August 23, 2025 • 39 mins
Top pitching prospect Parker Messick made his Big League debut this week in Arizona, we'll talk to him about what it was like being on a Major League mound for the first time. Plus, a chat with a couple of starters on the comeback trail after Tommy John surgery Ben Lively and John Means. Also, the weekly Farm Report with Assistant Director of Player Development Alyssa Nakken who has quite a story of her own. That's all on this edition of Guardians Weekly with Jim Rosenhaus on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians
fans save hundreds on car insurance.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Hi Reward.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Welcome to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you as
we join you from Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington, Texas
this weekend, and the Guardians in the midst of a
road swing that has taken them to Arizona and Texas,
and it has been a challenge as they try and
stay relevant in the wildcard playoff chase and a postseason birth.
(01:19):
But it has been a challenge on this road swing
as the Guardians, after a win on Monday and the
road trip opener in Phoenix, lost Tuesday six to five,
a late lead slipping away, Wednesday a walk off loss
in ten innings three to two, and then on Friday
night another walkoff loss, this time against the Texas Rangers
(01:41):
four to three. So it has not been an easy
week for the Guardians as they are unable to gain
ground in that wildcard playoff chase. Coming up on our
show this week, we will visit with pitchers Ben Lively
and John Means, both are coming back from Tommy John
surgeries means as close returning the game action in the
major leagues as he has pitched well in his minor
(02:04):
league rehab. As signments Ben Lively just starting his return
from Tommy John surgery. Matt Festival join us as well.
He's had a good run as a Guardian's middle reliever.
And we will also visit with the assistant director of
player Development, Alyssa Nakin, who has a great story as
she was a groundbreaker in terms of working for a
(02:24):
major league coaching staff when she was with the Giants
and in fact got on the field and became the
first woman to coach in a Major League game as
a first base coach for the Giants. We'll hear her
story at the tail end of our show today, but
first we take a look back to Wednesday when the
Guardians did lose against the Diamondbacks, but they received a
(02:45):
tremendous effort in his major league debut from Parker Messik,
who pitched into the seventh inning, allowed just one run
in that game, and was in line for the win
before it slipped away late. We caught up with him
on Friday and he talked about what the last couple
of days have been like for him after making that
first start in the big leagues.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
It's been fun.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
It's been fun to be able to call family, tell
everyone about it, and respond to all the people that
reached out and wanted to congratulate me and tell me
they love me, and I was able to return the
favor and tell them I love them. And just being
able to set it down and really to take in
that moment and what it was. It was so much fun.
That's been cool to reflect on the last.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Couple of days.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Everyone says, in your major league debut, hey just be yourself,
do what got you here. Not that easy, though, is it?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
No doubt?
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Yeah, the environment's completely different that the atmosphere in the
locker room.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Atmosphere on the.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Field, the will and the wanting to win the game
is way way bigger than what it is in minor
league baseball. And then you throwing the aspect that you're
facing a really good lineup and in a cool stadium
that you know, I've never gotten to play in. There's
so many factors that you try not to change anything up,
but you know, your breathing gets a little heavier. You start,
you're working faster than you normally do, and you just
(03:59):
try and calm everything down and remember that you're just
you're still baseball player. You're still a kid playing a
kids game, and it's you're just out there to have
fun and try and win. And you know, that's what
I tried.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
To do with that set. How difficult it was their
first inning.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
It honestly wasn't as bad as what I thought. Everyone
said it looked like I was breathing heavy, but that
wasn't me, like out of breath. I just breathe like that,
so I it calms myself down. You know, that's like
certain breathing techniques. And I don't know if I'm doing
any kind of technique, but I'm just breathing and calm
myself down, help myself think. And you know, it was
fun after I got the first out. You know, that's
(04:31):
what everyone says in any game, and that'll be any
game that I had in minor leagues or the rest
of my career. It's once you get that first out
of a start, it's like, okay, you're playing baseball, like
you just got to get that first one and then
and then you settle in and the other thing you
hear sometimes is because of the adrenaline. Once that starts
to subside a little bit. It's difficult in a debut
for a starting picture to go deep into a game.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
But you did.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
How were you able to do that?
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I just tried to calm myself down and realize why
I was there. It's like, it's my debut, it's not
everyone else's debut. So that's what I kept telling myself.
It's like, ultimately, this team's here and they want to
win this game just as bad as I want to
pitch well, So my job as at the starting pitcher
is to go deep in the game and give the
team the best chance I can for us to win.
So I just try to calm myself down after that
(05:16):
first one and I gave up the run and then
we got another run. I was like, all right, that's
all they get. Let's go out there and like be
a pitcher. Now you already got your debut. I gave
up my first hit, my first walk, my first run,
and got my first strikeout in the first inn because
I was like, all right, I already got it all
out of the way.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Let's just go pitch now.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Check some boxes for sure. Your season dating back to
spring training, you pitch in the spring breakout game, you
had a chance to pitch in the Futures Game. Did
any of that helped you you think when you did
finally get here in terms of just preparation.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Yeah, there's definitely. I mean every aspect of pitching in
the minor leagues has helped me, and whether that's pitching
against the best players in the Futures Game or the
best players in a specific order with a breakout game,
or just going through you know, each Triple A lineup,
you have some big league rehab up, some guys that
are currently dominating the big leagues that I faced early
on in the season at Triple A. So you know,
every aspect of facing those different guys and learning from
(06:09):
different players, it all helps you when you get to
the big day and you're in the big moment. You
just got to remember everything you learned and trust that
what you did was good enough to get there and
just go out and do your stuff. And you know,
that's what I tried to do, and I hope that
that I use everything that I've learned, and if not,
then I plan to use it moving forward.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All Right, everybody has teammates that they enjoy potential conflict here.
You're a Florida State guy. There's two University of Miami
players on this team, and Slate Saconi who goes tonight,
and c J Kpass. How are you guys going to
figure that out?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
We've we've already dealt with enough of it. I've I've
I've played with them all in the minor leagues. You
even have Andrew Walters, and then you have guys like
Jack Leflick and Tommy Mace that played at Florida Down
that I played with in Columbus. So I mean, you
have guys all over the ACC and SEC that I
compete again. So we try and make fun of it.
And you know, we talk if one dominated the other
in college. You know, we kind of chep each other
for that. But it's it's all fun. We like we
(06:58):
we love being able to play with each other.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, hey, congratulations on a wonderful debut. Thanks for at
tipping mind.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
You, sir, thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
I very appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I had his rookie pitcher, Parker Messick, who had a
Day to Remember in Phoenix on Wednesday, his major league
debut when he was absolutely outstanding. We'll take a time
out and come back with more after this on the
Cleveland Clinic, Guardians Radio, and Nepwood. The two to two
catches the inside corner called strike three, and there is
(07:28):
the first major league strikeout for Parker Messick. The three
to two swing and I miss strike three. The good
change up from Parker Messick strikes out Guriel. That's his
third strikeout, the one two pitch swing and a miss
strike of three. Well physically and mentally, Parker Messick has
(07:48):
it together today in his debut. Messick winds it up
the one two swing and I miss strike three. You
had pitched Carol down on strikes on the fifth strikeout
by Messi.
Speaker 6 (08:02):
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sports fan, like scoring the company box seats. How great
is that trick place that actually works, prevent defense when
your team is winning by a lot, and even more
preventive prevent defense as they're hanging on by a thread.
And of course saving money when you bundle your home
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plays that actually work.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Yeah, but how often does that happen?
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Complaining about sports?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Not so great?
Speaker 6 (08:29):
Progressive Casualty Interns Company affiliates an other insurer. It's not
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Speaker 2 (08:32):
Situations Welcome back to Guardians Weekly.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Jim Rosenhaus back with you from Globelife Park in Arlington, Texas,
where the Guardians are taking on the Rangers this weekend,
including Saturday night at seven oh five Cleveland time, and
then Sunday afternoon at two thirty five Cleveland time to
wrap up the road swing. Ben Lively was a key
for the Guardians a year ago. In fact, he was
(09:05):
their top winner in the starting rotation and then got
off to a good start this season, but Tommy John
surgery has derailed his season and now that long slow
comeback is in the early stages for him, and along
with several of his teammates who are recovering from season
ending injuries. Out in Arizona at the Goodyear Complex, he
was able to spend some time with the ball club
(09:27):
during the series with the Diamondbacks earlier this week, and
when we caught up with him, he talked about how
great it was just to be around the team again.
Speaker 7 (09:35):
Definitely grateful to have just more than just myself out
here for sure, and I'm getting the guys in the
same program in the morning.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
It's like a good kind of funny warm up.
Speaker 7 (09:43):
You know, we all started warming up the same way,
and like we kind of do like the little small
exercises we got to do together, and it's kind of funny.
And that's just like the start of our day every day,
and you know, we separate in the weight room and
then you know, we run back into everybody in the
training room later in the day and then it's just
it's a good time.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So this is the very early stages. And we've seen
John Means, we've seen Shane Bieber back in Cleveland, and
they're throwing in games, but you're very far from that.
Explained just how tedious the rehab isn't and exactly what
can you do it at this point in time.
Speaker 7 (10:15):
I mean, pretty much each week is just like gaining
a little bit more and more movement each week and
just see how much more we can like move And
I think twelve weeks is when we can start actually
like stretching everything fully. So until then it's just kind
of calm down and work out those legs as much
as you can.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You were saying earlier about when you knew it happened,
Explain the pitch and what you felt and maybe what
was going through your mind at that time. In a
game against Washington.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
Well it was wild, I mean, especially because it went
from the Pittsburgh I think Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Twins and then Washington.
Speaker 7 (10:45):
But the two games prior to that, Pittsburgh and the Twins,
my bilo was kind of up a little bit. I
was like, wow, I'm sorry to feel a little bit looser,
like kind of getting fired up. Got to Washington and
I was a little sore warming up, and I was like,
it's fine, we'll dig, we'll go. Then I went to
hump up on one against Josh and I just kind
of felt like a little stretch and I was like, whoa,
that wasn't normal.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And then just got real tight.
Speaker 7 (11:04):
And next couple of innings after that, and try to
pitch that game against Milwaukee for a couple of innings
and just it was kind of the same feeling. Just
kept kind of grabbing my forearm, and then it just
got to the point where I was like, yeah, I
feel like if something goes not gonna happen if I
keep ripping it.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Did you know when he went to the doctor that
it might not be good?
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (11:20):
The first stretch he did in the way he looked
at the trainer that was with me and just was like, ah,
I knew it was kind of bad and had a
nice little big gap in there. And yep, it's a
lot different to do at thirty three than a younger
guy though, But you know what, just head down and
just keeps working out and keep the energy up and
you make the best of it.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
I'm fired up.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You mentioned at thirty three a little bit more advanced,
but you've had a career of challenges. Can any of
that be beneficial at this point in time as you
try and come back from this?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 7 (11:47):
I mean I feel like I like that's another thing
that just kicks myself about having this now. It's just
like mindset and the pitch wise, like right before I
got hurt, it felt like I was where I needed
to be. But like, all I can think about is
coming back so much strong and having the same mindset
on those pitches.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I mean, I think they can just go nowhere, but up.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I was talking to Will Brennan, who's in the same
boat coming back from Tommy John surgery. He's been out
here with you, and he says, you guys occasionally get
together to watch the Guardians games as they go through
this season. What has it been like to watch a
team that you're so close to have those ups and
downs and now be in it down the stretch?
Speaker 7 (12:21):
A lot of screaming at the TV, but in a
great way and also the bad ways too. But like,
you know, it's just kind of weird to watch from
Afar because I feel like when you're here at the games,
like you can bring the energy to kind of help guys.
You can push guys to get into big situations. But
like watching from Afar is just you feel like you're
just out of the loop and just watch it happen.
But when the great things happen, it just makes it
(12:42):
even better. It makes you miss it even that much more.
But like that's those are the days I miss you
make you miss the field so much, and you know
I love being here.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
What does it meant to you that the organization made
sure that that yourself, Will Andrew Walters and Sam Henches
has had a chance to be in the dugout and
be a part of his team.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
Oh unbelieve well, I mean we're chomping at the bed
to get here. Yesterday and today we got here even
earlier and just them allowing us to get up here
and they know we're gonna fire do nothing but fire
up the guys and push.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
For three wins here.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So what's next for you?
Speaker 7 (13:12):
A lot more downtime and watching a belly grow and
get ready for a little baby girl.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
So and you hate to say that that it's a
good thing that you have that opportunity, but when you
do look at it, is that one of the positives
that you can spend some more time as that develops.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
I mean, like separating the field from that at home
is like so surreal to me, like because I feel
like this process has been so fast, and I can't
say the same for Haley, but but it's happened real quick,
and you know, everything's been good and I'm just ready
to meet her now.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Been great to see you.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Thanks for coming by, absolutely, and I seen everybody.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That starting pitcher Ben Lively just starting his comeback from
Tommy John surgery. He's not even throwing yet, so a
long way to go for him. Not so for left
hander John Memes, who had been one of the top
left handers in the game with the Orioles before where
Tommy John surgery derailed him, but he's close to coming back.
He's made a couple of starts now at Single A
Lake County with good results, and when we caught up
(14:08):
with him recently, he says, it feels great to be
back on the mound in live game action, even if
it is just the minor leagues.
Speaker 8 (14:15):
Yeah, it was great, It was It was good, and
you know, I feel like a baseball player again, feel
like I got to do my job and do you
know what I'm supposed to do, And so it was
funny get back out there. I just want to pitch
a nine game and just yeah, I feel it again.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And along those lines that we see in spring training
and now we see it now, but we don't see
everything that happens in between. And it seems like tedious
might be the right word for that type of rehab.
And how difficult is it mentally to stay with it
and do the things you need to do to get
to the point where you can pitch again in a game.
Speaker 8 (14:49):
Yeah, you got to kind of fall in love with
the process. You gotta, you know, enjoy coming to the
field every day, even if you are just coming to
rehab or not even throw at some points, and you know,
you've got to enjoy coming in, enjoy being around the guys,
and it's definitely a mental toll that it puts on you.
But you know, I feel like I've gone a lot
over over the last few years just going through this
(15:11):
and feel like I've experienced a lot and I can
kind of use that moving forward.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And at this stage of the rehab. How important is
it to be here in the big league environment.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Yeah, it's great, it's great. It's great to be in Cleveland.
It's great to to kind of feel feel that juice
flowing again up here and not feel so far away
and in a great clubhouse here, and yeah, it's just
it's great being being back at this level.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Joined by John Means on the way back from a
second time e John surgery and you went through it
not that long ago, got back to the major leagues.
But explain what that was like for you, how you
were feeling after a surgery that's supposed to to fix
things and have you be the picture that you can.
Speaker 8 (15:54):
Yeah, you know, the first one around was pretty pretty tough,
and I I experienced more setbacks than I was hoping for.
And uh, to the point where I had to had
to go through it again. And this time it's been
it's been been smooth so far, and it's been great,
and and the med staff here has been awesome and
(16:15):
just on the same page and it's flowed really well.
And so very very blessed to be able to get
back to this.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Point when you had to make that decision to have
it again. Was it difficult or or was it somewhat
easy based on how you were feeling?
Speaker 8 (16:32):
Uh, it was, Yeah, it was pretty pretty easy, just
based on what I was feeling and what the doctors
were saying, and and it was yeah, I know, I
wanted to get it again, and I feel like I,
you know, had some some juice left, so I wanted
to kind of come back and and try this thing again,
try to live out to live out the dream.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And for for people who don't know what Tommy John surgery,
they take attendant from or ligament from somewhere else in
your body, explain where the first one came from, and
and then what they do the second time around and
hopefully make it better.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
So you usually they try to take it out of
the wrist, and I think it's twenty percent of people
don't have that ligament that they take out of the risk,
so I don't have it, and so they took it
out of my leg. It was like an adductor muscle,
and so it was the right leg the first time,
and now it's the left leg. So yeah, got both
legs operated on as.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Well, and hopefully the left one is a little bit.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
Better, yes, yeah, yeah, exactly, hopefully it holds a little
bit stronger.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So what's next?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
And do you have an idea of when you might
be in a position where.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
You could help this club?
Speaker 8 (17:38):
You know, I got another outing coming up soon, and
just kind of focused on, you know, surviving and advancing
and just trying to do everything I can to be
as ready as possible by the end of the year
and or whenever that is, and just trying to get back.
And it feel good. Oh John, thanks a lot for
coming by. Keep crying and appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
At John means Lefty who's coming back from Tommy John surgery.
And we may see him fairly soon now, maybe a
one or two more rehab starts, you would think at least,
but he certainly seems on track to pitch for this
ball club before the season ends. Stay with us when
we come back. We'll talk with Matt Festa from that
Guardian's bullpen. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network,
(18:36):
Welcome back. It's Guardians Weekly from Arlington, Texas Globe Life Field.
Jim Rosen House along with you this weekend as we
join you on the road swing for the Guardians. They'll
head back home on Monday, open up a new homestand
with the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday Night. Now, the
Guardians bullpen, for the most part this season has been
extremely effective no matter what the challenge is. Matt fest
(18:58):
has been a key in a middle and it's been
a real nice addition after starting the season with Texas,
but he joined the ball club in early May, and
he talked earlier this week about how his role has
developed since joining the team, and he says even he
couldn't have imagined it going as well as it has
to this point.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
For me, I've enjoyed my role.
Speaker 9 (19:19):
I enjoy being valued and doing the best I can
with whatever opportunity presents myself.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Down game, upgame, high game.
Speaker 9 (19:25):
Runners on, no runners on, Just go out and pass
the ball off to the rest of the little pivot.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
And so often it's coming in mid inning, the eyes
on base, there's trouble happening. A lot of guys like
to come in with that clean inning. What's the key
to having success when you're in that spot where you
have to be sharp right from the gift ho?
Speaker 9 (19:44):
I think for me it's like I am someone who
throws a lot of strikes to begin with, and that
helps me in those situations because hitters either are probably
a little more aggressive than they want to be, and
I get to exploit those aggressions. And we do a
fantastic job game planning with and Austin, and you know,
just trusting the game plan and the attack plan and
going out and executing furiously is kind of like how
(20:07):
you find success in those panic roles, and.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You've had success in other spots in your career. What
you're doing now. Is it a combination of the opportunities
and the way you're being used or is it just
that experience of being in this game for a little
longer and really knowing what works for you and being
able to execute.
Speaker 9 (20:25):
I think it's a combination of both and leaning heavily on,
you know, knowing myself a lot more and kind of
executing a little bit better than I have in the past.
But the opportunities have been really cool and I've been
very fortunate to take.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Advantage of those.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Since we're joined by Matt Festep Guardian's reliever, who's part
of it. Just a tremendous bullpen, and the bullpen has
kept it going after losing one of the best closures
in the game and the manual plasse. When you look
at that, any surprise and how are they doing it
without one of the best closures in the game.
Speaker 9 (21:00):
I wouldn't say it's any surprise because we all believe
in each other and the guys down there, they're executing
on another level and we all have the same trust
in each other and we know whatever role, whatever inning,
we're ready to go. And prior to losing Class A,
I think a lot of us have pitched in a
lot of different roles, so there was no unfamiliarity when
(21:20):
we got thrusted into these new jobs, and you know,
we're just going out there rolling with the punches.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
And there's some young guys in there who have taken
hold of some roles and pitched well. In terms of
Nick n Right first time in.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
The major leagues.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Eric Sabrowski continuing a good stretch from a year ago.
How do you and Jacob Junas called the alert the
veteran guys, how are you able to keep them in
a real positive direction?
Speaker 9 (21:45):
I mean just showing our energy and support, like after
the outings that they've been, you know, they've been shoving
and they've earned their opportunities. And I think having you know,
seven other guys in that bullpen behind you, like cheering
you on, like just helps you know that, like I belong,
like these guys believe in me, and we're a family
(22:06):
out there. You know, it's a little team inside the team,
and we kind of got to be those kind of
dogs out there. So it's fun watching those guys just
take on these new roles and dominate.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
All right, shifting gears. We're gonna talk football. Obviously, Cleveland
a big football town. People love the Browns. You grew
up in Staten Island and you had a choice a
couple of football teams in the NFL, the Jets and
the Giants. For fans here, who wouldn't ever think that
you had to make a choice on your favorite football team.
How do you decide as a Giants fan. How did
that come to be?
Speaker 9 (22:37):
Well, you kind of just go with the family you're
raised in. And I was raised in a Giants football household,
so all my friends are Giants fans, So it was
only right that you just developed that love for that team.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
And that's kind of how it works.
Speaker 9 (22:50):
I don't think there's any geographical bias when it comes
to some of the New York fans, just whoever's in
your household.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
What would have happened if you came home one day
and say, Hey, I'm going to root for the Jets.
Would that have been a problem at home?
Speaker 9 (23:01):
It probably would have been a tough time getting that
on the TV. You probably would have had to go
in the basement and watch it on your own, and
unless the Giants weren't playing that week. But I don't
think there'd be any hostility when it comes to that.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
All right, thanks a lot for coming by continued success,
Thank you very much for having Men's Guardian's Relief picture
Matt Festa.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Stay with us. We'll have more to come after this
short break.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
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I can't believe we blew a five touchdown lead.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
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Speaker 10 (23:42):
But I was about to buy playoff tickets.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
So you were prepared for a good time.
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That's pretty nice.
Speaker 10 (23:47):
It's the worst loss any team has ever had.
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Speaker 3 (24:12):
Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhaus back with you
from Arlington, Texas Globelife Field, our final segment now of
Guardians Weekly, and we are joined by Alyssa Nakin, who's
the assistant director of player Development for the Guardians, her
first season with the organization after a great run on
the Major league coaching staff for the San Francisco Giants,
(24:33):
and we'll talk to her about her groundbreaking work with
the Giants and just a little bit but when we
caught up with her earlier this week. She works out
of the Goodyear Complex in Arizona, and she fills us
in on what goes on there after Major League spring
training ends.
Speaker 10 (24:49):
Yeah, well, first off, thanks for having me. It's good
to see you guys here in Phoenix. Yeah, so spring
training such a fun time of year. Literally everybody is
in the building and it is chaos organized how we
like to put it. Then when the big league team
breaks camp, we actually stay there and we have an
extended spring training. So all of our players that are
(25:10):
playing in the ACL season, which starts in May, go
through just what's called an extended spring training, so it
looks very similar to what we're doing in regular spring training,
but way less people. And then our ACL, the Arizona
Complex League, starts early May, so we have between five
and six games a week from May through the end
(25:32):
of July, very similar to the affiliates where we play
all the all fourteen other teams organizations that are here
in Arizona. They are night games six pm typically.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Thank goodness.
Speaker 10 (25:45):
Yes, but that means our practices are middle of the day,
so it's very hot. But our guys put in so
much effort and yeah, they go out and compete again
five to six times a week, and once the season
ends end of July, we start what's called our bridge season,
which is the season that we're currently in, so it
(26:05):
goes kind of in parallel with the affiliate season. So
we're still playing games against outside competition three times a week,
but it's a little bit more of a spring training
vibe where you can roll innings if you have to,
you can play seven innings if you have to if
you don't have the pitching. But we just want to
keep our guys ready in case they need to go
(26:27):
and support an affiliate.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
I know, an interesting part of your job. The draft
just completed, players are sign about twenty new players are
in the system, and you're part of that first point
of contact that they have as they go to Arizona
to signer contracts. What are some of the things onboarding
for these new young players that you try and do
to make them comfortable.
Speaker 10 (26:47):
This was such a fun time for us, so we
brought a couple days after the draft ended, we brought
in all twenty one new draftees to Arizona and they
have to go through kind of like the non negotiables
of what probably every player that got drafted goes through
in any organization, all the medical imaging, the testing, things
like that. But what we wanted to do was make
(27:09):
sure that these players when they entered our organization, they
immediately felt cared for and that they were in partnership
with us as they started their development in professional baseball.
So we ran what's called a foundation's program. So a
lot of leadership from the organization came to Arizona for
the week and we had you know, some large group
(27:31):
settings and sessions where we spoke on our organizational values
and philosophies and kind of an overview and intro to
the organization. But then we broke up the players each
day into different groups. We called them pods, and had
some of our field coordinators lead these pods through breakout
(27:51):
sessions with different domains. So instead of you know, the
strength and conditioning team running a slideshow presentation for all guys,
I mean, I don't know about you, but my attention
span is an awesome these days, and I don't think
twenty one year old's attention spans are great either. So
we made it super intentional and individualized and had all
(28:13):
these guys go through and have some really like intimate
conversations with everyone in all the different domains. The goal
wasn't to like have them learn and know everything they
needed to know. It was more like we just want
them to feel extremely comfortable and get an understanding how
to navigate their first few days weeks in our organization.
(28:34):
And then to wrap it up, we've brought out all
the families to Goodyear and for a signing ceremony, and
so the families were there to witness their sons and
you know brothers sign their first professional contract, which was
so cool. So yeah, it was really really fun, super
energized by it. We have some really exciting players, very
(28:55):
good human beings that are now in our system.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
So we're joined by a lista NA and the assistant
director of player development for the Guardians. But that doesn't
begin to explain your background, and it's just a groundbreaking
background in the game of baseball. You were the first
female full time coach at the major league level with
the San Francisco Giants starting in the twenty twenty season.
A softball player in college, How did you even get
(29:21):
to that point? And that may be too long for this,
but if you can give us the clip notes on
how you got to the point where you got on
the field on a major league coaching staff.
Speaker 10 (29:30):
I always loved competition. I've always loved sports. Yeah, like
you said, played softball in college, and when I graduated,
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I actually
didn't start out in the sport world. I started out
in finance and very quickly understood like, I need to
get back in sports. I want to be around a team.
San Francis, the University of San Francisco is a wonderful
(29:52):
sport management program master's program, so I joined that and
I had night class, so every before class, every night,
I would just go and watch baseball practice and I
just sat in the stands, and you know, I had
no desire to play anymore. Like I loved playing and
was okay with my career being over after college. But
(30:12):
what I noticed, I was so interested in the coaches
and watching like their drills develop over time, and watch
their interactions with the players. So one day they're like,
do you want to just come down and help us?
And I said yes. And that was an amazing experience.
You know, all those coaches came to our wedding. You know,
almost ten years later one officiated our wedding, so great
(30:33):
relationships there. It was an unpaid gig in San Francisco's
really expensive. So then the Giants. The Giants had a
baseball operations internship open up after that year, and I
joined that again not knowing exactly what I wanted to do,
but knew I wanted to get some exposure into professional
(30:54):
baseball and just kind of see the operation, see how
it's run. Internships are great for that because as an
interne you get to wear a lot of hats and
get kind of like an overview of how everything's run.
Then I joined the business side full time of the organization,
which was great and a lot of learning. I've just
learned a lot about systems and processes and team building.
(31:16):
After about five years of that, Bochie announced that he
was going to retire, so that was in twenty nineteen.
It was kind of like nice timing because I was
also interested in pursuing my career, not exactly knowing what
I wanted to do, but I recognized him really interested
and attracted to leap different leadership styles and just learning
(31:36):
from leaders on how they build and organize teams and
put systems in place. When Farhan hired Gabe Kapler, we
got a chance to connect and that was what I
was asking like, how do you build a coaching staff?
And so we had a ton of conversations on that
and over time just kind of being around and kind
(31:57):
of following his journey of putting together this coaching staff,
some of which we're looking at right now, Craig Albernas
and Kai Korea. After a couple of months, Kap asked
me to go through the interview process for his last
opening on the staff as an assistant coach, and yeah,
then it happened.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
It's a male dominated world professional baseball at the major
league level. How did the players respond to you when
you first started?
Speaker 10 (32:24):
Great, they were amazing players in San Francisco, you know,
all what was I don't know, it was kind of nice,
Like all the whole staff was brand new. So it
wasn't just me but Kai Krea, youngest bench coach ever,
you know, Andrew Bailey was never really a pitching coach
and now like leading a pitching staff on an organization.
(32:45):
So I think admittedly the players were probably a little like, Okay,
who's this staff coming in. Our goal was to just
remain extremely authentic and intentional in every single thing that
we did. I just wanted to show up and know
that I was here to support the players and was
going to get to know them and learn how they
liked to best prepare and help them in every way.
(33:07):
And I think what was nice is I'm just I
like to say I'm a pretty consistent person, and I
think the players appreciated that. So, you know, as an
assistant coach, you just get to support all the coaches
in every area. And I was around a great staff,
you know, couple of which like the reason I wanted
to come to Cleveland too. So yeah, but the players
(33:30):
were awesome. I had such positive experiences with them, and
they were incredible human beings.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
And outfield base running doesn't involve on field during the game,
except in twenty twenty two, you're out there coaching first
base for the San Francisco Giants in a regular season game.
You were prepared, it sounds like, because you had those
opportunities in spring training. But when this happened midway through
a game because of an ejection, what did that mean
(33:58):
to you? Not just to you, but maybe to others
who are thinking about what you're doing as maybe a
possibility and others who have tried.
Speaker 10 (34:06):
In the moment, I just knew, like, Okay, we got
to step up and go do the job, you know,
like we were kind of ready for it. I think
at one point during the game I recognize just from
some of the fan interactions during the game, like oh, yeah,
this is this is big. I think too when I
think about you asked me the question, like tell me
about the path you got to where you are. It
(34:27):
was never a path that I knew existed, And I think,
quite honestly, it's because I just never saw it. Part
of me thinks that's silly, like, oh, you have to
see it to believe that you can do it. There's
some truth in that, like, yes, you can think outside
the box and pursue things that you truly love, whether
you think you can do them or not. I do
think that the representation really matters. And so being like
(34:50):
visible on a field with so many different walks of
life in the stands and watching that game, you know,
it means a lot because it's not just about the
girls and the females watching and knowing that they can
like break down barriers and get into a game that's
male dominated, but it's also about the young boys being
able to see that and know like they probably have
(35:12):
female coaches coaching their little league teams too. So the
goal is like, this isn't something that's so crazy and
out of the norm here in the.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Future, whether you're a man or a woman. The baseball
lifestyle in the major leagues, if you work for a
major league team on staff or play, it can be
challenging family wise. You're here with Cleveland, Now, why is
this the right fit at this time in your life
and your career.
Speaker 10 (35:37):
Well, I have a daughter now eighteen months who is
the light of my life, and honestly too, like just professionally,
I was ready for a shift. Obviously, there was a
lot of shake up. You know, Cap got fired. I
had a child last year. Coaching in the big leagues
with a newborn is not the easiest thing to do.
(35:58):
But I was also just ready to expand and my learning.
And I'd only been with San Francisco and I'm very
grateful for all my time with San Francisco. I grew
up a Giants fan, so it's literally living a dream.
But it was also ready to learn more. I really
fell in love with learning about the transitions of players
from you know, at the time like Triple A level
(36:19):
to the big leagues and like how can we make
this an even smoother process, and how can we make
sure that our communication at the big league level is
also it's being communicated at our lower levels so that
players aren't like so, you know, eyes wide open when
they get to the big leagues. Naturally that's going to happen,
of course, but it's not like, what if we can
(36:40):
just keep our messaging extremely consistent across you know, all
the levels. And stayed in touch with Kay and Albi
all last season and was super intrigued by hearing like
what their processes are like in Cleveland and just about
the people and the organization. I was really intrigued to
learn more. And the moment I set foot in that
(37:01):
player development complex for an interview, I knew, like I
have to crush this interview because I want this job
so bad. It's just very in line with what I
love to do, which is like wear a lot of hats,
be like on field when needed, but also be behind
the scenes and you know, supporting staff and learning about
different domains and determining how best we can prepare our
(37:24):
players each day. So it was just a mix of
one I was just ready from a professional standpoint, and
two from a personal standpoint, this is such a great gig.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
And it's a great organization for sure, and I know
the Guardians are glad to have you. Thank you so
much for the time. Thank you what a great story.
A Lissa Nack and a groundbreaker in the game of baseball,
and certainly the Guardian's very happy to have her in
the organization that's going to do it. For this week's
edition of Guardians Weekly, thanks as always to Brian Matse
(37:58):
for all of his help and putting together.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Our show each and every week.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
We will join you next weekend from downtown Cleveland and
Progressive Field when the Guardians are taking on the Seattle Mariners.
Until then, this is Jim rosen House reminding you you've
been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive helping
Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Right
Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.
Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians
fans save hundreds on car insurance.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Hi Reward.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Welcome to Guardian's Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you as
we join you from Globe Life Ballpark in Arlington, Texas
this weekend, and the Guardians in the midst of a
road swing that has taken them to Arizona and Texas,
and it has been a challenge as they try and
stay relevant in the wildcard playoff chase and a postseason birth.
(01:19):
But it has been a challenge on this road swing
as the Guardians, after a win on Monday and the
road trip opener in Phoenix, lost Tuesday six to five,
a late lead slipping away, Wednesday a walk off loss
in ten innings three to two, and then on Friday
night another walkoff loss, this time against the Texas Rangers
(01:41):
four to three. So it has not been an easy
week for the Guardians as they are unable to gain
ground in that wildcard playoff chase. Coming up on our
show this week, we will visit with pitchers Ben Lively
and John Means, both are coming back from Tommy John
surgeries means as close returning the game action in the
major leagues as he has pitched well in his minor
(02:04):
league rehab. As signments Ben Lively just starting his return
from Tommy John surgery. Matt Festival join us as well.
He's had a good run as a Guardian's middle reliever.
And we will also visit with the assistant director of
player Development, Alyssa Nakin, who has a great story as
she was a groundbreaker in terms of working for a
(02:24):
major league coaching staff when she was with the Giants
and in fact got on the field and became the
first woman to coach in a Major League game as
a first base coach for the Giants. We'll hear her
story at the tail end of our show today, but
first we take a look back to Wednesday when the
Guardians did lose against the Diamondbacks, but they received a
(02:45):
tremendous effort in his major league debut from Parker Messik,
who pitched into the seventh inning, allowed just one run
in that game, and was in line for the win
before it slipped away late. We caught up with him
on Friday and he talked about what the last couple
of days have been like for him after making that
first start in the big leagues.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
It's been fun.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
It's been fun to be able to call family, tell
everyone about it, and respond to all the people that
reached out and wanted to congratulate me and tell me
they love me, and I was able to return the
favor and tell them I love them. And just being
able to set it down and really to take in
that moment and what it was. It was so much fun.
That's been cool to reflect on the last.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Couple of days.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Everyone says, in your major league debut, hey just be yourself,
do what got you here. Not that easy, though, is it?
Speaker 4 (03:31):
No doubt?
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Yeah, the environment's completely different that the atmosphere in the
locker room.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Atmosphere on the.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Field, the will and the wanting to win the game
is way way bigger than what it is in minor
league baseball. And then you throwing the aspect that you're
facing a really good lineup and in a cool stadium
that you know, I've never gotten to play in. There's
so many factors that you try not to change anything up,
but you know, your breathing gets a little heavier. You start,
you're working faster than you normally do, and you just
(03:59):
try and calm everything down and remember that you're just
you're still baseball player. You're still a kid playing a
kids game, and it's you're just out there to have
fun and try and win. And you know, that's what
I tried.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
To do with that set. How difficult it was their
first inning.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
It honestly wasn't as bad as what I thought. Everyone
said it looked like I was breathing heavy, but that
wasn't me, like out of breath. I just breathe like that,
so I it calms myself down. You know, that's like
certain breathing techniques. And I don't know if I'm doing
any kind of technique, but I'm just breathing and calm
myself down, help myself think. And you know, it was
fun after I got the first out. You know, that's
(04:31):
what everyone says in any game, and that'll be any
game that I had in minor leagues or the rest
of my career. It's once you get that first out
of a start, it's like, okay, you're playing baseball, like
you just got to get that first one and then
and then you settle in and the other thing you
hear sometimes is because of the adrenaline. Once that starts
to subside a little bit. It's difficult in a debut
for a starting picture to go deep into a game.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
But you did.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
How were you able to do that?
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I just tried to calm myself down and realize why
I was there. It's like, it's my debut, it's not
everyone else's debut. So that's what I kept telling myself.
It's like, ultimately, this team's here and they want to
win this game just as bad as I want to
pitch well, So my job as at the starting pitcher
is to go deep in the game and give the
team the best chance I can for us to win.
So I just try to calm myself down after that
(05:16):
first one and I gave up the run and then
we got another run. I was like, all right, that's
all they get. Let's go out there and like be
a pitcher. Now you already got your debut. I gave
up my first hit, my first walk, my first run,
and got my first strikeout in the first inn because
I was like, all right, I already got it all
out of the way.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Let's just go pitch now.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Check some boxes for sure. Your season dating back to
spring training, you pitch in the spring breakout game, you
had a chance to pitch in the Futures Game. Did
any of that helped you you think when you did
finally get here in terms of just preparation.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
Yeah, there's definitely. I mean every aspect of pitching in
the minor leagues has helped me, and whether that's pitching
against the best players in the Futures Game or the
best players in a specific order with a breakout game,
or just going through you know, each Triple A lineup,
you have some big league rehab up, some guys that
are currently dominating the big leagues that I faced early
on in the season at Triple A. So you know,
every aspect of facing those different guys and learning from
(06:09):
different players, it all helps you when you get to
the big day and you're in the big moment. You
just got to remember everything you learned and trust that
what you did was good enough to get there and
just go out and do your stuff. And you know,
that's what I tried to do, and I hope that
that I use everything that I've learned, and if not,
then I plan to use it moving forward.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
All Right, everybody has teammates that they enjoy potential conflict here.
You're a Florida State guy. There's two University of Miami
players on this team, and Slate Saconi who goes tonight,
and c J Kpass. How are you guys going to
figure that out?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
We've we've already dealt with enough of it. I've I've
I've played with them all in the minor leagues. You
even have Andrew Walters, and then you have guys like
Jack Leflick and Tommy Mace that played at Florida Down
that I played with in Columbus. So I mean, you
have guys all over the ACC and SEC that I
compete again. So we try and make fun of it.
And you know, we talk if one dominated the other
in college. You know, we kind of chep each other
for that. But it's it's all fun. We like we
(06:58):
we love being able to play with each other.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Well, hey, congratulations on a wonderful debut. Thanks for at
tipping mind.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
You, sir, thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
I very appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I had his rookie pitcher, Parker Messick, who had a
Day to Remember in Phoenix on Wednesday, his major league
debut when he was absolutely outstanding. We'll take a time
out and come back with more after this on the
Cleveland Clinic, Guardians Radio, and Nepwood. The two to two
catches the inside corner called strike three, and there is
(07:28):
the first major league strikeout for Parker Messick. The three
to two swing and I miss strike three. The good
change up from Parker Messick strikes out Guriel. That's his
third strikeout, the one two pitch swing and a miss
strike of three. Well physically and mentally, Parker Messick has
(07:48):
it together today in his debut. Messick winds it up
the one two swing and I miss strike three. You
had pitched Carol down on strikes on the fifth strikeout
by Messi.
Speaker 6 (08:02):
Progressive Nos, There's so many great things about being a
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your team is winning by a lot, and even more
preventive prevent defense as they're hanging on by a thread.
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Speaker 4 (08:24):
Yeah, but how often does that happen?
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Complaining about sports?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
Not so great?
Speaker 6 (08:29):
Progressive Casualty Interns Company affiliates an other insurer. It's not
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Speaker 2 (08:32):
Situations Welcome back to Guardians Weekly.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Jim Rosenhaus back with you from Globelife Park in Arlington, Texas,
where the Guardians are taking on the Rangers this weekend,
including Saturday night at seven oh five Cleveland time, and
then Sunday afternoon at two thirty five Cleveland time to
wrap up the road swing. Ben Lively was a key
for the Guardians a year ago. In fact, he was
(09:05):
their top winner in the starting rotation and then got
off to a good start this season, but Tommy John
surgery has derailed his season and now that long slow
comeback is in the early stages for him, and along
with several of his teammates who are recovering from season
ending injuries. Out in Arizona at the Goodyear Complex, he
was able to spend some time with the ball club
(09:27):
during the series with the Diamondbacks earlier this week, and
when we caught up with him, he talked about how
great it was just to be around the team again.
Speaker 7 (09:35):
Definitely grateful to have just more than just myself out
here for sure, and I'm getting the guys in the
same program in the morning.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
It's like a good kind of funny warm up.
Speaker 7 (09:43):
You know, we all started warming up the same way,
and like we kind of do like the little small
exercises we got to do together, and it's kind of funny.
And that's just like the start of our day every day,
and you know, we separate in the weight room and
then you know, we run back into everybody in the
training room later in the day and then it's just
it's a good time.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
So this is the very early stages. And we've seen
John Means, we've seen Shane Bieber back in Cleveland, and
they're throwing in games, but you're very far from that.
Explained just how tedious the rehab isn't and exactly what
can you do it at this point in time.
Speaker 7 (10:15):
I mean, pretty much each week is just like gaining
a little bit more and more movement each week and
just see how much more we can like move And
I think twelve weeks is when we can start actually
like stretching everything fully. So until then it's just kind
of calm down and work out those legs as much
as you can.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You were saying earlier about when you knew it happened,
Explain the pitch and what you felt and maybe what
was going through your mind at that time. In a
game against Washington.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
Well it was wild, I mean, especially because it went
from the Pittsburgh I think Pittsburgh.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Twins and then Washington.
Speaker 7 (10:45):
But the two games prior to that, Pittsburgh and the Twins,
my bilo was kind of up a little bit. I
was like, wow, I'm sorry to feel a little bit looser,
like kind of getting fired up. Got to Washington and
I was a little sore warming up, and I was like,
it's fine, we'll dig, we'll go. Then I went to
hump up on one against Josh and I just kind
of felt like a little stretch and I was like, whoa,
that wasn't normal.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And then just got real tight.
Speaker 7 (11:04):
And next couple of innings after that, and try to
pitch that game against Milwaukee for a couple of innings
and just it was kind of the same feeling. Just
kept kind of grabbing my forearm, and then it just
got to the point where I was like, yeah, I
feel like if something goes not gonna happen if I
keep ripping it.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Did you know when he went to the doctor that
it might not be good?
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (11:20):
The first stretch he did in the way he looked
at the trainer that was with me and just was like, ah,
I knew it was kind of bad and had a
nice little big gap in there. And yep, it's a
lot different to do at thirty three than a younger
guy though, But you know what, just head down and
just keeps working out and keep the energy up and
you make the best of it.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
I'm fired up.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
You mentioned at thirty three a little bit more advanced,
but you've had a career of challenges. Can any of
that be beneficial at this point in time as you
try and come back from this?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 7 (11:47):
I mean I feel like I like that's another thing
that just kicks myself about having this now. It's just
like mindset and the pitch wise, like right before I
got hurt, it felt like I was where I needed
to be. But like, all I can think about is
coming back so much strong and having the same mindset
on those pitches.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I mean, I think they can just go nowhere, but up.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I was talking to Will Brennan, who's in the same
boat coming back from Tommy John surgery. He's been out
here with you, and he says, you guys occasionally get
together to watch the Guardians games as they go through
this season. What has it been like to watch a
team that you're so close to have those ups and
downs and now be in it down the stretch?
Speaker 7 (12:21):
A lot of screaming at the TV, but in a
great way and also the bad ways too. But like,
you know, it's just kind of weird to watch from
Afar because I feel like when you're here at the games,
like you can bring the energy to kind of help guys.
You can push guys to get into big situations. But
like watching from Afar is just you feel like you're
just out of the loop and just watch it happen.
But when the great things happen, it just makes it
(12:42):
even better. It makes you miss it even that much more.
But like that's those are the days I miss you
make you miss the field so much, and you know
I love being here.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
What does it meant to you that the organization made
sure that that yourself, Will Andrew Walters and Sam Henches
has had a chance to be in the dugout and
be a part of his team.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
Oh unbelieve well, I mean we're chomping at the bed
to get here. Yesterday and today we got here even
earlier and just them allowing us to get up here
and they know we're gonna fire do nothing but fire
up the guys and push.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
For three wins here.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
So what's next for you?
Speaker 7 (13:12):
A lot more downtime and watching a belly grow and
get ready for a little baby girl.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
So and you hate to say that that it's a
good thing that you have that opportunity, but when you
do look at it, is that one of the positives
that you can spend some more time as that develops.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
I mean, like separating the field from that at home
is like so surreal to me, like because I feel
like this process has been so fast, and I can't
say the same for Haley, but but it's happened real quick,
and you know, everything's been good and I'm just ready
to meet her now.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Been great to see you.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Thanks for coming by, absolutely, and I seen everybody.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
That starting pitcher Ben Lively just starting his comeback from
Tommy John surgery. He's not even throwing yet, so a
long way to go for him. Not so for left
hander John Memes, who had been one of the top
left handers in the game with the Orioles before where
Tommy John surgery derailed him, but he's close to coming back.
He's made a couple of starts now at Single A
Lake County with good results, and when we caught up
(14:08):
with him recently, he says, it feels great to be
back on the mound in live game action, even if
it is just the minor leagues.
Speaker 8 (14:15):
Yeah, it was great, It was It was good, and
you know, I feel like a baseball player again, feel
like I got to do my job and do you
know what I'm supposed to do, And so it was
funny get back out there. I just want to pitch
a nine game and just yeah, I feel it again.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And along those lines that we see in spring training
and now we see it now, but we don't see
everything that happens in between. And it seems like tedious
might be the right word for that type of rehab.
And how difficult is it mentally to stay with it
and do the things you need to do to get
to the point where you can pitch again in a game.
Speaker 8 (14:49):
Yeah, you got to kind of fall in love with
the process. You gotta, you know, enjoy coming to the
field every day, even if you are just coming to
rehab or not even throw at some points, and you know,
you've got to enjoy coming in, enjoy being around the guys,
and it's definitely a mental toll that it puts on you.
But you know, I feel like I've gone a lot
over over the last few years just going through this
(15:11):
and feel like I've experienced a lot and I can
kind of use that moving forward.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
And at this stage of the rehab. How important is
it to be here in the big league environment.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Yeah, it's great, it's great. It's great to be in Cleveland.
It's great to to kind of feel feel that juice
flowing again up here and not feel so far away
and in a great clubhouse here, and yeah, it's just
it's great being being back at this level.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Joined by John Means on the way back from a
second time e John surgery and you went through it
not that long ago, got back to the major leagues.
But explain what that was like for you, how you
were feeling after a surgery that's supposed to to fix
things and have you be the picture that you can.
Speaker 8 (15:54):
Yeah, you know, the first one around was pretty pretty tough,
and I I experienced more setbacks than I was hoping for.
And uh, to the point where I had to had
to go through it again. And this time it's been
it's been been smooth so far, and it's been great,
and and the med staff here has been awesome and
(16:15):
just on the same page and it's flowed really well.
And so very very blessed to be able to get
back to this.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Point when you had to make that decision to have
it again. Was it difficult or or was it somewhat
easy based on how you were feeling?
Speaker 8 (16:32):
Uh, it was, Yeah, it was pretty pretty easy, just
based on what I was feeling and what the doctors
were saying, and and it was yeah, I know, I
wanted to get it again, and I feel like I,
you know, had some some juice left, so I wanted
to kind of come back and and try this thing again,
try to live out to live out the dream.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And for for people who don't know what Tommy John surgery,
they take attendant from or ligament from somewhere else in
your body, explain where the first one came from, and
and then what they do the second time around and
hopefully make it better.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
So you usually they try to take it out of
the wrist, and I think it's twenty percent of people
don't have that ligament that they take out of the risk,
so I don't have it, and so they took it
out of my leg. It was like an adductor muscle,
and so it was the right leg the first time,
and now it's the left leg. So yeah, got both
legs operated on as.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
Well, and hopefully the left one is a little bit.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
Better, yes, yeah, yeah, exactly, hopefully it holds a little
bit stronger.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
So what's next?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
And do you have an idea of when you might
be in a position where.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
You could help this club?
Speaker 8 (17:38):
You know, I got another outing coming up soon, and
just kind of focused on, you know, surviving and advancing
and just trying to do everything I can to be
as ready as possible by the end of the year
and or whenever that is, and just trying to get back.
And it feel good. Oh John, thanks a lot for
coming by. Keep crying and appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
At John means Lefty who's coming back from Tommy John surgery.
And we may see him fairly soon now, maybe a
one or two more rehab starts, you would think at least,
but he certainly seems on track to pitch for this
ball club before the season ends. Stay with us when
we come back. We'll talk with Matt Festa from that
Guardian's bullpen. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network,
(18:36):
Welcome back. It's Guardians Weekly from Arlington, Texas Globe Life Field.
Jim Rosen House along with you this weekend as we
join you on the road swing for the Guardians. They'll
head back home on Monday, open up a new homestand
with the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday Night. Now, the
Guardians bullpen, for the most part this season has been
extremely effective no matter what the challenge is. Matt fest
(18:58):
has been a key in a middle and it's been
a real nice addition after starting the season with Texas,
but he joined the ball club in early May, and
he talked earlier this week about how his role has
developed since joining the team, and he says even he
couldn't have imagined it going as well as it has
to this point.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
For me, I've enjoyed my role.
Speaker 9 (19:19):
I enjoy being valued and doing the best I can
with whatever opportunity presents myself.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Down game, upgame, high game.
Speaker 9 (19:25):
Runners on, no runners on, Just go out and pass
the ball off to the rest of the little pivot.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
And so often it's coming in mid inning, the eyes
on base, there's trouble happening. A lot of guys like
to come in with that clean inning. What's the key
to having success when you're in that spot where you
have to be sharp right from the gift ho?
Speaker 9 (19:44):
I think for me it's like I am someone who
throws a lot of strikes to begin with, and that
helps me in those situations because hitters either are probably
a little more aggressive than they want to be, and
I get to exploit those aggressions. And we do a
fantastic job game planning with and Austin, and you know,
just trusting the game plan and the attack plan and
going out and executing furiously is kind of like how
(20:07):
you find success in those panic roles, and.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
You've had success in other spots in your career. What
you're doing now. Is it a combination of the opportunities
and the way you're being used or is it just
that experience of being in this game for a little
longer and really knowing what works for you and being
able to execute.
Speaker 9 (20:25):
I think it's a combination of both and leaning heavily on,
you know, knowing myself a lot more and kind of
executing a little bit better than I have in the past.
But the opportunities have been really cool and I've been
very fortunate to take.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Advantage of those.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Since we're joined by Matt Festep Guardian's reliever, who's part
of it. Just a tremendous bullpen, and the bullpen has
kept it going after losing one of the best closures
in the game and the manual plasse. When you look
at that, any surprise and how are they doing it
without one of the best closures in the game.
Speaker 9 (21:00):
I wouldn't say it's any surprise because we all believe
in each other and the guys down there, they're executing
on another level and we all have the same trust
in each other and we know whatever role, whatever inning,
we're ready to go. And prior to losing Class A,
I think a lot of us have pitched in a
lot of different roles, so there was no unfamiliarity when
(21:20):
we got thrusted into these new jobs, and you know,
we're just going out there rolling with the punches.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
And there's some young guys in there who have taken
hold of some roles and pitched well. In terms of
Nick n Right first time in.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
The major leagues.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Eric Sabrowski continuing a good stretch from a year ago.
How do you and Jacob Junas called the alert the
veteran guys, how are you able to keep them in
a real positive direction?
Speaker 9 (21:45):
I mean just showing our energy and support, like after
the outings that they've been, you know, they've been shoving
and they've earned their opportunities. And I think having you know,
seven other guys in that bullpen behind you, like cheering
you on, like just helps you know that, like I belong,
like these guys believe in me, and we're a family
(22:06):
out there. You know, it's a little team inside the team,
and we kind of got to be those kind of
dogs out there. So it's fun watching those guys just
take on these new roles and dominate.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
All right, shifting gears. We're gonna talk football. Obviously, Cleveland
a big football town. People love the Browns. You grew
up in Staten Island and you had a choice a
couple of football teams in the NFL, the Jets and
the Giants. For fans here, who wouldn't ever think that
you had to make a choice on your favorite football team.
How do you decide as a Giants fan. How did
that come to be?
Speaker 9 (22:37):
Well, you kind of just go with the family you're
raised in. And I was raised in a Giants football household,
so all my friends are Giants fans, So it was
only right that you just developed that love for that team.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
And that's kind of how it works.
Speaker 9 (22:50):
I don't think there's any geographical bias when it comes
to some of the New York fans, just whoever's in
your household.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
What would have happened if you came home one day
and say, Hey, I'm going to root for the Jets.
Would that have been a problem at home?
Speaker 9 (23:01):
It probably would have been a tough time getting that
on the TV. You probably would have had to go
in the basement and watch it on your own, and
unless the Giants weren't playing that week. But I don't
think there'd be any hostility when it comes to that.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
All right, thanks a lot for coming by continued success,
Thank you very much for having Men's Guardian's Relief picture
Matt Festa.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Stay with us. We'll have more to come after this
short break.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
A progressive home and Auto bundle can protect you around
the clock, but we can't protect you from those painful
moments in sports.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
I can't believe we blew a five touchdown lead.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
Sure, but you got to feel like they were going
to win for almost the entire game.
Speaker 10 (23:42):
But I was about to buy playoff tickets.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
So you were prepared for a good time.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
That's pretty nice.
Speaker 10 (23:47):
It's the worst loss any team has ever had.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
And you got to witness history.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Okay, we're done here.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
At least you're hollanaudo or protected with a bundle from
Progressive progressivekensual Ting Terns Company. AFIL had another in urist
not available Inno Stats Systoy.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhaus back with you
from Arlington, Texas Globelife Field, our final segment now of
Guardians Weekly, and we are joined by Alyssa Nakin, who's
the assistant director of player Development for the Guardians, her
first season with the organization after a great run on
the Major league coaching staff for the San Francisco Giants,
(24:33):
and we'll talk to her about her groundbreaking work with
the Giants and just a little bit but when we
caught up with her earlier this week. She works out
of the Goodyear Complex in Arizona, and she fills us
in on what goes on there after Major League spring
training ends.
Speaker 10 (24:49):
Yeah, well, first off, thanks for having me. It's good
to see you guys here in Phoenix. Yeah, so spring
training such a fun time of year. Literally everybody is
in the building and it is chaos organized how we
like to put it. Then when the big league team
breaks camp, we actually stay there and we have an
extended spring training. So all of our players that are
(25:10):
playing in the ACL season, which starts in May, go
through just what's called an extended spring training, so it
looks very similar to what we're doing in regular spring training,
but way less people. And then our ACL, the Arizona
Complex League, starts early May, so we have between five
and six games a week from May through the end
(25:32):
of July, very similar to the affiliates where we play
all the all fourteen other teams organizations that are here
in Arizona. They are night games six pm typically.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Thank goodness.
Speaker 10 (25:45):
Yes, but that means our practices are middle of the day,
so it's very hot. But our guys put in so
much effort and yeah, they go out and compete again
five to six times a week, and once the season
ends end of July, we start what's called our bridge season,
which is the season that we're currently in, so it
(26:05):
goes kind of in parallel with the affiliate season. So
we're still playing games against outside competition three times a week,
but it's a little bit more of a spring training
vibe where you can roll innings if you have to,
you can play seven innings if you have to if
you don't have the pitching. But we just want to
keep our guys ready in case they need to go
(26:27):
and support an affiliate.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
I know, an interesting part of your job. The draft
just completed, players are sign about twenty new players are
in the system, and you're part of that first point
of contact that they have as they go to Arizona
to signer contracts. What are some of the things onboarding
for these new young players that you try and do
to make them comfortable.
Speaker 10 (26:47):
This was such a fun time for us, so we
brought a couple days after the draft ended, we brought
in all twenty one new draftees to Arizona and they
have to go through kind of like the non negotiables
of what probably every player that got drafted goes through
in any organization, all the medical imaging, the testing, things
like that. But what we wanted to do was make
(27:09):
sure that these players when they entered our organization, they
immediately felt cared for and that they were in partnership
with us as they started their development in professional baseball.
So we ran what's called a foundation's program. So a
lot of leadership from the organization came to Arizona for
the week and we had you know, some large group
(27:31):
settings and sessions where we spoke on our organizational values
and philosophies and kind of an overview and intro to
the organization. But then we broke up the players each
day into different groups. We called them pods, and had
some of our field coordinators lead these pods through breakout
(27:51):
sessions with different domains. So instead of you know, the
strength and conditioning team running a slideshow presentation for all guys,
I mean, I don't know about you, but my attention
span is an awesome these days, and I don't think
twenty one year old's attention spans are great either. So
we made it super intentional and individualized and had all
(28:13):
these guys go through and have some really like intimate
conversations with everyone in all the different domains. The goal
wasn't to like have them learn and know everything they
needed to know. It was more like we just want
them to feel extremely comfortable and get an understanding how
to navigate their first few days weeks in our organization.
(28:34):
And then to wrap it up, we've brought out all
the families to Goodyear and for a signing ceremony, and
so the families were there to witness their sons and
you know brothers sign their first professional contract, which was
so cool. So yeah, it was really really fun, super
energized by it. We have some really exciting players, very
(28:55):
good human beings that are now in our system.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
So we're joined by a lista NA and the assistant
director of player development for the Guardians. But that doesn't
begin to explain your background, and it's just a groundbreaking
background in the game of baseball. You were the first
female full time coach at the major league level with
the San Francisco Giants starting in the twenty twenty season.
A softball player in college, How did you even get
(29:21):
to that point? And that may be too long for this,
but if you can give us the clip notes on
how you got to the point where you got on
the field on a major league coaching staff.
Speaker 10 (29:30):
I always loved competition. I've always loved sports. Yeah, like
you said, played softball in college, and when I graduated,
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I actually
didn't start out in the sport world. I started out
in finance and very quickly understood like, I need to
get back in sports. I want to be around a team.
San Francis, the University of San Francisco is a wonderful
(29:52):
sport management program master's program, so I joined that and
I had night class, so every before class, every night,
I would just go and watch baseball practice and I
just sat in the stands, and you know, I had
no desire to play anymore. Like I loved playing and
was okay with my career being over after college. But
(30:12):
what I noticed, I was so interested in the coaches
and watching like their drills develop over time, and watch
their interactions with the players. So one day they're like,
do you want to just come down and help us?
And I said yes. And that was an amazing experience.
You know, all those coaches came to our wedding. You know,
almost ten years later one officiated our wedding, so great
(30:33):
relationships there. It was an unpaid gig in San Francisco's
really expensive. So then the Giants. The Giants had a
baseball operations internship open up after that year, and I
joined that again not knowing exactly what I wanted to do,
but knew I wanted to get some exposure into professional
(30:54):
baseball and just kind of see the operation, see how
it's run. Internships are great for that because as an
interne you get to wear a lot of hats and
get kind of like an overview of how everything's run.
Then I joined the business side full time of the organization,
which was great and a lot of learning. I've just
learned a lot about systems and processes and team building.
(31:16):
After about five years of that, Bochie announced that he
was going to retire, so that was in twenty nineteen.
It was kind of like nice timing because I was
also interested in pursuing my career, not exactly knowing what
I wanted to do, but I recognized him really interested
and attracted to leap different leadership styles and just learning
(31:36):
from leaders on how they build and organize teams and
put systems in place. When Farhan hired Gabe Kapler, we
got a chance to connect and that was what I
was asking like, how do you build a coaching staff?
And so we had a ton of conversations on that
and over time just kind of being around and kind
(31:57):
of following his journey of putting together this coaching staff,
some of which we're looking at right now, Craig Albernas
and Kai Korea. After a couple of months, Kap asked
me to go through the interview process for his last
opening on the staff as an assistant coach, and yeah,
then it happened.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
It's a male dominated world professional baseball at the major
league level. How did the players respond to you when
you first started?
Speaker 10 (32:24):
Great, they were amazing players in San Francisco, you know,
all what was I don't know, it was kind of nice,
Like all the whole staff was brand new. So it
wasn't just me but Kai Krea, youngest bench coach ever,
you know, Andrew Bailey was never really a pitching coach
and now like leading a pitching staff on an organization.
(32:45):
So I think admittedly the players were probably a little like, Okay,
who's this staff coming in. Our goal was to just
remain extremely authentic and intentional in every single thing that
we did. I just wanted to show up and know
that I was here to support the players and was
going to get to know them and learn how they
liked to best prepare and help them in every way.
(33:07):
And I think what was nice is I'm just I
like to say I'm a pretty consistent person, and I
think the players appreciated that. So, you know, as an
assistant coach, you just get to support all the coaches
in every area. And I was around a great staff,
you know, couple of which like the reason I wanted
to come to Cleveland too. So yeah, but the players
(33:30):
were awesome. I had such positive experiences with them, and
they were incredible human beings.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
And outfield base running doesn't involve on field during the game,
except in twenty twenty two, you're out there coaching first
base for the San Francisco Giants in a regular season game.
You were prepared, it sounds like, because you had those
opportunities in spring training. But when this happened midway through
a game because of an ejection, what did that mean
(33:58):
to you? Not just to you, but maybe to others
who are thinking about what you're doing as maybe a
possibility and others who have tried.
Speaker 10 (34:06):
In the moment, I just knew, like, Okay, we got
to step up and go do the job, you know,
like we were kind of ready for it. I think
at one point during the game I recognize just from
some of the fan interactions during the game, like oh, yeah,
this is this is big. I think too when I
think about you asked me the question, like tell me
about the path you got to where you are. It
(34:27):
was never a path that I knew existed, And I think,
quite honestly, it's because I just never saw it. Part
of me thinks that's silly, like, oh, you have to
see it to believe that you can do it. There's
some truth in that, like, yes, you can think outside
the box and pursue things that you truly love, whether
you think you can do them or not. I do
think that the representation really matters. And so being like
(34:50):
visible on a field with so many different walks of
life in the stands and watching that game, you know,
it means a lot because it's not just about the
girls and the females watching and knowing that they can
like break down barriers and get into a game that's
male dominated, but it's also about the young boys being
able to see that and know like they probably have
(35:12):
female coaches coaching their little league teams too. So the
goal is like, this isn't something that's so crazy and
out of the norm here in the.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Future, whether you're a man or a woman. The baseball
lifestyle in the major leagues, if you work for a
major league team on staff or play, it can be
challenging family wise. You're here with Cleveland, Now, why is
this the right fit at this time in your life
and your career.
Speaker 10 (35:37):
Well, I have a daughter now eighteen months who is
the light of my life, and honestly too, like just professionally,
I was ready for a shift. Obviously, there was a
lot of shake up. You know, Cap got fired. I
had a child last year. Coaching in the big leagues
with a newborn is not the easiest thing to do.
(35:58):
But I was also just ready to expand and my learning.
And I'd only been with San Francisco and I'm very
grateful for all my time with San Francisco. I grew
up a Giants fan, so it's literally living a dream.
But it was also ready to learn more. I really
fell in love with learning about the transitions of players
from you know, at the time like Triple A level
(36:19):
to the big leagues and like how can we make
this an even smoother process, and how can we make
sure that our communication at the big league level is
also it's being communicated at our lower levels so that
players aren't like so, you know, eyes wide open when
they get to the big leagues. Naturally that's going to happen,
of course, but it's not like, what if we can
(36:40):
just keep our messaging extremely consistent across you know, all
the levels. And stayed in touch with Kay and Albi
all last season and was super intrigued by hearing like
what their processes are like in Cleveland and just about
the people and the organization. I was really intrigued to
learn more. And the moment I set foot in that
(37:01):
player development complex for an interview, I knew, like I
have to crush this interview because I want this job
so bad. It's just very in line with what I
love to do, which is like wear a lot of hats,
be like on field when needed, but also be behind
the scenes and you know, supporting staff and learning about
different domains and determining how best we can prepare our
(37:24):
players each day. So it was just a mix of
one I was just ready from a professional standpoint, and
two from a personal standpoint, this is such a great gig.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
And it's a great organization for sure, and I know
the Guardians are glad to have you. Thank you so
much for the time. Thank you what a great story.
A Lissa Nack and a groundbreaker in the game of baseball,
and certainly the Guardian's very happy to have her in
the organization that's going to do it. For this week's
edition of Guardians Weekly, thanks as always to Brian Matse
(37:58):
for all of his help and putting together.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Our show each and every week.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
We will join you next weekend from downtown Cleveland and
Progressive Field when the Guardians are taking on the Seattle Mariners.
Until then, this is Jim rosen House reminding you you've
been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians
Radio Network.
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