We're Underway in Oakland

The regular season has begun, and we'll recap the first two wins in Oakland for the Guardians. Game one winner Shane Bieber stops by to talk about his expectations for the season, along with fellow starter Carlos Carrasco who makes his return to the Cleveland rotation. Plus, the weekly Farm Report with Director of Player Development Rob Cerfolio. That's all on this edition of Guardians Weekly with Jim Rosenhaus on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the ClevelandGuardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fanssave hundreds on car insurance. Hi,

(00:51):
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly.Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Oakland,
California, where the Guardians are openingtheir season with four game series against the
Oakland Athletics. Coming up a littlebit later on in our show, we
will visit with two pitchers who madethe ball club as non roster invites at
the end of spring training. Afamiliar name to be sure to Guardians fans,

(01:15):
Carlos Carrasco. We'll hear from Cookiein just a little bit. We'll
also check in with Director of playerDevelopment Rob Serfolio and get the lowdown on
Jake de Lauter's spring and how hesets up for the season to come,
and also get a preview of theColumbus Clippers. But first I look back
at opening night in Oakland Thursday night. The Guardian's looking to get off to

(01:36):
a good start in the managerial careerof Steven Vote, and you can't do
much better than have Shane Bieber onthe mound on opening night. He's been
terrific in his four prior opening gamestarts for the Guardians, and Thursday was
no different in his fifth consecutive openingday start, which tied a franchise record.
He looks sharp early. Here's thepayoff. A mess got him again,

(02:01):
so Bieber strikes out the side.Oakley gets a a hit, but
no damage. Now the two twoswing and a miss on the heater.
Bieber has struck out six or throughtwo. The Guardians would get Bieber some
runs support starting in the second inningthanks to a pair of doubles, first
David Fry and then Tyler Freeman.The pitch a swing in the line right

(02:25):
BA hint to left center, that'llscore. David Fry, HiT's in the
gap, cut off fivel A Daythrows to second head first slide safe for
the double is Tyler Freeman and theGuardians take oh one nothing lead, and
Freeman literally beating out Miles Straw forthe center field job at least part of

(02:46):
the time, comes through with anRBI double in his first at bat,
and that is part of why TylerFreeman was asked to learn how to play
center field and why he's getting achance to play multiple positions because of his
bat and the offense really got itgoing. In the fourth, with the

(03:07):
bases loaded and andre Semenez at theplate, here's the pitch swung on line
drive center field that gets down fora base it one run will score.
That's it coming across as Nailer Fryadvances to third. Everyone else moves up
and it's an RBI single from AndreasSemenez, his first hit on the season.

(03:30):
Drives in a run and the Guardiansnow lead it to nothing. And
then Austin Hedges came through. Bigpitch in this game. Payoff pitch coming
to Hedges. Here it is swungon ground ball to short backhand pick up
Allen one play. It's at firstand he pulls the first basement off the
bag. All hands are safe andtwo runs will score. It was a

(03:54):
slow roller in the hole between thirdand short. Allen got to it the
shortstop charging in, but his throatto first pulled Noda off the bag and
he couldn't control it, and Hedgesis safe at first base. And after
that it was Brian Rochio capping offthe big inning. Here's the pitch to

(04:16):
Rochio. He swings and grounds itto third over the bag. Fairball.
Down into the left field corner.It goes grounding third, heading for home
and scoring. As he meant,Az Hedges will try and score two,
and he will without a throw.It's a two run double for Brian Rocchio

(04:38):
and the big inning is on forthe Guardians. It is now six nothing
Cleveland and here comes Mark Kotsey.That is it for Wood. Wow did
that blow up in a hurry?Meanwhile, Bieber stayed hot, continuing to
shut down the Oakland bats. Sixnothing Cleveland. The kick and delivery and

(05:00):
a swing and a mess and aslider away. Bieber has struck out eleven.
Remember he has the club record foropening day fourteen strikeouts against Kansas City
in six innings in twenty twenty,Brent Rooker the batter as Shane Bieber not
eighty two pitches, lets it flyand the pitch hit high in the air,

(05:25):
fairly deep center Freeman drifting back,plenty of room. He'll squeeze it.
Well. We'll see if Shane Biebercomes out for the seventh inning,
they may feel like six is enough. We shall see. But Bieber has
been brilliant tonight. We talked aboutit all spring and he has followed up
that talk with the way he's pitchedtonight. Man does he look good?

(05:48):
And then the Guardians added to thelead in the ninth inning thanks to Jose
Ramirez. The cent the pitch swungon, pilt it deep, bright field,
It's got a chance off the wall, cares back toward the infield.
Kwan hits thirties coming home. Ramirezmakes the turn on his way to third

(06:09):
with a stand up triple. Hehammered it halfway up the fifteen foot wall
in right, and an RBI tripleby Jose Ramirez makes it seven nothing Cleveland
here in the ninth inning, andboy, everybody is getting into the act
and the Guardians. If you wantedto draw up a near perfect scenario for

(06:34):
Opening Night, this would be it. David Fryes sack Fly brought home Ramirez
to make it eight nothing, andthen Nick Sandlin came on to finish things
up in the bottom half of theninth inning. So the A's are down
to their last strength and Stephen votesone strength away from winning in his major

(06:55):
league managerial debut. Into the motion, here's the two to two who check
swing straight three call ballgame and gamenumber one belongs to the Cleveland Guardians as
they dominate the Oaklanes here tonight inthe season opener eight to nothing. So

(07:18):
it a satisfying win for the Guardians, the first in the managerial career of
Steven Vote, and Shane Bieber wasoutstanding. We talked to him before the
game prior to his start and hetalked about the off season that set the
table for him to get off toa great start in twenty twenty four.
Yeah, I think the thought processstarted, you know, throughout my rehab

(07:40):
process last year. The majority ofit came from wanting to go in and
get what they call him O cap, like a motion capture picture of a
throw mechanics, you know, seeif we could deduce anything from those,
and ultimately found out that they werethey were all right. And so it
was the emphasis transition into building armstrength and getting ready for string training,

(08:05):
so getting ready for the long haulthirty plus starts, and uh to stay
healthy throughout throughout everything. You know, It's it's a fun off season to
emphasize and look back upon because mywork was different. I always, you
know, do my best and workas hard as I can in the off
season, but it's I think everybodylikes to. You know, the headlines

(08:30):
come from being able to do somethingdifferently and kind of go out on a
limb and try something different. AndI was able to do that and fell
in love with the process and theh and the routine of it all.
And so I'm very happy with howeverything went. The look into your delivery.
Were you surprised that it came back? Okay, just from the standpoint
of it, seems like you haveone of the cleanest deliveries in the game,
so maybe it shouldn't have been asurprise. Yeah, right, So

(08:54):
I guess it was kind of goodand bad, right, because it's like,
oh, well, I'm not throwingas hard, I feel good,
i feel like it's coming out good, and I'm just not seeing the numbers
that I want to see. Andso, you know, kind of hoping
there was a quick fix in there, but there wasn't. So, like
I said, like the transition,the emphasis transitioned over to just building arm

(09:18):
strength, working on a build up, building health and resiliency and you know,
taking advantage of rest days and kindof building those out throughout the entire
offseason, and that way you canstep on it when you need to step
on it and get used to getback used to throwing hard and emphasis on
really letting it need on the daysthat you could. And I feel like,

(09:39):
you know, the body just kindof gets used to that and looking
forward to continuing that and keeping itgoing. And you alluded to Steven Vote
a little bit earlier his first gameas manager of this ball club. Transition
for the team, a first timethat that you've been here, that there's
been a different manager, And howhas that transition gone? Pretty smoothly,
honestly, Voter and Albi and Kaiand everybody that's come in. You know,

(10:07):
we've had some steady points like Carland Chris and so many others.
So it's been a great mix ofnew along with some steady, steady faces
as well, and that brings insome new energy, some new ways of
going about things, some new thoughtprocesses, and I think that's really clicked
for some guys, and so thetransition has been extremely smooth. I feel

(10:28):
like this spring training has been alot of fun and we're enjoying it.
We're just chomping at the bit toget going, enjoy the season. Chain
thanks for the time, We'll dothanks well, and so much of what
Bieber said pregame came to fruition duringthe game as he was terrific with the
eleven strikeout performance as he becomes oneof the select few to strike out ten

(10:50):
or more in multiple games. Nowas a starting pitcher on opening day,
just terrific work from Bieber. Staywith us as Guardians Weekly continues on the
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Window States. Jim Rosanou's back withyou on Guardians Weekly from Oakland, California,
where the Guardians are opening their seasonwith a four game series, and

(11:52):
it has started very well as theyhave taken the first two games of the
series. We heard about Thursday nightsopener Shane Bieber dominant and plenty of offense,
and they scored some runs again onFriday Night in a six to four
victory. And it got started earlythanks to Jose Ramirez. His next offering

(12:13):
swung on rip deep bright field,down the line. It goes gone so
much for the swirling wind. Aline drive, two run homer down the
right field line for Jose Ramirez andhe continues to be a thorn in the

(12:33):
A side and it's two nothing,Cleveland. The Guardians added one more run
in that first inning thanks to aback by A's pitcher Ross stripling that gave
Logan Allen the early three to nothinglead as he made his season debut.
Bases emptied two down the pits,swung on a week chopper to short charged

(12:54):
by Rokiel Setz, throws ending overLogan Allen with green ground ball outs and
he keeps the three numbing lead hereat the Colosseum. The Guardians were still
in front three to one in thefifth inning when Andre sie Meenez continued his
hot start to the season, steppingin with a runner on base. Here's

(13:15):
the pitch to him Andez he swingsand lights it down the right field line.
Fair ball headed into the corner,scoring is Kwan on his way a
second as he Menez and I'll hangon right there with an RBI double and
the Guardians now leaded four to one. Later on in the fifth inning,
Will Brennan drove in his first runof the season with his first hit of

(13:37):
the season. Now the set andthe pitch had swung on and lined the
left sinking fast and it gets downfor a basin that will allow Jimenez to
score. And Brennan, on hisfirst hit of the season, drives in
a run and it's now five toone. Guardians. Hokland answered with single

(13:58):
runs in the fifth n sixth innings, but in the seventh the Guardians' bats
went to work again. Stephen Kuanled off with a double, and then
he Menez Big Night continued the oneto one pitch and a swing and trill
to right, a base hit downthe line, splashes in the water,
bangs up against the wall in thescores Kwan and in the second with another

(14:22):
double is Andre Simenez and the Guardiansnow laid it six to three. Opan
got a little closer with a runin the eighth inning to make it six
to four, but in the ninth, for the first time this season,
Emmanuel Classe came on to try andlock it down. The pitch, he
hits a double play ball to second. He meant us to second. One
relay by Rocchio got him double playball game and the Guardians win the first

(14:48):
two here at the Oakland Coliseum.Oakland got a couple of guys on in
the ninth, but Class gets thegame ending double play of four to six
to three twin killer and the Guardianshave beaten Oakland tonight by a final score
of six to four. And afterthe game, Guardians manager Steven Vote talked

(15:11):
about the two and oh start forhis ball club. It's huge, you
know, I think it speaks tothis offense. It speaks to this team
that, you know, whenever wehappen to give up a run, we've
come back the next inning and gottenit right back. And so for us
that that's how we have to play. We have to continue to pad the
lead. And that was really goodbaseball tonight. What can you say about
Heimy just how he sung the backthe first two nights, but tonight in

(15:33):
particular, I mean obviously came upin two huge situations where we needed you
know, run around, third,run around, second execution situations, comes
up and hits a double both times. You know, Jimmy just continues to
put together good at bats. Youknow, I know it's been two games,
but he had a great spring aswell. So himmy, Himmy was
the catalyst tonight. Eli struggled alittle bit in Arizona, and I know,

(15:54):
change up Arizona, you never know, But how nice is to have
him to pitch the way he didthe first two nights. Yeah, Eli
has been great. You know,obviously that's a lot of track record there.
You know, we always talk aboutresults in spring training. Sometimes they
matter, sometimes they don't. Ithink with Eli, we know the type
of picture he is, and he'sgiven us two great performances so far this
season, and uh, he's goingto continue to get the ball with jim

(16:15):
And I know you weren't here tosee him up close and personal last year,
but what's the biggest difference with himmaybe this year at the plate than
what he was. He just looksbalanced to me, He looks balanced.
He look he doesn't look like he'sover swinging at all. He's uh,
he's just taking what he's getting rightnow. And you know, he's he's
he's always been a good hitter,and I think the work that he put
in this winner to get his swingback to where he wanted to be.

(16:36):
But he's swinging at the right pitchesright now, and I think that's the
biggest thing. That's pretty good too. Yea's all right, Yeah, No,
I mean, obviously in that weather, you know, it's it's tough,
it's tough to see the ball,it's tough to pick up spin.
And for him to hit a homerlike that to get us on the board,
uh, it just got us allthe momentum, gave Logan a lead
to a lead to take the moundwith. And you know, Josey's hosey

(16:57):
and uh, I'm justful that he'she's sitting there stupid you guys that they
but two for two, two forfour stolen bases. Did you like that
aggression or the way you ran thebasins? Yeah, I mean, we
we're gonna run the bases aggressive.I thought, you know, a couple
of them were close that they couldhave gone either way. But you know

(17:18):
we're going to continue to run,and I think that that's what's gonna happen.
Shaye Shaye Langleer is one of thebest throwing catchers in the game,
and it took perfect throws to getus. So, you know, I
want our guys to continue to beaggressive in the smart and in the right
spots, and you know, we'realways going to continue to air on that.
You know, we have some smartbaseball players and you know I trust
them to do what they do.So a real nice start to the season

(17:38):
in Oakland. The series continues onSaturday afternoon with a four to seven first
pitch. Same holds true for Sundayfor this series finale. Then it's on
to Seattle for three at Minnesota forthree to wrap up this season opening ten
game road swing. Stay with uswhen we come back, we will hear
from Guardians pitch Sure, Carlos Carrascoreturning to Cleveland and he is in the

(18:03):
starting rotation. We'll talk to himabout it when we return after this the
Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Welcomeback to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhause back

(18:36):
with you from Oakland, California,where the Guardians are taking on the Athletics
in a four game weekend series.Weather permitting, it was miserable on Friday,
and the same holds true at leastforecast wise for Saturday, and then
the series concludes on Sunday afternoon beforethe Guardians pack it up and head up
the coast to Seattle for three andfinish their season opening road in Minneapolis next

(19:00):
weekend. Carlos Carrasco is part ofthat starting rotation for the Guardians. He
came into camp as a non rosterinvite on a minor league deal at the
age of thirty seven, but afterthree seasons in New York with the Mets,
he was looking forward to coming backto Cleveland, where his best days
have happened in his major league career, and he's also been through a lot

(19:22):
health wise as well. We touchedon all of that in this upcoming interview,
but we caught him shortly after hewas notified that he had made the
roster, and he talked about thatmoment. Yeah, you know, it
feels good. It feels good tobe back in here, and especially when
they comit to the office say thatI made the roster, opening the roster,
it was a good feeling for me. I feel so happy because the

(19:48):
way that I came here with aminor league contra and the way that I
piss I earned it and to receivethat that I made the roster, it
was really nice for me. Happyfor and digging around. Twenty eleven was
the first year that you had madean opening day roster here the first time
around. What do you remember aboutthat day with Manny Acta being the manager

(20:12):
at that time. Oh, Iremember the same way. They come into
the office and say you made theteen, and I'm pretty sure it was
the third star or something like that. And I was really happy because that's
that's our dream, you know,when when you come into camp and that
they call you and they say,he you made the teen. It was
really nice for me in twenty elevenwhen when I made my first opening roster.

(20:38):
When you look at how things developedhere to get back you had some
time in New York, But howfar back were you thinking, maybe,
Hey, it it would be neatif I could get back to Cleveland at
some point. And whether it's tofinish your career at least continue your career
that that could happen, Listen,I don't know. If you guys know

(20:59):
about last year of the year,they almost I almost got the tray to
hear and I was so happy,but it couldn't happen. As soon I
hear the free agency, we startedtalking back and forth with Chris Antone so
and there was my first choice.There was my first choice and I always
have him back in my when Ireturned from baseball, I want to do

(21:22):
with the Cleveland Guardian. Obviously,you had to work hard to make this
club and you come in on aminor league deal, so they are they're
all guarantees. But the fan reactionwhen you signed, I don't know if
you're aware, but people were ecstaticand just assumed you'd be on the team,
which has worked out. But wereyou aware of that? Yes,
yes, I got so many coals. My social media started getting a lot

(21:47):
that day when I when I whenI signed back to the Guardian and a
lot of texts, a lot ofsocial media like EASTA Grant. They were
happy there is saying congratulations to comingback to Cleveland. They were so so
nice watching you this spring. Itlooks like business as usual, but maybe

(22:08):
doing it in a different way.Are you a different picture than the last
time you were here. Oh yes, yes, completely different. Right now
I trust myself more back then.All my pitches I can say right now
is being being crazy. I meanbeing saying crazy because I can see all

(22:33):
my pitches moving the way I'm pitchingnow learning you know, coming from New
York is it's the same baseball,but depression in New York pitching you have
to go around and everything. Butjust coming here the way that I was
pitching, screen training and everything,this development myself to getting back the way
that I was here in twenty seventeenand eighteen, I just I just find

(22:56):
it. I just find it.I just make a little bit adjustment on
that, and I know that preparationin the off season, you worked a
little bit with Shane Bieber to tryand get to a good place. What
was that like reconnecting with him asone of the few players who still hear
from your first time. Yeah,it was really nice. Back in January,
we wasn't dry line working together.That's when I started developing my pitches

(23:21):
on the slided and the sweeper.So we work every day from Monday to
Saturday, sometime on Sunday, workingevery day in there developing the pitches.
Just talked to Beaver back and forth. Actually the curba that the curba that
I'm throwing right now is one fromBeaver. I just run that from him.

(23:41):
But just development those speeches that Ineed for the for the season.
It was really nice, all right. The important question. We saw a
photo side by side of the firsttime you were here in nine when you
first made the club, and thenthe other day you'd look the same.
You're not aging. What is thekey to staying young? You think maybe

(24:04):
the kid is just working every day. I never give up myself, you
know, I never give up myself. After what happened twenty nineteen, I
said, listen, I just goingto continue to work hard, no matter
what is tay me, no matterwhat what condition I am, But I
just I just want to continue towork hard, just doing my physical then

(24:25):
running every day. That's the mainport for me, so I can get
it more resistant and the exercise.It might not be fair to call you
the clubhouse prankster, but you liketo have fun. And then how big
a key is that, especially witha young team now and you're an elder
statesman on that team. Listen,I've always been like that trying to have
fun. I said before, it'sa long season. We spend a lot

(24:48):
of time together here. I honestly, I spend more time with my teammate
than my own family. And I'mjust trying to be that guy so they
can laugh and they can forget abouta little bit of baseball, because every
time we'll come here, everythin's baseballbaseball. We torn on the TV's baseball
in there. So I just triedto do something a little bit different to

(25:10):
getting gone. Carlos, great tosee again. Thank you, all right,
Thank you very much. Carlos Carrascoone of the nice guys in the
game, and it's great to havehim back in that starting rotation for the
Guardians. Stay with us on theCleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Drivers who
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(25:30):
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Progressive dot com Progressive Casualty Insurance Companyand affiliate. It's not available in all
states. Jim Rose announced back withyou for our final segment of Guardians Weekly
from the Oakland Coliseum. Guardians offand running with a two to oh start

(26:14):
to their season after two games gamesthree and four Saturday and Sunday afternoons at
four to seven. Meanwhile, TripleA Columbus is underway. They got their
season started, or at least attemptedto this weekend in Saint Paul, Minnesota,
with a series against the Twins TripleA Balclub, but obviously in conditions

(26:36):
that were a little bit chillier thannormal that you would expect at this time
of year. But when we visitedwith Robsorfolio for our preview about Triple A
Columbus, we first talked about thetalk of spring training. Chase de Laughter,
the former number one draft pick ofthe Guardians who has very limited minor
league time due to injury, justgot back on the field late last summer

(26:56):
and then played in the Arizona FallLeague, and wow, was he something
else during spring training. Even thoughhe was not in major league camp,
he saw plenty of action in majorleague games and did he impress. A
tremendous spring for Delatter, with manyfans wondering would he be in the big
leagues to start the season. Butwhen we visited with Robsortfolio, he talked

(27:19):
about the importance of still more developmenttime for DeLaughter. I think everyone in
the organization, Chase included, wasreally fired up about the spring that he
had, and not just because theway he performed. I think even more
importantly is getting to spend some realtime with our major league staff, getting
to spend some real time with majorleague players, like, you know,

(27:41):
for these guys in the minor leaguesthat have never done morning work next to
Stephen Kwan or you know, listento the morning meetings and some of the
messages from Voter, like just theexperiential impact that that has for you know,
hopefully when these guys do matriculate tothe big leagues, like they're that
much more comfortable. They know theguys in the locker room, they know

(28:02):
the staff. So you know,coming into spring training, that was what
we wanted for this group. Hewasn't technically in major league spring training.
That is correct, But we hada group of you know, younger minor
league players that we expected to gopartake in the practices for the first couple
of weeks, and then when therewere game opportunities, you know, we

(28:23):
had a group of guys that wereready to go in there and fill needs.
And that was the plan with Chase, I think in a really cool
way. He obviously performed the wayhe did, and there were opportunities in
the outfield, and the major leaguestaff you know, wanted him out there,
and so he earned every bit ofthat. It was really exciting to
watch, and you know, Ithink he you know, really set himself

(28:45):
up for hopefully a great twenty twentyfour as a result. And we're in
a day and age where there's nosecrets for fans anymore. They know what's
going on. They see the stats, and they wonder, why can't he
be on the major league team rightout of spring training. Explain where he's
at in his career and why heneeds to start at Double A this season.
Yeah, and I think, youknow, those narratives are always fun.

(29:06):
Like I think if we put himin a major league game, as
we saw, he could go competein a major league game today, and
ultimately, these things are really difficult. There's never a black and white this
is the right answer, yes,no, this is where the player needs
to go. What we try anddo our best at is just assess where
the player is. Came into lastyear in a shortened season, battled injury

(29:27):
the first half, showed up inLake County and was fantastic, got a
small taste of Double A last yearfor about a week, played in the
Fall League, did a great job, and then came out and really burst
onto the scene for you know,a lot of fans that probably knew his
name but weren't tracking maybe to thedegree of skill set that he had.
And ultimately we just feel right nowand chatting with him using all the people

(29:51):
across the org, that he's gota great opportunity in Double A to go
out there and play a lot ofcenter field, a lot of right field,
and hopefully do some of the samethings that we just saw over the
last month and things will take careof itself after that. But we feel
like that's our best opportunity for himto play the positions defensively that he needs
to continue to work and and getbetter and also just you know, our

(30:12):
best guess at what the right thelocation is out of the gates, knowing
that this is a guy that's reallytalented, and when you have guys that
are really talented like that, oftentimesthey show you quickly you know what the
following steps should be. Believe itor not. This is the farm report
and not the chase. A lotof report. But it's been fun to

(30:33):
watch him play, and obviously wecould talk about him for a long time.
But let's get to the teams inthe system. Columbus will start first.
Let's start with the pitching at Columbus. It's interesting because there's some injury
issues going on, so your rotationmight not have as many familiar names.
Yep, that's correct. We havea lot of young players on our forty
men. In general on this roster, I think a guy that fans saw

(30:56):
in spring training and throw really well. We were excited about, you know,
just where Joey is with everything.Cantill you know, unfortunately, had
a little bit of a hamstring flareup here just over the last couple of
days ahead of the team breaking,so he'll stick behind, He'll work through
a little bit of a rehab progressionhere in Arizona with the hopes of you

(31:18):
know, a couple of weeks downthe road, he'll rejoin that group.
And then you know, Will Dion, a guy that really dominated in Double
A, actually started the last year'sseason in High A, but was one
of the best pitchers in the EasternLeague last year, will be on that
team with a collection of guys thatare going to go have a great opportunity
to start. A guy in Gillespiethat we got in the minor league Rule

(31:40):
five, and then a couple otherinternal guys that have really just continued to
develop, some guys we brought inlike Aller, and then yeah, like
a name like Hunter Stanley that hascontinued to just really get better and stay
healthy over the course of his careerthat you know, have an awesome opportunity
ahead of him to get some earlyoutings in Triple A and a back end

(32:00):
like a Franco Alamann. Excited tosee him get going. Yeah, he's
he's an exciting arm with just electricstuff and back into the bullpen mentality.
He'll start there as well, afteryou know, another dominant stint in Double
A, and it will be afun challenge to see him get his first
taste of Triple A baseball and positionplayer wise, these are going to be
names that are familiar to fans whoare listening to spring training games. Man,

(32:22):
it's a lot of good talent thatseems to be getting closer by the
day. And that's that's really themessage we left those guys with is you're
that one phone call away. Soyou know, spring training is such an
interesting time for this Triple A groupin particular. No one wants to be
told they're going to Triple A.So we talked about this with our guys

(32:43):
of what are the things that theycan do to take their game to the
next level. So in that phonecall does happen that they are the clear
cut choice to be that the personon the receiving end of that phone call
of we have a major league opportunity. So an exciting young I think these
guys have been around for so manyyears that oftentimes, like people in the

(33:05):
building and maybe the fans as well, just forget the age of Noel and
Brito and Tana and even guys likeDaniel Schneeman who burst onto the scene a
little bit, you know, froma public sense, here in spring training.
What a talented group. And thenyou you got Manzardo, You've got
Jonathan Noriguez, like just a handfulof guys that are that one step away
that hopefully get off to a greatstart here and triple out of the gates

(33:30):
and make make that phone call thatmuch that much easier to make for voter,
whoever it is on the other endof the line when a major league
opportunity pops up. Let's stay withDaniel Sneaman for a minute. Not on
the radar from the outside, butI know he was on the inside.
And you've known about this kid fora while as he's progressed through the system.

(33:50):
What can you tell us about himprior to this year's spring training that
maybe indicated that something like the springhe had could happen. Yeah. Absolutely,
So these are the stories that arereally fun for us. You know,
a thirty third round pick that fromthe day Shnee got here, effort,
attention to detail, care like justall things that he's embodied from the
start, and you get picked thirtythird in the draft, essentially a thousand

(34:15):
thirty third round. That round doesn'teven exist anymore. Thousand players go before
you're picked so there were things inhis game that when he got here he
knew he needed to get better at, and we really tried to work on
him with a lot of that waswas offensively of just like being able to
impact the ball more so, hehad some traits in the draft that we

(34:36):
thought we could build upon and thatwas really where we set his focus and
he did a great job. Likehe was a great infielder from the start,
we added versatility to his tool beltso that there were just more pathways
to get into the lineup. Hecan play center, he can play with
the corners, he can play areally good shortstop, third base, second
base, and he's even stood overit first for us. So that type

(34:58):
of profile is a and just tosee him get the most out of his
career, the work he put inin the offseason a lot of our camps
here with our hitting group to reallyput on the strength and athleticism that he
needed to be able to put acharge into the baseball like he's been doing.
And so, you know, Ithink last year, two off seasons
ago, we really challenged him withwhat do you need to do physically to

(35:22):
be able to consistently impact the balloffensively? And this is a guy that
came back like fifteen to twenty poundsheavier, with most of that being fat
free mass and strength and power gains, and he's really put that into play
and it's been awesome to see,you know, just like you said,
the Greater Guardians fan base getting someeyeballs on him because he's earned it.

(35:44):
And we'll conclude to Columbus. Youhave a manager there who knows his way
around the Triple A level arguably oneof the hardest levels to be a manager
in all of baseball. And whatmakes Andy Tracy so good and has you
confident going into this season? Yeah, I think first I might be the
hardest job just in baseball. Andwe are incredibly lucky to have Trace,

(36:07):
not only because of his experience asa player. That's huge and a competitive
advantage for us. I feel heknows what those players are thinking when things
are going great. He's been theguy that's kind of been sent down many
times before in those thoughts that playershave of I'm in this alone and you

(36:28):
know, the orgs out to getme, or whatever the narratives are,
like, he has felt all thosethings as a player, and just his
ability to use his experiences for thebetter with our players is awesome, and
I just think we're incredibly lucky froma staff standpoint of Again, his experience
as a player and coach now islike he's been doing this for a long
time. We've challenged him with newstaff, guys that have guys that have

(36:52):
played, guys that haven't been atthat level yet, and just his willingness
and impact on his peers, Ithink is where I really just enjoy getting
to call him a teammate and seehow he's able to continue and grow himself
but also impact others around him asa competitive advantage for us in triplet.

(37:15):
That is Rob Sortfolio, the directorof player development for the Cleveland Guardians,
and that will do it for thisweek's edition of Guardians Weekly. As always,
thanks to Brian Matse for all ofhis help and putting together our shows
each week until next week when wejoin you for Minneapolis. This is Jim
Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listeningto Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians

(37:37):
Radio network. The Guardians Weekly hasbeen brought to you by Progressive Helping Guardians
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