Episode #32 John Rhadigan (It's Bad)

John Rhadigan joins the guys to discuss the mess that is the Texas Rangers. Then Jeff and John talk about the minor leagues. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the DLS Rangers Weekly Podcast, now part of
the All City Network. Hit the subscribe button for YouTube
and also become a DLS diehard at www dot all
DLS dot com. Now here's Jeff and John. Hey, everybody,
welcome to the DLS Rangers Weekly Podcast. This is episode

(00:23):
number thirty two, and today from the Daily Show, John
Radikin is gonna join us. As we kind of call
this one, it's not good right now, so well that's
what we'll call it. If you guys didn't jump on
last night, they had a postgame show that came on
after the loss, that hideous lost John that happened last
night in Tampa Bay and the way that one ended.

(00:44):
But hey, before we go, don't forget to hit that
subscribe button down there. Go over to the ds YouTube channel.
Hit it there. Look, if you follow the Stars, the Cowboys,
the Rangers, the Mavericks, whoever you follow, those guys got
stuff going. Kaylin debor what his name not Caleane, but
he just Pete the boar was just fired today. I'm
sure the stars uh channels about to get on there

(01:06):
and we're gonna hear some names and who the stars
not behind. But this is a Texas Ranger show and
that means our daily crew. And John, I appreciate you
jumping on. We were we had someone we thought lined
up and he just couldn't get on here. But John's
always willing and ready to go. And John, it's not
fun right now.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
No, it's really not. And Jeff, uh and John, I'm
sure you were watching, so you know. But the mystery, uh,
the mystery of the blood on my score book has
been tald oh good. Yeah, So the end of lunch,
at the end of lunch, take my wife said, what's wrong?
And my just at the edge of my lipt for

(01:44):
some reason, was bleeding. And and so I have to assume,
as we were eating a few things and of course
drinking the lovely highlight of the night Unfoxes last night,
somehow I knit this lip. It fell on the under
I thought my John, I thought it was because my
brain had exploded watching that last play. I mean, it

(02:04):
was just so ridiculous. I'm like, did blood trickle out
of my ear? How did it under my damn scorebook?
Apparently it came off my lip. The game was as
ugly as the bloody stain in the middle of my scorebook.
It just that it's just a thing of atrocity. At
least the ninth inning before that was really fun to watch.

(02:25):
Love seeing Marcus Simeon come back alive, you know, Jack
Lighter was fun to watch. Yeah, Man, that ninth inning, Ugh.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Oh my gosh. Look, this is this Look it's all
just not It just doesn't seem to be the only
thing clicking on this team right now is to pitch
a staff and and that and the bullpen. Obviously there's
a little bit of issue there to the start. You
can't you can't argue with starting pitching. Yeah, Kamar Rocker
did not have the outing we wanted from Kamar Rocker.
But he's he seems to be a guy that it's

(02:57):
you know what, he's only got what eighty pro innings
or something like that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I I was texting with somebody and and you know,
I had given him my thoughts, which is that he's
not he's he's not a professional yet. And then you
can take that in a lot of ways, you know,
being accountable but knowing game situations in the game. And

(03:23):
the response was, he doesn't know how to play the game.
He only has seventy you know, career innings in professional baseball.
He hasn't had enough time. And so that's you know,
if you if you heard Bruce Bochi's comments, you know,
go down and have game situations and do things like that.
You know, it's not quite to the point. I don't think.

(03:43):
And this is an example. I always kind of lean
back on Roy Halliday because he went to my high school.
You know, he he came up at the end of
a season for the Blue Jays, almost throws a no
hitter in his first major league start and is great.
Comes back the next year, it's terrible. They send him

(04:04):
basically to the to extended spring training. They had him
rework everything, get everything right, and then you know, the
rest is history. I'm not saying that's what has to
happen with Kamar Rock, but you know, it wouldn't hurt
if he went and just went through some extended drills,

(04:24):
you know, send them to Arizona and let them work
with those kids every day. They're they're doing stuff and
it's hotter than hell.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Okay, so maybe that would motivate him to get out
of there. But go through some drills, go through situations.
Stuff he probably did. I'm assuming at Vanderbilt, but just
a real refresher course, even if it's a cram session.
Then get him back into the rotation at Triple A,
and then go through game experiences like like they said,

(04:55):
because that stuff's got to be second nature. As Boachi said,
you don't. You shouldn't even have to think about it.
It should just happen, right.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, I tell him happening.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's not happening. But Jeff, uh, all the time we've
worked together and known each other, I can't believe this
is the first time hearing that Halliday went to your
high school. Now, John, as you know, Jeff will Jeff
will say, oh yeah, yeah, he actually that pitcher for
the cops. He once flew through the Denver Airport. I mean,

(05:28):
he'll cling to the Colorado thing on you.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
But yeah, Colorado's big in the in the Wilson House.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Big big. But Halliday's got to be about your age, right,
did you go.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
To He's two years younger he played.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Jeff picked on him in high school.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
No, I didn't. He played basketball with my two best friends, okay,
and so they got to know him a lot better
than I did. But yeah, I mean, you know he
I only saw him pitch one game in high school
and he threw a no hit. Yeah, and then well
it wasn't even close. I don't even know if the
other team was fouling balls off. He was just out.

(06:06):
But that's that's that's true. That's my I don't know
if it's my claim to fame but or my my
brush with greatness. It was Roy Hallie at my high school.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
So then when you interviewed him and stuff during his
big league career, I mean, you guys were boys.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Right, Well, you know, I I I reminded him of
the connection. He go, oh yeah, yeah yeah, And then
but he was in he uh then went to the
other league pretty quickly after I took the beat, and
so I didn't have a chance to to talk to
him as much as I would have liked.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
But did he remember you or did he actually say
he did remember?

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Well, a little bit of both, I think, But you know,
he definitely remembered my buddies.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
So that's that's all that cool cool, that's crazy. Yeah,
I think you had told me that before. But but
but John, you're right, if there's something Colorado that comes up,
Wilson is never afraid to throw in on that and
any any minor leaguer that's from Colorado has a special
plate in the place in his heart and that they

(07:11):
get into that Colorado conversation and I just sit over here.
Well there's a few of them. Scholar Haill's wasn't he up?
He went to schools, but he went to school with
Colorado mines or somebody did Pennington as who it was,
That's what it was. Yeah, So you always got those
high school there you go. So he's gonna always do that. Okay,

(07:35):
and listen, John, and I don't I know, you're probably
not as active as I'm the guy of this group
that probably gets more active with social media with the
people because I try to get back and forth. I
don't have as many followers, so it's easier for me
to to to interact that. The Ranger fandom is ready
to fire Chris Young Chris. They think boach you needs

(07:56):
to retire, trade away that it, break it down, tear
it down, do all of that. I giggle at it.
I laugh at it a lot at that because obviously
these guys, these guys are good major League Baseball players.
I don't care what anyone says they suck. Right now,
that's just really a way to put it. They are
not performing up to level they didn't last year doing that,

(08:19):
but we are starting to see a few things that
are encouraging. First of all, you got to get the
Rangers props. They have made moves, they send, they sent.
Think of that, Jake Berger went down to Triple A.
They've moved a Doley set for four games. They've moved
Simon down to eight or nine in the lineup before
he started to come back. I mean, they're not afraid

(08:40):
to do whatever it's going to get to kick start
this offense. Scoring four runs is good. I mean, I mean,
we enjoyed four runs last night. Uh and doing that
and then your bullpen, of course is the one that
lets you down last night. But it's starting to semi
look like there may be maybe something can get going
with this offense.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
There's no doubt. Yeah, yeah, there's no doubt about that.
The reality is, though, and I love and Jeff Jeff
and I bow we do it. We appreciate it every
day on the show. We love the passion of the fans.
But they're wrong, you know, I mean, they're wrong. Chris Young.

(09:21):
There is no better general manager for this team right
now than Chris Young and and Bruce Bochie is a legend.
He is the manager until he doesn't want to be,
and so finally should they if they're right and he retires,
it wouldn't be it for sure, wouldn't be until the

(09:41):
end of the year.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Maybe they get their wish.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
But the rest of us that A enjoy talking to him,
be that have known baseball for all this time. No,
whoever is in that role after Bruce Bochie won't know
as much about the game and perhaps likely I don't
know as much about people and how to coach people

(10:05):
as Bruce Bochie does.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Right, And it's not so much coaching as the title manager.
You have to manage people these guys all. It's twenty
six guys, twenty six different personalities, their quirks, their the
way their bodies work, the way they want to work
with their bodies, and you have to juggle at all.

(10:28):
You know, like Corey Seeger, Corey Seeger on a day off,
doesn't want to pinch hit. Okay, well, Bruce Bochi has
coaxed them into pinch hitting a couple of times.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yea.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
You know, there there are some guys who just have
their way with these players. You know how I don't
know that the adult situation Garcia. We don't know what's
bubbling under the surface. But when Bruce Bochi says, hey,
this is what we're going to do, if you're adulist,
you got to be like, well, I don't know. This

(10:56):
guy's won, you know, twenty one hundred games in four
World Series. Maybe I should listen to him, and you know,
and he has a way. You're like, oh, who is
Bruce Bochi ever managed? I don't know, Tony Gwynn, Barry Bonds,
you know, Trevor Hoffman, you know Buster Posey, guys who
are in the Hall of Fame or should be in
the Hall of Fame, or are going to be in
the Hall of Fame. So it's not like he doesn't

(11:18):
have a track record that these players don't respect. And
they like the guy. They genuinely like the guy. And
then on the Chris Young front, you know, as I
always said with John Daniels, Chris Young has a boss.
His boss is the owner, and the owner gives him
the money to spend. Then he assembles the roster as

(11:42):
best he can. No I'm I even said this with
John Daniels, I don't like the way they build bullpens.
They need to have an ass kicker closer. I just
think that's a worthwhile and.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
They've never they haven't done it in years.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
But this is the guy who has assembled Marcus Simeon,
Corey Seeger, Nathan Evaldi, Jacob de Grom. Okay, that's a
that's that's pretty good. And then he might have had
a little JD. Help on on Seger and Simeon, but
Evaldi and de Grom are all his. And to just

(12:18):
think that this pitching staff, which is historically good, happened
by accident, is not is not the case. It took
a general manager who's a former major league pitcher and
talked to these guys. So I think that's you know. Now, Now,
does he have his flaws? Yes, I think he's too competitive.

(12:40):
I think he has to sit back and and not
get so caught up in every game it's gonna kill him. Yeah,
and and maybe that's gotten better, but you know, he
hates He is more competitive I think than any any player.
So if you're a player, that's not good. If your
boss is is you know. But he's also though, understands

(13:07):
and looks at the big picture. Nobody in the American
League is great, and the Rangers are a fourteen and
twenty stretch from being right back in it and probably
being in first place in the West. So and there's
enough time to do that, but it probably does need
to happen soon. I really think, you know, we could

(13:28):
say there's ninety five games or whatever it is left,
but I think the next forty going into the trade deadline,
going to the All Star break or probably the probably
the most important stretch here and going forward to determine
how the Rangers will handle the trade deadline to address
it for sure.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, yeah, And you know the other thing about the
pitching that Chris Young has been responsible for relative to
assembling what they have in the rotation. Now, let's don't
forget that he helped assemble what they're going to have
in the future, foremost among them Jack Lighter. And there
was noise that, again, I don't know that Jack Leider
would have had much choice, Jeff if if it said

(14:09):
I don't want to play for the Rangers, But there
was noise that maybe he wasn't as interested in his
dad wasn't as interested in having him play here until
they talked to Chris Young, and once they talked to
Chris Young, they knew he would be treated and and
you know, developed properly. And then the next year for
them to draft Kamar Rocker again right away in the

(14:32):
first round was was just amazing. And you know, despite
the flaws that we've mentioned and the you know, the
growing pains, if you will on Rocker, he's going to
be a steady at least at worst a very steady
rotation piece for years to come.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, and then those arems to good Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
JD was was the head at that time, but those
he let, he let Chris Young make those two picks
because in twenty one there was you know, some consternation
of whether they would take Lighter or there was a
big group that wanted Marcelo Meyer, who is now in
the major leagues.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
With the Red Sox, the short stop, good player by
the way.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, and and maybe maybe they didn't pick Meyer because
they knew that there were gonna be five shortstops in
free agency, and they ended up signing two of them
and moving one permanently to second base. But you know,
the the Rocker and Lighter are Chris Young's you know,
if if if they fall apart, and you say, oh,

(15:38):
they can't scout and develop anybody that those are those
are Chris Young draft picks and and he'll have to
wear that. But lighter, Lighter's fine, you know, I mean that,
you know he's he's he's dealing with some inconsistency. I think,
you know, with John we talked about it. Maybe the
maybe the humidity and the perspiration and affected some of

(16:01):
his pitches last time. But he has had something like
that at times during his starts. But he's only going
to get better. And ever since the Rangers kind of
readdressed things and reset him in twenty three, the trajectory
has been upward. And I know people didn't didn't like
what he did in the majors last year, and he
didn't like it either, but he was a hell of

(16:21):
a pitcher at Triple A. So things are getting better. Yeah,
And I wrote over at our website alldals dot com,
come a diehard. Hopefully, hopefully Rocker can look at Jack
and be like, hey, if Jack Lyer can do it,
my buddy and teammate, I can do it.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Well they did, and they handled Rocker correctly because if
y'all remember and I said it and was wrong when
they drafted Jack Lyder, and they were talking about because
they didn't. They shut him down as soon as they
drafted him. He didn't. He just went to Arizona. He
didn't go play complexly, he didn't do anything. He was
shut down. He went back to school actually and worked
out after he was drafted by the Rangers and signed.
So coming into the next year, people were talking about, well,

(17:02):
where's he going to start, and I was saying, starting
to double a. You saw what he did in the SEC,
he should start at double A. And people you know, well,
I don't know. Well double A might have been a stretch.
And I remember it was that you that talked to
him when he said, let me tell you, the difference
between pro baseball and SEC is amazing baseball. If you
watch it, you've seen it. It's some talented baseball. But

(17:23):
he said, when I was at Vanderbilt, wasn't it for
the Corpus Christy hooks? He said, the guy that was
batting third from Mississippi State. So I was worried about
the top five guys in that lineup. He was betting third,
he was batting eighth for Corpus Christy and so that
tells you the difference in that. And then when Rocker
gets drafted, they started him out at Hyatt.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
No.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
I don't know if they'd ever admitted on the record,
but I've definitely heard some of them say, yeah, we
were a little we were a little wrong on jacky Okay,
so we learned from it. But the point being here,
things are going good for Jack and that's the path
Rocker needs to follow. And then and another thing, you know,

(18:07):
going back to the innings thing on Kamar who has
like seventy innings and Jack Lyder made his major league
debut with probably around three hundred innings. Yeah, two fifty
to three hundred professional innings. So that's a big difference.
It gets back in the game situation.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
I think. I think Kamar is progressing like you want.
I think he's been rushed a little bit just because
definitely where he is. But this is a guy that
needs to be getting those innings working through. The guy
throws ninety eight ninety nine miles an hour. He's got
great offseat speed stuff. But these are big league baseball players.
He's the best hitters in the world.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, he wasn't. He wasn't going to make the team
out of spring training, right, I mean he just but
but but for the injuries to Cody Bradford and John Gray.
If it weren't for those, he was likely going to
triple A. And ironically, Jack Lyder in that case would
have at least started the season in the bullpen at
the big league level. But maybe, Yeah, James, injuries happened.

(19:01):
Things happened as they were. But I totally agree with
you John that that sending him down is the right
thing to do. And I know what you're saying, Jeff,
I think I'd be reluctant. I mean, I might send
him to his owner for a little time, but I
just I do need him in those game situations like
Boats was talking about, not created game situations, right, real

(19:22):
game situations. Think now, right, do the right thing now
as the play is happening. And you know, we talked
about it last night. I mean it felt like not
only did he kind of forget what was happening a
little late getting to first base, but then kind of
went woe is me as he took five or ten

(19:43):
more steps and forgot about the other runner on base.
So those kinds of things just have to be as
Boats said. I mean it's Boat said second nature.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
Right, it's brain fart. It's a brain fart. You made one. Look,
everybody does it. But it compounds you as being a
young player in the big leagues not having a great night,
and then you brain fart it and just let another
run score because you kind of pout for a second
or do whatever, and that's all that's learned. You know
what you learn from mistakes. You take this opportunity, you

(20:12):
go to triple A and go, I want to prove
everybody wrong and just go dominate. That's what you need
to do, which is what you've done before.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Sure, speaking of brain farts, I spoke Jeff at a
class today, the play by Play camp.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
That's uh.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
I think they're actually going to be a sponsor of
the of our show. And they've got all these camps
they're out of they're out of Philadelphia. But anyway, I
spoke to the seventy five kids who want to be
announcers someday and I, you know, I was showing them
my scorebook with the blood by the way, and uh,
I said, you got to plead for this game, I said,
But but I said, you know, we have a lot

(20:48):
of abbreviations in a score book.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
And I did tell them, I know there are apps
for this, but I like my book, you know. But anyway,
they these kids are going, you got a book, you know,
but so so anyway, I said, but we have a
lot of abbreviations, I said, and you know the abbreviation
I put last night at the end of the game, WOBF.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
And they said.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Walk off brain fart right, I mean, you get walk
off home runs, you get walk off singles, you get
walk off walks. This doesn't walk off brain.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Part absolutely wow.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Then for walk off walk.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, what were you about to say?

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Yeah, so I think I think, Uh, going back to
the last night's game, we talked about Robert Garcia on
the postgame show, and yeah, he wasn't at his best,
but made the pitches he needed to and the results
should have been different. But with the bullpen seeming to
be the next sticking point, we have the offense number
one by a mile. Rotation's fine. The bullpen apparently they're

(21:51):
going to bring up there's a report out there that
they're going to bring up Luis for that level, hard
throwing right hander who before this year, had never pitched
above double a free agent signing in the off season,
got a major league deal. Anyway, it was interesting signing
kind of like a Rule five pick, but a guy

(22:13):
that you could option. So uh, anyway, I don't know
whose spot he's going to take.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Somebody's got it.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Frankly, the spots of the guys he would take have
been pitching well, you know, lats and and and win
unless they there's an injury. Unless there's an injury or
you know, they don't think Bosley should be on the team.
But they're going to have the need for length. So
I don't know what's going to happen. But how how

(22:41):
does this sort out? I think getting Martin back will
be will be big, But I do think Garcia is
going to stay the closer.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Who else would it be. I mean, it may be Martin,
but you got to worry about what his arm is
right now.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah, you do. And and you know he's not a
strikeout guy, so that's kind of like he pitches the contact,
so he does really well, don't get me wrong, but
I don't know that he's the closer. But but I
don't know, I don't I think I think upgrades are needed, agreed, John,

(23:17):
one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
And you know, I mean, obviously the other option that
you haven't mentioned there would be going back to Luke Jackson.
Uh And and yet I said, we talked about it
on the show right when you know, he became the closer,
and he was doing a fine job at the beginning,
but he doesn't seem like that strikeout picture that guy.
That's just that that closer that you know, I come

(23:39):
in and I shut the door, and I think you
and I both agree they still need that. We would
have loved for it to be Creates, although you know,
as that turned who knows if things would have been
different in Texas, But that hasn't turned out that well
for the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Now, No, I you know, the the internal upgrades I
think are coming with spores in Gray and Bradford really
you know, he he could also be in the rotation,
which then pushes let's say Bosley Lads and Wind in
the minors maybe, and so then you so then you

(24:16):
re establish your some of your depth. But I think
that in the in the short term, there's not a
lot they can do except trying things like Kurvella and
eventually Toyoto, who has been struggling with walks. There's a
belief that he is having trouble adapting to the A,

(24:38):
B s because he gets a lot of swing and
miss with with his stuff, you know, and and a
lot of chase. Whereas it's pretty interesting you look at
these walk totals in the minors and triple A hitters
are are learning the system there. They are sure.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
It's a status game.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
I found a work around, a way to a way
to lay off these pitches because they know that, you know,
if it's a nasty slider, they don't have to swing
at it because it's probably going to be out of
the strike zone.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Right.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
So they're working on they're going to try to read,
not reset. But they're giving Tooto some things to work
on that they think will get back. But it's interesting
because they want to make and it's not that he's
throwing the ball over the place. It's it's just he's
these hitters are seasoned enough, they're you know, taking advantage
of the system and not not chasing. So I wonder

(25:36):
when when he becomes uh an option, if he can
in a couple of weeks, if he you know, these
little changes that they're asking him to make. If they
if they work out, if he could be an option soon,
Well there are internal options I think coming, but I think.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
They were dependent on those. I think they thought Mark
Church was going to be more of a leverage. Arn't too.
You had Toyoto, who you thought. But if you think
about the ABS on a kid that throws as hard
as as Toyoto does. Quite honestly, if you're nibbling around
the outside and getting people to chase, it's usually after
you've gotten ahead on somebody. You've gotten ahead of somebody right,
and you can nibble around. If people know at the

(26:17):
abs they don't have to swing at those pitches out
of the strike zone, well then what are you doing.
You still feel like you got to get ahead. So
that means maybe you're coming over the plate early and
people are sitting on it. People can hit one hundred
miles an hour if they're sitting on it and they're
waiting on one hundred mile an hour. So that's why
that ABS can Sometimes you can't look at what an
ERA is and triple A and go, wow, this guy sucks.

(26:39):
Not necessarily, it may just be when he gets up
here and you have like a last Daz or whoever
whose strike zone is eighty feet wide and goes all
the way across the batter's box what they can do.
But I think they thought kind of like last year.
I think they thought and depended on Carter and Langston
more than they should have last year. I think they thought,

(26:59):
maybe this year we can get we can get Martin,
we can get Garcia and get these guys. But we've
got these young fireballers get ready. Eventually we'll get them
up here and by maybe by All Star Break towards
the end of the year, these will be our leverage
guys and those one hundred miles an hour closers up here.
But they're not having success right now.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
And you know, on that ABS thing too. At first,
I was like, why do we limit challenges so strongly? Well,
this is why, right, because if everybody's got unlimited challenges,
nobody's anymore, right, right, And they the fact they've figured
this out already. At the minor league level, chase rates
are down tremendously at triple A and that's basically because

(27:43):
of this. And I don't I don't blame a guy
because those are the ones you look silly on too.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
By the way.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
You know those sliders that are sweepers that you know
take and you're reaching for it and they you know,
you don't have to swing at them. If if, if
the ABS is going to say, oh no, no, that was.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Out of the strike zone.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
But then but then you know, if you if your
stuff's good enough, you can you can throw it in
the strike zone. Yes, yeah, that's a you know, so
get it. Get ahead, stay ahead.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, that's the deal. You got to be ahead because
you're you're you can you can throw straight down the
middle if you're ahead, when you got somebody guessing it,
what else you're gonna throw? And and that's the situation.
And I think they thought those two guys, we're probably
already gonna be here by that Mark Church dealt with
some injury stuff and.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
The Church made the open to day Ross.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yes he did.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Then he wasn't wasn't great. Turns out he had a
little thing. He went down to Arizona, got her back rehabbed.
May still be there. He might be back with with
with Round Rock now. But the point is he's he's
going to be an option too. But I think I
think that ultimately if you want if if the Rangers
work their themselves back into contention or think their contenders

(28:57):
at the deadline, that's where you gotta go. Lookth you
gotta go. And and if that means Ray Davis has
to open up his wall in a little bit, he's
got to do it for for a bona fide closer.
And maybe it's a guy who you can have for
a couple more years, so you can justify it as Okay,

(29:19):
this is going to be a free agent signing. I'll
count this toward the free agency the next couple of years.
Whatever it is. I mean, those guys are hard to
come by. But yeah, nevertheless, I do just think that's
an element that the Rangers have got to have.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I just do they look back if this continues.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
I don't know what that's the problem out there, But gosh,
nobody's killing it anywhere, you know, except for your What.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Are you gonna do?

Speaker 3 (29:48):
You know, are you gonna go get a second baseman? No? No,
because your second basement makes too much money. I did,
I could see a d H tap is the only
thing you can If Peterson's no good or if adult
continues to struggle, that's where I think they could look,
but otherwise I think they're just kind of stuck with
what they got. Offensively, Yeah, they're just kind of pinned in,

(30:13):
you know, coach them up, or maybe they're pridal finally
kick in and embarrassing myself. Maybe I should, Maybe I
should listen to the guys who see me every day.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, well listen before we get out. I wanted to
the fans also have this one a lot, and I
just want confirmation from confirmation from you guys. They seem
to be under the impression that media does not ask
these players questions or tough questions, and I'm always going, yeah,
they do, it's just we don't have twenty five cameras.

(30:46):
You know, this is New York, where there's five stations
with cameras on everybody. But people are asking these questions.
Well where do I see these? Well you got to
join DLLs and see the quotes that happen when Jeff
routs doy is about it. Yeah, they don't want to
pay a paywall, but you guys have seen it. These
guys are getting asked questions when they're when they're struggling.
There's only so much you can ask and the answer
is and the answers are political. They're just going to say, yeah,

(31:09):
I suck and I want to get better and I
need to be better, and that's that's all they can say.
They're not going to come out and say they need
to demote me or I need to you know, maybe
they need to do.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
And what are we supposed to Are we supposed to
do an argument with them? Are we supposed to say, hey,
why are you so shitty? Yeah, we want us to
be that tough, but we're not going to be going
to cuss at them. We find ways to ask questions
that make them answer, you know, without an argument. Nobody wants.
We're not trying to argue with these guys.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
You know.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
We we talked to Simeon after and we said this
last night after the the essentially the no hitter against
the Blue Jays, and you know, they went to an
off day. He's been great ever since. We've talked to
Adulas and Adulas is not respond you know where it's not.
They don't feel the shame of the media's scorn. Okay

(32:00):
you can't. Some of them have in the past, like
crazy guys Keone Kelmer, you know, he he he did,
and you know I'll tell you right now, Nate Low
got pissed off at a writer last year. I won't
reveal the writer, but Nate Low got pissed at a
writer last year. You know. So there are some who
read these things or have them read to them by

(32:22):
their spouses or whatever. But these guys don't care what
we say.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Now.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
They they they put more pressure on themselves than anybody.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Else, and they understand you're going to ask these questions. John,
you you were having to ask these questions a lot
when you were at the clubhouse more. I mean, you're
there now, but not as much. Jeff's there every day
having to do it. I'm there, but I don't ever
have some question because the beats always do it. But
these guys know you've got to ask these questions, and
they're going to answer these questions. But yeah, you can't

(32:51):
go in fire and Brimstone about why do you suck
and you don't seem to be able to hit a
break and ball? What the hell is it? You know?
It's like they act like these guys just go pout
in the corner, play dominos and do something and don't
work on it. These guys are consistently working on crap.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yeah, And what the fans need to realize is that
in many ways, especially when I was, you know, as
a part of the Rangers, broadcasts, are technically working for
a partner of the Rangers. But in many ways this
is the beat writers too. Right. The guys in that
clubhouse are essentially coworkers. Right, So how many of you

(33:32):
fans go up to your co worker when he does
something poorly, or if you're a boss, you go up
to your employee when he does something poorly and say
you suck. You should be sent out of here, right,
I mean, you don't. That's not how you approach the
people you work with, co workers, people that you have
to have a relationship with in order to get if

(33:54):
you're the boss, productivity out of them, if you're the
media guy, future interviews, any sort of respect, right, You can't.
You can't go approach this in the wrong way and
and expect them to respect you, because they will. I mean,
and it happens in New York all the time. There's
guys that they just you know, I mean, they have

(34:16):
to talk if the guy just happens to be in
a scrum. But they're not going to talk to a
guy who treats them that bad exactly.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
And the you know, and you get to the point
to your point, John, with some of these guys where
you can just walk up and go, man, what the
f is going on?

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, and they'll give.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
You an answer, you know they and and you know,
especially if it's not on camera, they'll be like, gosh,
you know I'm doing this. This sucks. I'm frustrated. I know.
Like Jock Peterson, the one of the few times I've
talked to him, he was great. He was like, I
know that I'm being I'm terrible right now and I
was signed as the big, the big off season addition

(34:56):
to get this offense going, and I'm not doing my job,
you know. But he said that to me, he didn't
say it on camera, and with you know, it was
just like a laid back conversation. And so a lot
of times, you know, after the game is not a
great time to talk to these guys. If they've gone
out and had an awful game. Yeah, they're not going
to be in a big mood there to tell you,

(35:17):
Warren Peace about what's going wrong. Now it's pregame stuff.
And you know, now there are times like with the
Simeon deal last week when the whole team is sucking
and they all need to say something and they knew,
they all did, and by god they all did, you know?
And so but yeah, it's not this isn't sports talk,

(35:39):
and this isn't Twitter, right when we're in the clubhouse, well,
and this is not free debate. And another thing, players
are under no obligation to speak to us. They speak
to us because they want to be accountable to their teammates, right,
and because we build those relationships with them, and they
know that what our job is. And but they also
know that beat right. Writers aren't columnists. And that's another thing. Yes,

(36:03):
I am not a columnist. Now. I did write a
column Aboutkamar Rocker and what I thought was wrong and
what he did wrong. But my main duty is to
report the news and going up there and writing a
story and telling this guy that he sucks is not
a way to get it. So I don't know what
fans and normal people think. We can hold people accountable,

(36:26):
and you do, and we do, but we don't do it.
It's just not It's just that, you know, Randy Galloway
was a columnist, and Randy Galloway could breathe, fire and brimstone.
And when he did, he was in the clubhouse the
next day in case somebody wanted to talk to him
about it. Yeah, so we'll be there the next day.
But we don't. We don't the beat writers don't do that.

(36:50):
We don't call for people to be fired or to
be benched. We can suggest it, say, you know, we
can ask the manager, does he need some time off,
does he need a day off? You know that kind
of thing, and present it that way. But we are
not out there to say cut this guy, Chris Young's fired.
You know, those aren't our job. That's not our job.
But BT writers have a responsibility to present the information

(37:12):
in a way in which, you know, possibilities are out there.
But it's not our job to say fire him or
send him to Triple A or anything like that. And
I've only done it a few times, like Mike Fulton evits,
I did it with him, Oh god. And you know,
I was a little I don't know if I was

(37:33):
hard on Kamar in what I wrote last night, but
it was a little stronger than a beat writer usually goes.
But you know, and that's not that's just not our job.
And and there aren't many columns around anymore, and they
aren't as a ballpark every day. And it's just this
is the way it is. And TV reporters are paid

(37:55):
by the club, so they can't do that. Radio guys
can't do it. You know. It's the beat. It's just
the way it is. That's the way the media is
right now.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
It's not me.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Be honest, Jeff, Be honest, Jeff.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Two.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
The reason you were hard on Fulton Evitch is his
name is just the damn.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Hard to spell.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
It was like, it's exactly yeah, I take every day
that's right.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Because you misspell it twenty times. He And let me
tell you something, if you're not a DLS diehard. I look,
I see all these guys in this clubhouse, John, I've
seen your relationship with the guys in there. Jeff has
a relationship with these players like nobody I've seen him.
It wouldn't surprise me if Jacob de Grim and him
end up barbecuing together. Those guys are yucking it up

(38:41):
and talking, and that's a relationship. He has to ask
the Grim questions when he needs to, but he knows
how to work the room and talk to these guys
and build a relationship. Look, I've got a relationship with
these guys, but they also know I'm not writing anything
about them, and they also know that I'm not in there.
I'm just yucking and saying hi, good game, kind of
that thing. The beat, right, have to have a relationship

(39:01):
with these guys. And one of the best I see
is the guy sitting over here to my right in
his relationship because I'm I'm I see Jeff over there
talking to guys that I wish I could talk to,
and I'm like, I'm getting away. I don't know these
are You've got some relationship with these guys that we
that most people don't don't give a shit. That's true too, Yeah,
I don't. I just know that they're guys.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
That's the That's the thing that people don't understand is
that baseball players, football players, athletes are guys. They're regular guys.
They have families, They get sick, you know, they got
to go get their car registered now whatever. They they
have problems, you know. Jacob gram and I talk to
the other day randomly about accidents we've been in while

(39:46):
in cabs, I mean, as passengers in cabs, just just
you know, just stuff that happens, you know, and it's
just you know, I like Jacob, and I'm sure Jacob
liked all the other reporters just fine. But you're just
got to be able to talk to these guys and
understand that you know, they have their wives might be pregnant,

(40:07):
they they might.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
They might be going through something, their mom might be sick.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
You know, that was someone with Nathaniel Lovan I really
think affected them in twenty three at the end of
twenty three when his mom. You know, they're they're they
are They are not robots. That's my problem with the
war statistic. You know, these players aren't in a vacuum.
They are not all the same, and you never know
what's going on with guys, and and and it's hard

(40:33):
to sometimes put it away and compartmentalize it for six
hours a day at the ballpark. Sometimes it's hard to do.
But for the most part, these are these are guys.
They're trying. They don't want to suck. Nobody wants to fail.
I don't want to be bad at my job. Neither
of you want to be bad at yours. And the

(40:54):
people listening and the people who are are critical of
the media or critical of team. They don't want to
be bad at their jobs either, and they sure as
hell them want somebody to point it out for him.
So when they when they are bad, and you know,
like I hate getting emails where I've like spelled a
word wrong, or you know, somebody who thinks that I

(41:15):
didn't structure a sentence correctly something like that. I like that,
all right, but I appreciate it. But anyway, we've we've
really gone off the off the rails.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Well, and I wanted to just prove that I kind
of know what I'm saying. When I'm saying this, guys
are asking them questions I'm not. I mean, good Lord.
The last thing that these guys ever hear me ask
here how are the kids? Was Josh Smith. I'm always
checking up on Claaria. She's pregnant, how's she doing, how
she's feeling, stuff like that. The baseball questions come from

(41:46):
the beat when it's right, when they need to ask
them something for their stories or do whatever. And a
lot of the thing, guys that you don't understand is
that when Jeff needs a story, he can go to
Rich Rise and he can say, I really need to
talk to this guy and it may not happen within that,
but he's gonna figure it out where Jeff can get
together with these guys to do the interview. He needs
to get what he needs and that's the way that works.

(42:07):
And these guys, like you said, they're not obligated to
talk to anybody, but you've built a great relationship with
him and it works. And John, I've seen you work
it too. You go in there and do it too.
I'm not as experienced as you guys. I like to
hang on the outskirts and just you know, do stuff.
I have times when I ask him fun questions, but
you know, there's a time for that. Spring training is
fun for me. I really get to know him that Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Yeah, and that's you know, they're laid back and that's
why spring training is so important for media out there
and catch these guys laid back and you'll be laid back.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
They're friendlier with fans and they're more scessible.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
To start starting the fun.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Just everybody's fun.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
You start it there, especially with the newcomers. Yeah, all right,
are we done?

Speaker 3 (42:46):
We're done? Okay, but yeah, Rangers in trouble, yes, yes,
ex forty game is important.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
This episode is called this isn't good, and then then.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
There is there there is there is I got I
have John Marcus. I mean in the back of the
other guys baseball cards.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Hey, you're John is a true DLLs diehard himself for
coming on and jumping into sub with us. You do
this every day with Jeff. Jeff and I had the
obligation with the show. But for you to jump in
and join us and and hear your take on this,
we really appreciate it, John, and it's always great to
talk to you about it. Anyway. Hey, when are you
guys back on? You're gonna be on Sunday after the

(43:25):
post game.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
I'm gonna be off Sunday, previous obligations, so it'll be
Jeff and Abby. We're thrilled to have ABS back in
the rotation. And then Jeff and I back Monday through
Thursday next week, and I think back to normal until
Jeff goes on vacation in July sometime.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Yeah, July, right a week before the trade deadline. Okay,
so I can come back refreshed and fired up, ready
to ready to dig up some news.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
All right, John, thanks for joining us, buddy, guys. Right
after this, We're gonna go down in the bus leagues
as soon as we're not.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
Thanks John, guys.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
All right, a big thanks to John Wead again from
The Daily Show, who came on and joined Jeff and
I just to kind of break down the week. We
decided to get everybody on and kind of talk about
it's not good basically the name of the episode. But
we're gonna go minor leagues now. We're gonna go down
in the bus leagues, talk about every level in the
bus leagues, starting at Triple A, Round Rock all the
way down, and we're gonna do their Arizona Complex league

(44:30):
too because they're playing. And Jeff kind of thought what
we would do there too is maybe talk about kind
of player. I know it's June fifth or sixth, whatever
it is today, but I was trying. I was gonna
try to get together a minor league recap and just
had so much going business wise on my normal stuff. Yeah,
and doing that, guys, I promise I'm getting that going again.
It's just been kind of busy with everything. But do it.

(44:53):
A player of the month for June, I mean for May,
kind of at each level. We could probably find somebody
to talk about easy names to talk about. But let's
go ahead and go to Triple A where the Round
Rock Express they're in. They're in fourth place right now
there there are twenty nine and thirty one. They're five
and five in their last ten and they did lose
last night. But uh, if you're looking there, I mean

(45:16):
pitching wise, I.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
Mean probably Caravella, the guy that just got promoted or
so well that's the rumor. Yeah, yeah, he You know,
the starters haven't done a whole heck of a lot.
They've been very inconsistent. Cravello, you know, I if this
comes through the club, of course, as we mentioned, doesn't
like confirming these things until they actually happened. Right, He's

(45:40):
earned it, you know, may he had a he was
three and oth one to sixty four year and twenty
five strikeouts in twenty two minutes. Is his starters He
coming out of the believer, He's come out the both Okay,
that'll that'll work, you know, And.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Rocker needed to go. Well Rockers move was.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Chris Martin rob the Rocker move, Yeah, that was the course.
Moundy move was Chris.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
So if like we said earlier, if what is Cravella,
if Corbello comes up today, then there's going to be
a corresponding Like we said, well, Curvell is curveballs, you know,
so he was yeah, twenty two innings, that what you said.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
Twenty twenty two innings, twenty five strikers. He's he but
he worked, I mean he worked. He worked a lot.
That's those are his totals on the year. The guy
can go multiple.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
He's got a one point.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
I mean he's he throws hard. And you know, he
was the you know, the first free agency signing. He
was this hot, well thought of guy who'd never pitched
in the majors, hasn't pitched about double a until this year.
And then all of a sudden, you see that, Hey,
here's uh here, here's this guy that's really good.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
A lot of teams wanted him. The Rangers got him.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
Uh in May, he was want to know, if a
zero point zero zero, we are a So that's good,
that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Not getting scored on anurned run.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
He's I think he's kind of earned that.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
But yeah, but the problem is, as we talked about earlier,
it's not really pitching. It's the issue up there though.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
But you know what you need, you need fresh arms
with you know, the rotation, like we talked about, you
can probably get away with keeping everybody on normal rest
and not needing a fifth starter. But but you you
wanted to do a bullpen game, then you're going to
get a bunch of arms. Yeah, you can figure.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
It out that way, all right, who's bad? I mean,
I think I know who I would go with.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Yeah, I think it's it's Cody Freeman.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Had a really good May, and now he's just continued
in the end of this month. Entering play last night,
he'd had our friends seven multi hit games in a row.
I think that ended last night, but he still had
a hit. Look, this guy is playing shortstop now on occasion,
he can handle that. He's putting himself on the map,

(48:05):
you know. I mean, he's not on the forty man,
which is always a complicating factor. And then of course
the Rangers have a thousand players like him. But he's
a winner. He does everything right, and and you need
an emergency catcher you get back behind the plate for
you because it's a couple of years.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
Yeah, but you know what I've said this over and
over and over. It happened with Blaine krim too. Continue
to hit, continue to hit, and opportunities will come, whether
it's with the team you're with or whether someone else says, well,
you know what, we'll take a flyer. Cody Freeman might
be somebody that could could you know, be the back
end of a deal that comes at the deadline where

(48:42):
somebody says, hey, maybe we can turn him into like
a Ezekiel Durant or.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Something like that kind of You know Liam Hicks, you know,
he was traded to the Tigers and then d fade
I think he's or then he was sent to the Marlins. Anyway,
he's like one of the Marlins top catch. This is
a guy who was a double A last year in
the Rangers systems. Yeah, there are opportunities out there, and
if you're going good, a scout's gonna find you. It's

(49:08):
just the way it is.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Yeah, that's if you if you're doing that, somebody will
You're going to have a job, whether it's a minor
league job or a big league job, You'll continue to
have a job. Yeah. All right, let's go down to
Double A the Frisco rough Riders. They are thirty one
and twenty two. They're in second place right now. They're
five and five in their last ten, they've lost three
in a row. They're they're the one that's scuttling right now.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Yeah, but they're probably the Rangers best. But if most
talent minors, talent wise, just you know, they know how
to play together. They have a great manager, not that
any of the managers are bad, but and then you know,
you see the pitching guys are starting to come around,
and some guys just been good all year, and it's

(49:54):
hard to argue with what Mitch Bratt is doing.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
Fitch of them out there, I would guess, yeah, what he.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Did in May three and oh one, thirty three year
a thirty one strikeouts in three.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Walks recently on the show too, on.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
The show last week. Just it's it's you know, when
you when you look at the Rangers starting pitching death, well,
Bradford and Rocker and Gray are all down now, two
down with injuries. It's like, man, who are you gonna
go to? It's like, well, your son Garabudo's on the

(50:27):
forty man, right, he's been awful, got hit hardy in
last night. So Dunning would probably be the guy with
them that's gonna cause a forty man move well, Anning
Cold Drake and or Mitch Bratt would be a forty
man move, and the Rangers aren't gonna just take him
straight from Double A unless things really hit the fan, right,

(50:47):
But if they go to Triple A and perform, then
they could be candidates. And I think.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Both are Rule five eligible after this season, so they've
got to do something with them this year.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
You would you would think a trick this officer want
a trade, but these guys have be really hard not
to prob the forty matcher.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Absolutely, yeah, and that's the way. And what about when
you go to batting. I mean, I know Miasis, I
hope I'm saying that right. He's kind of been the
hot guy down there right now. But is this guy really.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
He's not really a prospect. I don't think you know, he.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
He's like, you know, seventy four years old organization.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
He was a three hundred and fifty thousand dollars signed
by the White Sox and uh.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Sign is a minor league free agent.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
Now, look these things, you know, development, the player development
is not linear. And I always point to Nelson Cruise.
I mean, Elson Cruz have been in the majors at
this point and I'm not at all considered comparing the two.
But you know, maybe he comes up and and you know,
ends up with a cup of coffee and maybe he
can you know, go to Japan or something like that.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
You know, if you want to talk prospect wise, well
then you're going to be talking about you know, Abby
or two. He's had a pretty good May, Walcott's you know,
he's found a little bit of power stuff. He's found
some power. Uh, cam Coley had a nice May. So
there nothing was great offensively, but there are some good stuff.

(52:18):
And and this, you know, this team is that's I
think that's just kind of their identity, their manager. They're
gonna work hard, They're going to scrape erin Zavala. God
dang Eron had a good man.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Yeah, now that's that's one guy that's starting to that's
a big deal. That's starting to look like that's a
guy that could be a big leader.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
That's a big deal.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
That is a that's a Rusty Grier starter kit right there.
I think one of these guys that puts together good
at bats. He's not afraid to get dirty in the outfield. No,
he's not going to come up and be rusty grear.
What I'm saying is he was a great college player.
PAC twelve Player of the Year. When he came out
of college, he was a second round pick. Of course,
he had that weird lump in his spine or what

(52:58):
was it or.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
And then he had a little older injuries. Yeah, or
elbow or both shootout, I don't remember. But he had
been really not good for about a year and a
half and then he must be feeling good. It just clicked.
He had three h five and he's getting on base again.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
That's what is His game was like Carter. He was
like Carter Carter. He was always had great at bats. Yeah,
he would look at his strikeout to walk away show
and they were they were very common. I mean, they
were right in line with each other.

Speaker 3 (53:25):
Sure, So that's that's an encouraging sign for Aaron for
the Rangers.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
Yeah, all right, let's go down to Hya. I call
it ha Hiya, the hub city Spartan Burgers down there.
They are in second place. Also, they are twenty nine
and twenty five. They're five and five in their last
ten games. They've won a couple of games in a row.
Pitching wise, it's easy, but they're you know, they're not
hitting great down there. They're they're not.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
They did they did hit four home runs last night
as a team in May. Though, you know, you kind
of look at the average in but so, so let's
look at something else, slugging percentage. Glider Figuerreo five to
seventeen slug hit eight home runs in May, in in May,
and you know, yea that works. He's athletic enough. He

(54:13):
can play second, short, stopping third.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
He's a name that's been mentioned a lot with our.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Hitter and uh, he's the top three that's kind of
been on the radar since twenty two. That was when
he's in the Complex League. There's not a lot of
not a lot of hit there. This is a this
is a power guy. So it's so but he so
if he can clean that up, he's got a chance.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
But bomb or nothing.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
Yeah, yeah, but you know, if he keeps hitting home runs,
I think he could make the way to Frisco. Late
in the year.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Our buddy drilings there.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
Yeah, he's kind of struggling. He didn't have a great make.
Keith Jones another friend a great May.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
So both those guys great. If y'all go watch that show,
they were.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
Fantastic h and on the pitching side, it's it's your guy,
Davi Leo and he was the he's coming to.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
The Ice Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year. You's got
to be coming center.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
You would think All Star Break probably okay, he keeps
doing when they make those moves. He didn't have a
ton of starts last year at HYA, so maybe that
would be a concern, but I think that the numbers
kind of speak for them.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Well, you said something though that that is that that
made sense to me, and I may be on the
Daily Show or something to dat effect. You know, when
you're when you're proven that maybe you're not, that you're
above the league that you're in, there's two choices. Well,
let's let's test you and move you up to double A,
or let's test you. You don't get promoted. You're just
gonna keep doing what you're doing. You're gonna keep dominating

(55:42):
a double at high. So you got two ways to
kind of met you know, with the head there's not
a place in the rotation at double A Frisco right now.
Obviously that that's a linear thing. It's got to kind
of roll uphill. Somebody either has let go or somebody
has moved up the triple A to hit a rotation,
A spot opens up and maybe deble Leo is your guy,
sure to do that. So but he's he certainly seems

(56:03):
like he's ready for double A. Yeah, yeah, certainly seems
like it.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Sure, And you know when whenever Santo, Whenston Santos comes back,
he'll go into double A. But that's that still seems
a little like it's ways off. But yeah, you know,
it's hard to argue with. And then another note from
Hub City. Malcolm Moore is about two or three more
weeks away from returning to games in Arizona. Broken finger on.

(56:28):
This is a right hand from it. That's just throwing
from a foul tip right early in the season. So
but he's been in Arizona, everything's progressing nicely and he
becomes a candidate for the Fall League if they want
to make up those at bat cities.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Absolutely, that's what I would do. Okay, let's go down
to Low A. The Hickory crowd heads also in second place.
They're twenty eight and twenty five. They're seven and three
in their last ten, so they've been again, they've been
cooking all right. They won last night. Okay, different guys
there to look gay. We still had Porter on the
pitch inside, right.

Speaker 3 (57:03):
Dalton Pence is the guy who kind of stood out.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
Yeah, I was noticing.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
He's sixty era in May.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
He's got an overall like two point six or.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
Two point two, a lot of strikeouts on a lot
of walks. I mean he is a college college pitcher.
Last year's draft eleventh round, So you know that eleventh
round is that that pick, the first pick of the
third day, it's always a really targeted pick. Yeah, he
got way above slot. He got three hundred and fifty

(57:32):
thousand dollars by okay, so he's he's doing what he's
supposed to be doing and and it wouldn't surprise me
if he's on the move soon. He doesn't have a
ton of metings right now.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
They've been doing easy to move up a relief of.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
That starter cat and Scarborough had a really good May
in terms of walk to strikeout forty strikeout rate, six
percent walk rate. Uh, he got better last month than
his first month. But there's some good pictures down there,
there really are, and Porters still relieving and it may

(58:08):
be that way. It hasn't been revisited yet, but they
want to get him reps. He's been some reps and
he seems to like it apparently, so hey, don't don't
picks what ain't broke.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
And I guess Matxton Martin's kind of been the one
guy that's been semi consistent there. He's still hitting close
to three on here, like two seventy six. Yeah, he
got about a seven eighty.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
He drove in six runs last night. They had a
big win last night and he had him.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
This was a high school kid that's in low Ay.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
So yeah, he's and he was on our show early
in the year because he got off to a great start,
you know, like a lot of young high school guys
out of the high school ranks, a lot of strikeouts,
so he wants to work on that obviously.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
Twenty five extra base hits, that's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Yeah, he's got four home runs.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
First couple of months of a season. So he's the
guy to look at. Pablo Guerrero. You know, not a
lot of power down there. He's got four homers, that's type.
None of them really ever have a lot ton of
power down there, but somebody will take off. Yeah, and
maybe these I know it's kind of I don't want
to say it's stereotype, but a lot of these Latin
kids don't hit in cold weather. And maybe now that

(59:15):
it's warming up, you're going to see some of these guys.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Well, let's go down to the Arizona Complex League. They
are playing right now in Arizona. They're in first place.
They are they're fifteen and ten, they're six and four
in their last ten, they've won a couple in a row.
I haven't seen stats there, So you're gonna have to
tell me some of the guys you've brought them up before,
who's kind of leading the way there?

Speaker 3 (59:36):
Yeah, Well, you know Devin Fitzgerald. We talked about him.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Yeah, I've seen some highlights of him. Now there's been
a couple of videos put out.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
Yeah, and you know he's from Florida High School. He's
a fifth round pick last year. I want to say,
that's good stuff, man, for a nineteen year old to
be doing that. So you know, when this season ends,
and really about five weeks, yeah, fibers weeks, he could
he could be on his way to Hickory at the

(01:00:03):
end of the year. On the pitching side at Aiden
Deakins He was the Rangers thirteenth rounder last year, left
hander excuse me, from Wabash Valley Junior College in Illinois.
He's doing well and he should be all right. He
should just say Wabash, Wabash of Valley. He's twenty one,

(01:00:25):
so he should be pitching well against these guys, and
he is. And and you know, there are a lot
of cases before anybody who does well, and sometimes it's
a usage thing. They'll start these guys off in the
Complex League right before they move them up to another league.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
And you could be seeing that happening here with pretty sure.
Wabash Valley is where my wife's cousins kid went and
played baseball for the year. Well he's married now, this
was a few years back, but I'm pretty sure that
was the school. Pretty good athlete out of high school
played average or end up going there. I'll have to check.
I could be totally wrong, but but anyway, so you
say he's a college kid anyway coming out.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
He's older. He should be doing what he's doing. But
he's doing it, and that's good. That's what we're doing.
What you're supposed to do exactly well. And when does
the Dominican League starts. It's it's coming up. I don't
know the dates for sure, but yeah, that'll be fun
washing to see within the month. Yeah, and so you'll
see some some names that come out of that. And

(01:01:28):
but on the on the usually a couple of teams there, right, yeah, Yeah,
besides Fitzgerald on the hitting side, climber Lamos, he was
the either the I think he was the player of
the week or maybe the player for the for the
Complex League. He's he's doing good. And then Braylan Morrel

(01:01:51):
is back from an injury and he's doing well, and
I would expect that he will heads out headed toward
h agree in the not too distant future.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Yeah, heading out, I can see that. All right. Well,
that's a wrap on this one. We got the minor league,
the bus league's done big. Thanks to John Radagan for
jumping on with us. Things are not clicking like you
would like at the big league level. Like we said,
I look, there's no fun way to put it, but
you know, we got to keep reporting on it. You
guys are still doing the daily show. We're gonna keep

(01:02:24):
doing the weekly show. And guys, we appreciate you being
a part of this one. For John Radagan, Jeff Wilson,
I'm John Moore. Till next week, guys will see at
the yard.