back home to Toronto and now closing out games to
(06:10):
allow your team to advance to the next round.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, it's an amazing uh full circle when you think
about it. You know, everything obviously happens for a reason
and everything's gonna be uh hopefully good at the end
of the day. But yeah, going through that time, I mean,
obviously at that time, the Blue Jays were good, and
I was really excited to be a part of that
organ the organization at that time, and to see them
(06:37):
go on and and you know, make some noise in
the playoffs. That year was was tough. But you know,
I I look back on that time as you know,
that was you know, my development as a player, and
I went and learned a lot of things, trying to
pitch at high altitude and then moving on and trying
to pitch in a small ballpark in Cincinnati and making
(06:57):
my way to filling all that good stuff. So you know,
none of that have happened if I didn't get traded
out of here in the first place. And yeah, I'm
really excited at that. We get this opportunity to bring
something special back to the city of Toronto and back
to Canada, and yeah, we have a bunch of guys
in the clubhouse that are really excited to do that too.
(07:18):
So we come to play every night with that in mind,
and you know, we feel like we got a really
good shot.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Later on, we're going to ask you about picking up teammates,
obviously with the kirkhating thing, but I want to first
ask you about picking up your teammate Louis Varlin. The
home run that he gave up as pictures as bullpen
guys who have elite, ridiculous stuff, you've seen this guy
the entire year. He's in your division, and for him
to do that, what is y'all's reaction in the moment
(07:49):
in the bullpen? Like whoa, how did you keep that fair?
Or like afterwards when you guys were all talking, and
does that change how you guys throw to a guy
like that?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well, I mean, I think everybody, you know, everybody who
has eyes saw that that was, you know, not a
bad pitch.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I think the underlying uh information that you get if
you watch the whole series is we've kind of been
doing that to him, uh, the entire series, pounding them
in And obviously we knew we had we had the sliders.
If you know if if we needed to get to
that point, and I mean when you when you throw
so many of the same location, same pitch to this
(08:28):
to a guy like that, he is gonna, you know,
make the adjustment.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's what makes him in the world.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
So yeah, it was just one of those things where
it was bad timing for him to actually get to one.
And you know, one hundred mile an hour fastball, you know,
three balls in off the plate is is never really
gonna hurt you except when it does. So you know,
we kind of all, you know, told Louis that you know,
that was just a blip in the radar and to
(08:58):
go out the next day and and do exactly what
he does, and he did that for US.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
FT is presented by Fox one, and we're getting ready
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But on the American League side, you've been watching these
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(09:25):
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Speaker 2 (09:37):
So check it out. There's something for everyone.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's brand new and they've been sponsoring us here during
the postseason. Also, specifically, AJ's game tonight can be accessed
via Fox One. AJ will be on the call with
Adam Waynwright and Adam Amean And you've got the Mariners
matching up with the Tigers Brady on Sundays, among many
other things.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Yeah, speaking of stuff, you've always had the stuff. I
stew in the box against you two years ago and
knew you had closer stuff. Was there someone in that
Philly bullpen when you were there that kind of almost
kind of groomed you to get in that mindset of
being able to close out games? And then what did
you learn about yourself? You know, going from a seventh
eighth inning guy to now having to be the guy
(10:20):
at the back end of the bullpen?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, I think, uh, you know, Matt Strap was a
big influence on me through my time in Philadelphia. I think,
you know, my mentality, uh got some tweaking, and you know,
I kind of learned a little bit better how to
go about life in the bullpen, and and you know,
(10:44):
just kind of kept the ball rolling and and tried
to kind of stay right where I was get a
little bit better each day. And yeah, and then this
year getting the full time job kind of you know,
I learned obviously the good and the bad, and you know,
I wasn't as good as I wanted to be this
(11:05):
year as as a from like a total total seasons perspective,
I want to be a lot more consistent moving forward.
But yeah, I learned a lot of things from Matt
that I'll take with me kind of moving forward and
and uh, you know, hopefully you know, put together more
consistent outings moving forward.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
All right, Oh, Ryan Kirkran, I'm assuming you saw the
play last night as a as a bullpen mat of his.
What's your thought when you saw the play, what's your
aftermath of it? And what's your feeling when you see
that play yourself thinking about that play and how you
(11:48):
would have handled it?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, you know, it's it's one of those things where
you know, we've practiced that play hundreds of times spring train,
throughout the season, and you know, he got an in
between hot bobbled it and uh then at that time
kind of felt like, I don't know, maybe he had
(12:12):
a better shot at at the guy at home than
he did.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Uh turn and thrown the first.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
That play happens quick and kind of have to have
your mind up beforehand. Uh what you're gonna do if
there's a babble or something like that. And it's just
a really you know, tough, tough way to go. And
I love Orion, He's one of my one of my
good buddies. And yeah, at some point I'll reach out
(12:39):
to him and and see how he's doing. But uh,
he's he's gonna be a great relief pitcher for a
long time and and he's gonna be a really valuable
player for a long time. And I think he's got
a great head on his shoulders and he'll be able
to kind of move past this at some point.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
What about Nick Castios And I say this because you
were teammates with him. There's a video of him running,
sprinting as hard as he can to the mound to
be there for a Ryan Kirkring. Can you attest to
that side of Nick Costianos? After about three days after
he got eviscerated by Philly media for what he said
(13:15):
about Philly fans.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, Nick, Uh, Nick's a great person when it comes
down to it, And uh, that's you know, kind of
how I try to look at my teammates. I don't
look at him as baseball players. I look a look
at him as people. And there's a lot of good
people in baseball and Nix one of them. And uh,
(13:40):
I know exactly, you know what Nick was thinking in
that moment, and it's on a human level, it's not
you know, on a baseball level. And yeah, he did
exactly what I would expect a lot of guys to do,
and it's to put a hand, put your arm around
a guy that's you know, a young kid, and and
kind of thrown into the fire, zoomed through the system
(14:06):
kind of a lot like you Savage, where you know,
he was in low A at the start of the
year and then all of a sudden he's pitching in
the postseason later that year. Obviously, orian's a year, a
year or two past that point now, but yeah, it's
Nick being a leader, being a veteran guy, and a
guy that you want in your corner.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Hey, I want to ask about a current teammate in
Vladdy Junior. So what did you witness from him in
this last series? Aside from the great performance the tears
on the field afterward, there's always the big storyline with
you know, how he's got something extra against the Yankees.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Did you see that? Did you feel that? Did you
hear that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Vladdy Vladdie shows up to play every single night the
same way, no matter who's on the other side. Now,
I don't know exactly the history about him, him and
the Yankees, but I know that he does. You know,
he likes to play well against good teams and in
big spots, and that's you know, kind of why he
(15:10):
is who he is. He's, uh, he's the face of
our franchise, and it's actually amazing to see guys like
that step up in big moments and to kind of
carry carry the team a little bit. Obviously, I know
our offenses is outrageous right now, but Vlady is such
a huge part of that right in the middle of it.
(15:32):
And yeah, once again, great great person, Uh, extremely hard worker,
and he loves to win. He wants to win and
uh and we all feel that and we try to
try to follow suit, all.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Right, aren't you glad that you're wearing blue and not orange? Sometimes?
Aren't you glad that you didn't pass your physical Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
A little bit, A little bit, I'd be on the
couch right now.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
You'd been golfing, you be on the couch. And isn't that?
Isn't that something? That's that It makes it a little
bit sweeter, not vindicated, not that you're you're playing. You
told us in spring training. You're like, ah, you know what,
there's a little bit more And I can see that
maybe pushing you. Am I right or wrong?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I wanted to play well against them?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Maybe a little bit more. Uh, But at the end
of the day, I'm happy with uh. Without obviously how
everything turned out. I feel like I I you know,
me and my family ended up in a in an
unbelievable place, an unbelievable organization that's top notch from from
top to bottom.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They take care of us really well.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And yeah, I mean, who doesn't want to play meaningful
baseball in October? You know I I I've been on
the other side. I've been going home and you know,
at the end of September and and this is much better,
and yeah, we're excited about our opportunity and we're looking
(17:05):
forward to the next series.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Jeff, last one Baseballly question for you. Two thoughts, one
on pitching side, one on hitting side. We had Eric
Chavis on with us yesterday, former hitting coach for the Mets,
and he was like, teams are gonna have to be
more like the Jays. The pitching is just too nasty.
You need more contact in your game. Of course, still
need pop, but there's got to be a shift back
to a little bit more contact. Do you agree after
(17:28):
witnessing what you've seen so far from the Jays this
season and on the pitching side, do you think that
every I don't want to say young pitcher, because you
gotta wait until the arms develop, but do you think
that most pitchers should learn a splitter? Based on what
we've seen from you, from Trey, from Kevin and others.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Well, yeah, I mean I get to witness firsthand what
our offense does every night, and we don't. We don't
win in one way, we went in you know, countless ways.
I think, Yeah, it's it's you're gonna have more success,
I believe, uh, you know, clogging up the base pass,
(18:09):
especially late in the season in October and stuff like that.
You can't always depend on, you know, a guy hitting
a two or a three run homer and kind of
leading the way.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Uh. And we we don't depend on that.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
We you know, we hit singles, we hit doubles, we
we hit situationally. We got guys who understand the game
and who understand what you're trying to do and what
you're trying to accomplish. And that's why we are so
proficient as an offense.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I believe.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
So yeah, I mean, I you know, we we fink
we match up with Milwaukee mid season and they it
literally looked like we were looking in a mirror, and
I was like, yeah, that's like, those are the hardest
teams to beat because they they just keep coming at
you and you know, two out RBIs and and.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh two to oh two to three two walk.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Home and clogging up the bases and and just kind
of making stuff happen. And then on the splitter front,
obviously like it's it's a really good pitch. It's a
it's a great pitch because you can maintain your arm
speed and your hand speed and and really tunnel it
well off your fastball. And you see that with with
(19:27):
Trey and and how much separation he creates, and how
similar the ball looks coming out of his hand, and
and then all of a sudden, ones on the on
home plate and and ones at the top of the zone,
you know, kind of blown by you. So, uh, it's
a great pitch if you have the arsenal that can
hold it. I'm not going to tell everybody to go
out there and do it, because it's not gonna it's
(19:47):
not going to be right for everyone. But if you
are a guy where that pitch can tunnel well with
your other ones, then absolutely it's it's gonna be one
of the best pitches moving forward.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's fun pitch to watch. Your team's super fun to watch.
Jet thanks for joining us, but we appreciate the stop by.
Good luck the next round. Man, oh, thank you. Thanks
for having me.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Guys,
Here comes Blue Jay's closer, Jeff Hoffman, joining us right
now on FT Jeff, thanks for joining us busy times,
and congrats on cracking the alcs. How has life been
over the last forty eight hours to celebrate slash prepare.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, just a little bit of recovery.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
We uh we got after a little bit on the
on the flight home and the celebration and everything. So
we got a good day of rest yesterday and back
to workouts later today.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
Would you wish the flight was longer? Based on the
good time that you guys were having. Sometimes the good
times those flights like can we like, can we circle
a little bit? I don't need no turbulence or nothing,
but can we circle a little bit?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Those are the ones where you kind of hope that
there's like a delay on the tarmac or whatever.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
But yeah, we uh we.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
We only had a quick one, but we got the
most out of it and to get back to work tonight.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Yeah, you kind of answered my question. I saw you,
you know, forty eight hours ago, and you were kind
of right at that tipping point of like you were
still there, You're still coherent, but you came out saw
your family. I know you went back inside, So I imagine
you guys were getting after it. But I guess my
question to you is, obviously you played in an amazing
place in Philadelphia. I was on the other end of
(01:24):
losing to you guys when I was the Atlanta Braves.
I know how crazy that fan base can be, on
how exciting they were. Take me back to Game one
in Toronto. What that experience was like with the fans.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, unbelievable, from the anthems all the way through the end.
You know, it's the amazing you know, feeling what you
feel when you play in Toronto. It's definitely a lively
group and they all they all really kind of show
(01:58):
their true colors and it's it's amazing to see and
we feel the support every single night. And yeah, they
come to play just like we do.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Do you feel like the fans have kind of grown
with this team? I mean, you weren't here the other years,
but throughout this season, like when it start getting nice
and they start opening the roof, that's when you guys
started to kind of start playing better. And all of
a sudden, now it's packed every single Friday night, stupid
day game, Saturday, stupid day game, Sunday. Do you feel
(02:30):
like they've grown with you guys, and then like that
crescendo to the postseason.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
For sure.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I mean as as the summer went on, we definitely
saw that it seemed like every single night was a sellout. Yeah,
we definitely you know, feed off that, and uh, it
makes it fun to come to work and to go
out and put put out a good product on the field.
And that's what we are as a group, great product.
And and we play together and we played a win
(02:58):
every single night, and and we definitely feed off the
the energy.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Of the crowds.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Yeah. I was gonna ask you. Playing against you in Philadelphia,
had always felt like that team was really really tight,
and I'm sure they were, but I get a sense
that this is probably another level of tightness what we're
experiencing with Toronto.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Absolutely, I mean I I say it all the time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I mean, this is what it feels like.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
This is what it's supposed to feel like to play
on a good team.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
This, Uh, you know, we're good because we're tight.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
We're you know, everybody spending the maximum amount of time
in the clubhouse every single day, which is which is
awesome to see, you know, even when we have down time,
everybody's together. So uh, we we really matched together well
as a group. And you know, if it feels it
feels like we have you know what it takes to
(03:57):
to do it all right.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
The post is a time when everything's amped up. When
you close the game out and you looked over at
the at the Yankees side of the dugout. How much
of that is an emotion that comes out in the moment,
And how much of that because then we saw that
you guys played New York, New York after after my
(04:20):
guy Schneider's speech, how much of that is like pre
planned and talked about and give you emotion to win
these huge games.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, I think it's it's pure emotion, you know. I
think it would be the same no matter who was
on the other side. At the end of the day,
you're the team that gets to move on and keep
playing and that that, you know, means everything to us.
So yeah, I mean all the New York, New York stuff, that's, uh,
(04:52):
that's all great, But at the end of the day,
I was just us kind of letting loose and you know,
enjoying the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
And you know, after that night, we kind of set
our sights forward to next.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
All right, you got the last out of that game,
and I have to I have to remember back to
like catching the last out, or like meeting my pitcher
part way, and I watched Kirk come out to you
and you guys pounded whatever you guys did. If there's
a moment when or when looking ahead when you close
out the next series, do you feel like you could
(05:25):
catch him if he jumps into your arms or do
you want to jump into his arms and make him
catch you.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Nah, I want him doing the jump in. I got him,
I got him.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We're uh, we're really looking forward to that. And I
hope there's a I hope there's the opportunity to do that,
and uh yeah, I'll have to. Uh, I have to
make sure I'm I'm getting primed up for that one.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Yeah. I want to just kind of go back in time.
Obviously drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays a couple of
different stops, kind of just take me through this kind
of full circle moment that you've had to be drafted
by the Blue Jays in the first round, be traded,
go on a couple other places throughout your career. Now
coming back home to Toronto and now closing out games to
(06:10):
allow your team to advance to the next round.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, it's an amazing uh full circle when you think
about it. You know, everything obviously happens for a reason
and everything's gonna be uh hopefully good at the end
of the day. But yeah, going through that time, I mean,
obviously at that time, the Blue Jays were good, and
I was really excited to be a part of that
organ the organization at that time, and to see them
(06:37):
go on and and you know, make some noise in
the playoffs. That year was was tough. But you know,
I I look back on that time as you know,
that was you know, my development as a player, and
I went and learned a lot of things, trying to
pitch at high altitude and then moving on and trying
to pitch in a small ballpark in Cincinnati and making
(06:57):
my way to filling all that good stuff. So you know,
none of that have happened if I didn't get traded
out of here in the first place. And yeah, I'm
really excited at that. We get this opportunity to bring
something special back to the city of Toronto and back
to Canada, and yeah, we have a bunch of guys
in the clubhouse that are really excited to do that too.
(07:18):
So we come to play every night with that in mind,
and you know, we feel like we got a really
good shot.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Later on, we're going to ask you about picking up teammates,
obviously with the kirkhating thing, but I want to first
ask you about picking up your teammate Louis Varlin. The
home run that he gave up as pictures as bullpen
guys who have elite, ridiculous stuff, you've seen this guy
the entire year. He's in your division, and for him
to do that, what is y'all's reaction in the moment
(07:49):
in the bullpen? Like whoa, how did you keep that fair?
Or like afterwards when you guys were all talking, and
does that change how you guys throw to a guy
like that?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Well, I mean, I think everybody, you know, everybody who
has eyes saw that that was, you know, not a
bad pitch.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I think the underlying uh information that you get if
you watch the whole series is we've kind of been
doing that to him, uh, the entire series, pounding them
in And obviously we knew we had we had the sliders.
If you know if if we needed to get to
that point, and I mean when you when you throw
so many of the same location, same pitch to this
(08:28):
to a guy like that, he is gonna, you know,
make the adjustment.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That's what makes him in the world.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
So yeah, it was just one of those things where
it was bad timing for him to actually get to one.
And you know, one hundred mile an hour fastball, you know,
three balls in off the plate is is never really
gonna hurt you except when it does. So you know,
we kind of all, you know, told Louis that you know,
that was just a blip in the radar and to
(08:58):
go out the next day and and do exactly what
he does, and he did that for US.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
FT is presented by Fox one, and we're getting ready
to talk about the Phillies coming up in a moment.
But on the American League side, you've been watching these
games on Fox one if you're in the US, and
you have the opportunity to keep doing that by getting
yourself a little seven day free trial at foxwe dot com.
So the QR code is on the screen if you
(09:25):
want to check that out and get yourself the free
seven day trial so you can see what it has
to offer. It's not just the playoffs, it's also football,
college football, pregame shows, sitcoms, the whole deal.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So check it out. There's something for everyone.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's brand new and they've been sponsoring us here during
the postseason. Also, specifically, AJ's game tonight can be accessed
via Fox One. AJ will be on the call with
Adam Waynwright and Adam Amean And you've got the Mariners
matching up with the Tigers Brady on Sundays, among many
other things.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Yeah, speaking of stuff, you've always had the stuff. I
stew in the box against you two years ago and
knew you had closer stuff. Was there someone in that
Philly bullpen when you were there that kind of almost
kind of groomed you to get in that mindset of
being able to close out games? And then what did
you learn about yourself? You know, going from a seventh
eighth inning guy to now having to be the guy
(10:20):
at the back end of the bullpen?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, I think, uh, you know, Matt Strap was a
big influence on me through my time in Philadelphia. I think,
you know, my mentality, uh got some tweaking, and you know,
I kind of learned a little bit better how to
go about life in the bullpen, and and you know,
(10:44):
just kind of kept the ball rolling and and tried
to kind of stay right where I was get a
little bit better each day. And yeah, and then this
year getting the full time job kind of you know,
I learned obviously the good and the bad, and you know,
I wasn't as good as I wanted to be this
(11:05):
year as as a from like a total total seasons perspective,
I want to be a lot more consistent moving forward.
But yeah, I learned a lot of things from Matt
that I'll take with me kind of moving forward and
and uh, you know, hopefully you know, put together more
consistent outings moving forward.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
All right, Oh, Ryan Kirkran, I'm assuming you saw the
play last night as a as a bullpen mat of his.
What's your thought when you saw the play, what's your
aftermath of it? And what's your feeling when you see
that play yourself thinking about that play and how you
(11:48):
would have handled it?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, you know, it's it's one of those things where
you know, we've practiced that play hundreds of times spring train,
throughout the season, and you know, he got an in
between hot bobbled it and uh then at that time
kind of felt like, I don't know, maybe he had
(12:12):
a better shot at at the guy at home than
he did.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Uh turn and thrown the first.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
That play happens quick and kind of have to have
your mind up beforehand. Uh what you're gonna do if
there's a babble or something like that. And it's just
a really you know, tough, tough way to go. And
I love Orion, He's one of my one of my
good buddies. And yeah, at some point I'll reach out
(12:39):
to him and and see how he's doing. But uh,
he's he's gonna be a great relief pitcher for a
long time and and he's gonna be a really valuable
player for a long time. And I think he's got
a great head on his shoulders and he'll be able
to kind of move past this at some point.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
What about Nick Castios And I say this because you
were teammates with him. There's a video of him running,
sprinting as hard as he can to the mound to
be there for a Ryan Kirkring. Can you attest to
that side of Nick Costianos? After about three days after
he got eviscerated by Philly media for what he said
(13:15):
about Philly fans.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, Nick, Uh, Nick's a great person when it comes
down to it, And uh, that's you know, kind of
how I try to look at my teammates. I don't
look at him as baseball players. I look a look
at him as people. And there's a lot of good
people in baseball and Nix one of them. And uh,
(13:40):
I know exactly, you know what Nick was thinking in
that moment, and it's on a human level, it's not
you know, on a baseball level. And yeah, he did
exactly what I would expect a lot of guys to do,
and it's to put a hand, put your arm around
a guy that's you know, a young kid, and and
kind of thrown into the fire, zoomed through the system
(14:06):
kind of a lot like you Savage, where you know,
he was in low A at the start of the
year and then all of a sudden he's pitching in
the postseason later that year. Obviously, orian's a year, a
year or two past that point now, but yeah, it's
Nick being a leader, being a veteran guy, and a
guy that you want in your corner.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Hey, I want to ask about a current teammate in
Vladdy Junior. So what did you witness from him in
this last series? Aside from the great performance the tears
on the field afterward, there's always the big storyline with
you know, how he's got something extra against the Yankees.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Did you see that? Did you feel that? Did you
hear that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Vladdy Vladdie shows up to play every single night the
same way, no matter who's on the other side. Now,
I don't know exactly the history about him, him and
the Yankees, but I know that he does. You know,
he likes to play well against good teams and in
big spots, and that's you know, kind of why he
(15:10):
is who he is. He's, uh, he's the face of
our franchise, and it's actually amazing to see guys like
that step up in big moments and to kind of
carry carry the team a little bit. Obviously, I know
our offenses is outrageous right now, but Vlady is such
a huge part of that right in the middle of it.
(15:32):
And yeah, once again, great great person, Uh, extremely hard worker,
and he loves to win. He wants to win and
uh and we all feel that and we try to
try to follow suit, all.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Right, aren't you glad that you're wearing blue and not orange? Sometimes?
Aren't you glad that you didn't pass your physical Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
A little bit, A little bit, I'd be on the
couch right now.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
You'd been golfing, you be on the couch. And isn't that?
Isn't that something? That's that It makes it a little
bit sweeter, not vindicated, not that you're you're playing. You
told us in spring training. You're like, ah, you know what,
there's a little bit more And I can see that
maybe pushing you. Am I right or wrong?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
I wanted to play well against them?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Maybe a little bit more. Uh, But at the end
of the day, I'm happy with uh. Without obviously how
everything turned out. I feel like I I you know,
me and my family ended up in a in an
unbelievable place, an unbelievable organization that's top notch from from
top to bottom.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They take care of us really well.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And yeah, I mean, who doesn't want to play meaningful
baseball in October? You know I I I've been on
the other side. I've been going home and you know,
at the end of September and and this is much better,
and yeah, we're excited about our opportunity and we're looking
(17:05):
forward to the next series.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Jeff, last one Baseballly question for you. Two thoughts, one
on pitching side, one on hitting side. We had Eric
Chavis on with us yesterday, former hitting coach for the Mets,
and he was like, teams are gonna have to be
more like the Jays. The pitching is just too nasty.
You need more contact in your game. Of course, still
need pop, but there's got to be a shift back
to a little bit more contact. Do you agree after
(17:28):
witnessing what you've seen so far from the Jays this
season and on the pitching side, do you think that
every I don't want to say young pitcher, because you
gotta wait until the arms develop, but do you think
that most pitchers should learn a splitter? Based on what
we've seen from you, from Trey, from Kevin and others.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Well, yeah, I mean I get to witness firsthand what
our offense does every night, and we don't. We don't
win in one way, we went in you know, countless ways.
I think, Yeah, it's it's you're gonna have more success,
I believe, uh, you know, clogging up the base pass,
(18:09):
especially late in the season in October and stuff like that.
You can't always depend on, you know, a guy hitting
a two or a three run homer and kind of
leading the way.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Uh. And we we don't depend on that.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
We you know, we hit singles, we hit doubles, we
we hit situationally. We got guys who understand the game
and who understand what you're trying to do and what
you're trying to accomplish. And that's why we are so
proficient as an offense.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I believe.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
So yeah, I mean, I you know, we we fink
we match up with Milwaukee mid season and they it
literally looked like we were looking in a mirror, and
I was like, yeah, that's like, those are the hardest
teams to beat because they they just keep coming at
you and you know, two out RBIs and and.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Oh two to oh two to three two walk.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Home and clogging up the bases and and just kind
of making stuff happen. And then on the splitter front,
obviously like it's it's a really good pitch. It's a
it's a great pitch because you can maintain your arm
speed and your hand speed and and really tunnel it
well off your fastball. And you see that with with
(19:27):
Trey and and how much separation he creates, and how
similar the ball looks coming out of his hand, and
and then all of a sudden, ones on the on
home plate and and ones at the top of the zone,
you know, kind of blown by you. So, uh, it's
a great pitch if you have the arsenal that can
hold it. I'm not going to tell everybody to go
out there and do it, because it's not gonna it's
(19:47):
not going to be right for everyone. But if you
are a guy where that pitch can tunnel well with
your other ones, then absolutely it's it's gonna be one
of the best pitches moving forward.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's fun pitch to watch. Your team's super fun to watch.
Jet thanks for joining us, but we appreciate the stop by.
Good luck the next round. Man, oh, thank you. Thanks
for having me.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Guys,
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