Episode #33 Cody Freeman

Texas Rangers IF prospect Cody Freeman joins Jeff and John to talk about his good season. Jeff and John also talk about the big club and minor leagues.

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 3 (00:50):
Welcome to the DLS Rangers Weekly Podcast, now part of
the All City Network. Hit the subscribe button for YouTube
and also become a DLLs diehard at www dot all
DLS dot com. Now here's Jeff and John. Everybody. Welcome

(01:11):
to the DLS Rangers Weekly Podcast. This is episode number
thirty three coming to you on Thursday instead of Friday.
But today Cody Freeman, Texas Rangers infielder, more utility infielder.
He's listed as a third baseman, but he's played some
shortstop too.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Get around.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
He can get around and tear it up triple A.
It's gonna be good to have Cody on and talk
about his success this year. First of all, hit that
subscribe button down there below. Give us a like. That
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(01:48):
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I'm wearing mine today. It's really cool. And get all

(02:12):
of that. You get sports every day. You get all
the articles from beat writers that are known beat writers
that cover every sport in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.
Plus they're doing some college stuff and all that. Guys,
it's just a big sports place in the metroplex.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah, it's it's big time. We're a big time it is.
We should know us. You should know us.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Yeah, we too. I mean, I'm I'm semi part of
this thing and having a blast. I tell you what
I've been. I have been impressed. And here's what I
do that I fight. So you guys know, I'm big
into football and I'm big into baseball kind of hockey
kind of. But I love jumping on those shows when
I don't really know what's up, you know what I mean,
and I'm like, okay, wait a minute. Like when the
whole Luca deal went down. I thought it was a

(02:52):
big deal, but I'm like, how big a deal is this?
It was fine. I sat there for an hour and mesmerize.
They were floor. It was fun to listen to that stuff.
I mean, if you're wanting to learn more, and it's
fun to get on there and listen to it. Here
we talk about the Weekly Rangers. Of course, the Daily
Show with John Radigan. You guys are doing a postgame
post game today Yeah, so you're you're you're double dipping.

(03:12):
He's here at this studio. He heads to the big
studio for that one later. But let's get into the
big league team who's actually starting to play a.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
Little better, very much, so, I would I would think, Now,
last night didn't go great, losing six to two, and
you know, Lighter had some ups and downs, and yeah,
but you know what the the offense really seems to be.

(03:39):
I mean it's maybe it's the best best like ten
game stretch of the season.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
There, Now, I know there were some stinkers there that
that game in Florida was our DC on Friday wasn't
very good. You argued last night wasn't good, But there
are opportunities to score more than, you know, more than
the two runs that they score.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
Word.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
You know, they got robbed of one two run double
by by h Buxton, who then goes and hits a
throw and homer. Yeah, basically had a game for five
runs and in a matter of ten minutes. But you know,
if you if it's always the same as if you
get on base, you're creating your chances.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Then they're doing that.

Speaker 5 (04:22):
Eventually the hits are gonna come and you know, we've
been yeah, kind of seeing glimmers of that in the
past and it's faded.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
So you know, a win to day would be huge.
I don't know that.

Speaker 5 (04:35):
You know, well, Bailey Bailey Ober who's six eight is
velocities down. Then you got the steely Patrick Corbyn on
the mound who has just been fantastic.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
So God, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (04:45):
I don't know what's gonna happen, but I do think
that the offense is trending the right way.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, and let's let's look at where the Rangers are.
They're thirty two and thirty six right now, they're four
and six in their last ten. Of course, everyone knows
they lost last night. Hey they're only five. They're still
five and a half out of it behind the Astros.
We're not even we're a month away from the All
Star break. Basically, they are four games back in the
wild Card. They are definitely not out of this thing,
but they can't trend the way they are. What I

(05:13):
think when you see them start to get that offense going.
As Ranger fans me included, y'all know, I'm a big
homer two, you're kind of thinking, Okay, let's roddle off
eight or nine wins in a row, well, that just
doesn't happen. What they need to do is win series.
That's what they need to do. They need to trend
that way, win series. And basically on the road, you
need to be five hundred. At home, that's when you

(05:34):
need to get it get it going. But when you're
scoring that the record is still amazing. When they score
four runs or more, they're like twenty five and four
or something like that, twenty eight and four or something.
It's really crazy what they are. If they score four runs,
that's because the pitching's been so good. And you know what,
I don't care what anyone says. Jack Lder had an
off day, but he's still an excellent pitcher in this rotation.

(05:56):
This is gonna happen where you're not getting behind the plate.
Wasn't great either. They missed a couple of what I
thought were strikes, at least according to the TV where
you see the little yeah.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
You know, and I looked at him scorecard. They actually
he was rated really really well. You know, there's that
the umpires have that margin. You know, it's it's just
it is frustrating. But I think if the challenge system
had been in place, then there would have been a
couple opportunities. There were definitely two pitches that I thought, yeah,
costs lighter, yeah and kind of and and there was

(06:30):
one that that was missed that affected lats I thought
changed in that back.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
But anyway, those things are gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
But he wasn't one side or the other. I know,
everybody likes to think, well that is guys. I mean
he he missed a few on both sides too. I mean,
we the Rangers gotta say we the Rangers did get
some favorable calls. Also, they didn't miss a ball that
could have been important.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, that was that was a bad one.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
I mean everyone ever, you have four umpires there and
no one caught that. I mean he dipped that back
leg and moved that front one before he went, and
you could see Carter he was getting ready to go,
I think, and he just shook his head. But you know,
I immediately thought, Carter, what in the hell are you doing?
Then I see the balk and I'm like, well, Jesus, no,
wonder that move is what you're going on when you're

(07:15):
stealing that first move.

Speaker 4 (07:16):
You see the front leg move, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
That's it. That's when that's when you're going. And my
guy that but that happens too. Uh, nobody catches it
like that boy Boachi did, and Butch was pissed.

Speaker 5 (07:27):
Yeah yeah, and.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Corey Ragsdale was not happy.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah. So but anyway, these things happen. Minnesota's not they slouched.
In fact, no team in MLB there. I mean, they're
teams that suck, but they can always get together one
game and just see the ball looks this big and
they're hitting everything and lighter did good for what it was.
I tell you. The guy that's come on right now
is Marcus Sindia Jeesu, and I mean what he's done.

(07:54):
We have said it over and over for everybody, always
washed up. You know what, we got this big contract,
he's washed. I even heard that song with Seeger who's
come back and didn't go on to rehab. And but
now he's starting to hit the ball hard again. This happens. Guys.
You've never seen a guy that works harder than Marcus Simmian.
First one out for infield, last one to lead out
for early batting practice, hitting every day. This guy does

(08:16):
not sit on his ass and go, well, I'm going
to figure it out. He's out there trying to figure
it out every day.

Speaker 5 (08:20):
Yeah, and I you know, he is older and and
it it looked bad and there wasn't a lot of
juice in his swings, you know, and the balls he
was hitting we're not we're not driven, you know. And
the ones he did drive were like line drives that
were probably chest time for the shortstop.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Right.

Speaker 5 (08:39):
So I mean it's you know, but he's he's continued
to work and he's really found something.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
Now.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
He has to be pulling the ball. That's the that's
the key for him. He has to pull the ball.
And he's been doing that lately.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
You know.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
He has some three or four home runs on this
road trip, so big, some big hits. He in that
Nationals game on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
So this is good. And Carter has been good.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yes, you know, well he smoked that one ball.

Speaker 5 (09:03):
Corey Seeker finally got some hits and has looked better
and has been hitting the ball harder.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Do you notice he's opened that stance again. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
I don't know why he closed it, you know, if
if it was working fine before he was hurt anyway, whatever,
So so if if Simon and Carter are going, then
maybe they can bring some of the other guys with them.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, Burgers looked better. I mean he had.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
You know, the hitting is contagious, I think, saying adage,
you know a lot of people believe in it, and
if if the Rangers get multiple guys going, the rest
will follow.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
So sure.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
I do think though, if you look at the last
starting with that Cardinal series, that this offense has been
going the right way. And yes, that includes during the
sweep at Tampa Bay. I know the first game there
was a stinker. You know, the first game at Florida
was a stinker, right, I keep saying Florida at the
Nationals was a stinker. But I think I think it's
I think there's a little momentum here that you can

(10:05):
start to have a little optimism about Sure.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
And here's the unfortunate thing, and it's just a reality. Uh.
The problem is they are still going to run into
good pitchers who are going to hold them to one
run or two runs, and people are gonna think, oh boy,
here we go again. It happens. I mean, there are
the Texas Rangers aren't the only team that have really
good starting pitching. Others have good starters. They may not
have three like the Rangers do three or four, but

(10:30):
they have good starting pitching that can hold your offense
at bay. And it doesn't mean well here we go,
we're going back the other way. Sometimes you just run
into somebody that's a buzz sell. Right.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
Even the best offensive teams are going to be like
shut down ye a.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
Day or two a week. They just are.

Speaker 5 (10:46):
Yeah, And so that's you kind of hope that's the
stretch for the Rangers are in that they're going to
have more good than bad. Sure, and again hope is
not a very good strategy, but uh, that's that's basically
all all all the Rangers got right.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Now because this team is the team. I mean, it
really is trade deadline. I guess it's semi time, just
halfway to it. But let me before we get into
anything like that, man, the gram is just continue. Good. Lord,
that's this is what they paid for.

Speaker 5 (11:13):
Yeah, that was that was really good Saturday. That was
that was great stuff and just setting them up and
coming up and they just had no chance.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Now they were they just didn't have a Yeah they is.

Speaker 5 (11:26):
So you know that's uh, that's that's promising to see
they are still keeping the pretty tight leash on them.
And then you know, the reason is they want to
take care of their investment for the next three years,
but they also want to save some and some juicish
bullets for September and October because.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
He's not getting traded guys.

Speaker 5 (11:46):
That they can contend and be in the playoffs, not
just this year but for years to come. Chris Young
shot shot down any uh, any notions of of them
trading of all the or grom I don't know why.
You know, there's still the basic foundation, fundamental foundation that
a baseball season is very, very long, yep. And now

(12:08):
this is a critical stretch. They got to be in
striking distance whatever they determine that to be at the
trade at the trade down, I'd say, I'd say within
a week before the trade deadline. So by July the
twenty fourth, the Rangers need to have an idea of
if this thing is going to go forward. Sure, And
so this is this is a pretty big stretch of

(12:29):
what thirty games probably to get to figure out if
all right, we can we can go forward. Chris Young
saying this to himself. We can go forward. We can
make some trades. We don't need to sell anybody off.
And again, if it stays like it has been, they're
not going to sell any hitters.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
You know.

Speaker 5 (12:47):
You can like, oh, well that's trade Marcus Siman. Nobody's
gonna want Marcus Simon hitting two twelve. No one's gonna
want a doles Arcia hitting two fifteen, you know, especially
with the contract situation. So you're probably if it stays
like this, you'd probably see like and the Rangers say
all right, we're out of it. You'll probably see like

(13:08):
Malley get traded, some of the relievers get traded. Sure,
but there are a lot of position players that are
that are going to get dealt. There just aren't unless
the Rangers are just tired of them. I want to
dump them and are looking at twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
I'm just gonna eat the salary and like, all right.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
We need to restructure our lineup, change our personnel, get
less aggressive hitters.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
Garcia would be one that could be on that and
those have to eat it could be, but you won't.
He won't bring much, but you could. Somebody would go, well,
if you're going to pay for it, yeah, you're going
to pay for it. Yeah, we'll take that bat at
the end of our lineup or back in there anyway.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
Yeah, but I think it's too early to do that.
They still have the pitching in place. I know Maley
gave up three earned runs the other night and get
out out of the sixth. But if that's his bad start,
that's pretty good.

Speaker 4 (13:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
You know, lighter, you're going to deal with and assistencies,
and you know that the walk to Azquez was was not.

Speaker 4 (14:06):
Optimal.

Speaker 5 (14:07):
Now you know, was the one of the three runners
who scored on the the Buckston Homer. So there's just
you know, you're going to live with the ups and downs.
But his era is still under four. Corbyn's era is
under four. They're all under four.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, you know, well so close to what is he too? Well? Two?

Speaker 4 (14:26):
And then you know Ivaldi, you kind of have to
wonder what's going on with him.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah, that's the question. If they said anything, they.

Speaker 5 (14:33):
Just said, he hasn't responded. I think it's a nerve issue. Okay,
once the nerve gets cooled down, he's going to be
good to go. He's been playing catch the last couple
of days, so that's a good sign. He won't to
do a rehab. They'll get him on the mound. He'd
have to throw a bullpen session, maybe a lot live
and practice, potentially do that this weekend and then maybe

(14:57):
be good to go for the Pittsburgh series on the
road or maybe late against the Royals. But if you
get him back and you're looking at pretty good things,
and then Cody Bradford through live batting practice yesterday, he's
going to get They're going to stretch him out to
five innings, which means he could start the spot starter.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
He can give him some long relief. So there there
he will go on rehab.

Speaker 5 (15:21):
Yes, there are ways for them to maintain this level
of Gray Gray. I think Gray's coming back as a reliever.
Well we've already kind but he's not. He's not on
a mound yet, not on a mount. Okay, he just
got so he's got a little bit to go. Spores
probably the same schedule as Bradford, but he doesn't need

(15:46):
to get stretched out to five innings right so he
has a chance to to be with the team here
early July. So, I mean there are things on the
pitching side that are that are looking up, and you know,
the Rangers just need some some depth right now. There's
there's starting rotation death is Dane Dunning and Kamar Rocker. Yeah,

(16:08):
and you know, because Garson Garabudo is not going to
be in the major leagues because.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
He's not gonna be on the forty man pretty.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
Brains beaten in a triple A. Yeah, once Bradford spores
and Gray already.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, there's no reason to DFA and yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:22):
They're just the miracle that is Garson Garabudo being on
the forty man will be over at that point.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
Yeah, and there's just no reason to take him off
of it right now. Just they don't they don't have
the move to make yet. But it's very I mean,
the guys probably keeps his bags packed every day and
doesn't doesn't settle into to wherever he's staying. I mean, look,
and but let me be honest, a couple of years back,
in fact, even in twenty three, I wondered how Josh

(16:48):
Bors was not getting DFA, you know about every time
they needed to make a forty man move and he
kept playing I called it forty man jiu jitsu. He
kept avoiding it, but look where he ended up. And
I mean, they see something I don't think with Garabido
though you see it you just don't have a move.

Speaker 6 (17:03):
To make it.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Well.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
I mean the reason he's on the hand an okay spring,
but also he has options, so you know he could
come He got up and come down. Young guys with
options are valuable, but they're not valuable if they can't
get anybody out.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
That's true. Hey, cole Win's been okay to Yeah, I
like it. I like what we're seeing big. Of course,
we're big fans of cole He's always friendly with us
and and doing that. So it's good to see a
former first round pick up in the big leagues and
doing something. And he's in his you know he right
now he's an All star with the mustache man. Yeah,
good lord, that thing is funny.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
He said he started growing at the start of the season.
And he hasn't given He hasn't given up an earned
run this this season. At whatever level he's been at,
he's not giving up and earned run.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
And we're into June.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
So what did Crash say? Crash Davis, you don't f
with the streak.

Speaker 6 (17:55):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (17:56):
He's gotta keep that thing.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, I mean, that's that's the only thing he's gotta do.
You want to get Cody in here, anything else we
got to touch on before.

Speaker 5 (18:04):
I don't think so, just you know, and it's been
negative for two months, but I think I think things
are starting to nudge for a little bit.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
I'm looking down the tunnel and I'm I think I
see a light and I'm not sure there's a there's
a little brightness down there, but I'm not quite quite
there yet. All right, guys, Cody Freeman's gonna join us
right after this. All right, guys in joining us right

(18:34):
now from Round Rock where the Express are playing this week.
It's Texas Rangers. I'm just gonna call him all around
utility guy. I Alwa's listened as a third baseman. We've
had him on here before. It's Cody Freeman. Cody Man.
Triple A doesn't seem to be a problem for you, man,
what's going on much?

Speaker 7 (18:50):
Thanks for having me on, of course. No, it's just,
you know, it's just it's baseball. You know, you ride
the you can't rather ride the high too high and
the low two loves and you know, staying consistent and
thinking too my routine and just you know, off to
a good start.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
All right, So what do you consider yourself positionally.

Speaker 7 (19:10):
And Honestly, I would say utility, but I haven't played
in the outfield yet. They mentioned it, but you know,
I would just consider myself an infielder.

Speaker 5 (19:17):
Okay, okay, I mean third base seems to be where
you've played the most the last few years. I know
when you came up, you played second. I'm curious about shortstop.
How how comfort what's your comfort level there? I'm sure
you played it in the past, but what is your
comfort level at shortstop? Because that's that's a big one.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (19:35):
No, I played there probably like five to seven games
this year so far, and I feel very comfortable. I
know last time I played it was in rookie ball
in twenty nineteen. But yeah, no, it's comfortable. And it's like,
I feel like all infield spots are kind of the
same and similar.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
So it is it is it easier to play short
stop because you've played so much at third or you know,
I guess the bat comes off the ball, maybe similar
angles or any tricks that you're you're running into.

Speaker 7 (20:03):
Honestly, it's it's almost easier to see the ball because
I mean you're almost in the middle of the field. Yeah,
so I mean, you you get better angles better reads
and stuff like that. But yeah, no, I'm a big
fan of shortstop. I like it. I feel like it's just,
you know, adds to the infield spot or the utility
as you as you.

Speaker 4 (20:22):
Say, so yeah yeah, and then still no catcher.

Speaker 6 (20:26):
Huh yeah I haven't. They just said keep it in
the back pocket, you know, I'm not like giving it up.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
So you still got the gear.

Speaker 6 (20:34):
Yeah, it's still there if it's needed.

Speaker 5 (20:37):
Well, his his roommate. His roommate's Cooper Johnson. There's there's
your catcher. You can right, he's a dog.

Speaker 6 (20:43):
He's a dog.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
Maybe give him some pointers. See how he handles that.

Speaker 6 (20:47):
No from from him, I mean, anyone could take points
from him. He's a dog.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:52):
Okay, So, you know, the offensive numbers really stand out.
You're over three hundred, you're hitting for power, You're you're
doing a little everything. Your walks to strikeouts are fairly even.
What what what is it that's propelled you to this
nice start to your season?

Speaker 6 (21:13):
Honestly, it's it's just nothing too much different than what
I've done in the previous years.

Speaker 7 (21:16):
It's just I feel like it's just part of the
development and part of the you know, the reason we
have the minor league levels is you just try to
strive each and every year and each and every day
and just uh yeah, no, it's just nothing really much
has changed, and just kept riding from screen training and
working with aiding coaches and then just you know, letting it,
letting it play on the field.

Speaker 4 (21:36):
At seven o'clock, the strikeouts are noticeably down.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
I would say, I'm wondering if how the A B
S has has if the A B S is dictating
anything when you're at the plate.

Speaker 6 (21:51):
Yeah, no, for sure.

Speaker 7 (21:52):
It's definitely telling me out a couple of times this
year on a strikeout, specifically call.

Speaker 6 (21:58):
But I've always been a big fan of the AB.

Speaker 7 (22:00):
Yes, I got asked in spring training by somebody and
I just always say the same thing all the time.

Speaker 6 (22:05):
I'm a big fan of it.

Speaker 7 (22:06):
But we can't have it to be a full automatic
system because you need the umpires, you need the arguments,
you need the human like part of the game. And
but yes, you do need two to three game to
where it can't be game changing from a call from
the umpire.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
So you've you've gone to the helmet this season, I have.

Speaker 6 (22:25):
I'm four for five right now. We keep we keep
we keep track.

Speaker 7 (22:32):
I mean we don't have notes, We don't have notes
or anything like that, but like you know, you deep
down inside your head, you know, like how many times
you messed up and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, and you and it seems to me that you
you know when when a pitch is a ball or
or when it when it you know when it's not
a strike. If you're four for five, you're seeing the
ball get.

Speaker 7 (22:49):
I'm trying, I'm trying, but uh yeah, no, the one
the one time I didn't mess up was very, very
bad because I went for a bunt and I got
super low and the pilot and it was like almost
you know, the whole.

Speaker 6 (23:02):
Ball was in there, and then the whole balls in there.

Speaker 7 (23:03):
It's already a bad Like it's already a bad it's
already a bad challenge. But like if the ball is
in there with room, then it's just like you can't
challenge for a week, like you know, you lost.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
It your privilegees that's correct.

Speaker 5 (23:19):
Yeah, I mean it's coming to the majors next year,
and then it is going to come to this the
commissioner last week they pretty much leaked it or whatever
they do, and and I guess there's some players who
are concerned about it. Maybe it's the guys in Florida
that really you know, in Florida they have a lot
of standalone spring training places and the the challenge system

(23:43):
wasn't experimented in spring training at one on one team facility.
So I wonder if it's mostly those guys. I just
think that everybody would be crazy. Maybe they're just not
open to change right now. Right but you know, it
seems like every it it is every game. It doesn't

(24:03):
seem like it's every game where there is a bad
missed call that changes in't have bad And I just.

Speaker 7 (24:11):
Think, and you just got to know, like game situation,
you can't, like it can't be a three to zero
count in the first inning when you know it's zero
zero and like something's close and you want to challenge
because your ego is so big, or vice versas. As
a pitcher, it's like, you know, they they get competitive,
so like from their angle, it looks like a strike,
but catchers no better than pictures. So it's kind of
like an unwritten rule that pictures aren't supposed to challenge

(24:33):
and leave it up to the catcher because you know,
the catchers have a better feel, and it's just more
of those.

Speaker 6 (24:38):
Things where it's like you gotta our rule or like
our kind of thing is like we know where.

Speaker 7 (24:42):
To say one by the seventh inning, so if it
does come down to a strike of ball, we have
one challenge left.

Speaker 6 (24:47):
But you know, it's like you just you got to
be smart about it.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
So is do the catchers also get a challenge?

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Challenge?

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Okay, that's what it was. So it's your catcher, not
your picture.

Speaker 6 (24:57):
But both it's picture catcher and hit her.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
I should know this, but I don't. I mean, I
don't know.

Speaker 5 (25:03):
I remember in spring training there were a couple of
times where the catcher did it okay and the catcher
was right. I mean, you know, so when you're when
you're right, does the empire say anything? Do you look
at the umpire and say clean it up?

Speaker 7 (25:19):
Or just that's also a game situation, you know, if
it's like if he's having a bad game and like
you know, someone's challenge or both teams challenge, like you know,
more than like a certain amount of times, and he
keeps getting it wrong. It's like it's like one of
those things like come on, man, like let's go like
lock it in. But it's just like, you know, that's
why we have the challenge, you know, and use it,

(25:40):
use it when you need.

Speaker 5 (25:41):
All right, So, the the offense in general there is
doing really well. I wanted to ask you though about
Blaine Krim because you guys were drafted at this in
the same year. You were drafted like fifteen rounds before
he was. But when he got called up, you were there,

(26:04):
and we've seen the videos. How big of a deal
was that for you to see a guy that you've
known for so long his finally get his chance.

Speaker 6 (26:12):
Yeah, No, it's funny you just said.

Speaker 7 (26:14):
I just got the chills, like just remembering that that
time for him, because it's like, you know, it's like
Blaine's been talked about for years and like you know
his story, you know, late round that.

Speaker 6 (26:24):
That type of deal like a D a D two
school and and.

Speaker 7 (26:27):
You know, didn't get a lot of money out of
out of the draft, and like seeing guys like that
like come come from where they came from and do
what he did and what he's done in the minor
leagues for pretty much his whole career and finally get
the opportunity was like almost I was almost as happy
for him as I was for my brother, Like it
was almost it's I mean almost the whole organization was

(26:53):
just as happy as like our team was for him.
And it was just so exciting because he deserves it.
And now he's in a great boat. He's on the
forty man and you know he's already got called up again,
so I know he's gonna get more opportunities up there.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
So you were you were in big league camp for
the first time this year. I just wonder what that
experience was like for you and and how it's maybe
helped you this season.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
No, well I was the first as a catcher you've been.

Speaker 7 (27:20):
Yeah, I was gonna say as a catcher, but you know,
it's it's different now, but like as an infielder, it was.
It was super cool, you know, just being there as
an infielder this time is you know, learning more from
guys like Seegers, I mean, you know, taking around balls
next to him. It's just kind of get my feet wet.
I've always been close with Josh Young, so he's always
helped me out and and helped me out with things

(27:43):
I need and what to do, what not to do
you know that that type of route and catching wise,
when I did go, I still talked to Travigno because
he took me under his wing that year and.

Speaker 6 (27:53):
Uh we got super close.

Speaker 7 (27:54):
So we uh we're actually just talking the other day
and uh, it's just you know, just building really relationships.

Speaker 6 (28:00):
Is is a big key in that uh in that
big league clubhouse.

Speaker 5 (28:05):
Yeah, that that twenty nineteen draft class. You know there's
some there's a John I mean starting with Josh.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah, then you had Winzel that Winzell was in there, Bradford. Yeah, yeah,
I mean there there there's some there's some guys in
that thing.

Speaker 5 (28:22):
That's but do you I mean, do you go all
the way back to nineteen when you guys were doing
in Arizona and getting on boarded. I mean you were
right out of high school and you know we're talking
about Josh and Blaine and Cody being college guys and Davis,
do you remember that? Do you remember being the kid
or have you always just been able to fit in
with these these older guys.

Speaker 7 (28:43):
No, I mean I've always like so grown up. I
was always played with my brothers, like you know, older teams.
So a couple of years so I've always been like
the like the younger guy, I guess you could say,
like hanging out with the older people, even like high
school with my brother's friends and stuff like that.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
So you know, when we got drafted, like obviously.

Speaker 7 (28:59):
Like the high school guys, we all stayed close and uh,
you know, just learning from the college guys and like
what they did at their colleges and how it was
all that kind of stuff and just you know, just.

Speaker 6 (29:09):
Building relationships starting from there.

Speaker 7 (29:10):
Then we still have now, like guys like Mark Church
was in that class too, and he's on our team,
and uh, and we're still pretty close. You know, there's
like Gavin Collier, there's a couple other high school guys
that like, you know, we're still that are still in
this organization, which is which is really really cool.

Speaker 5 (29:26):
Yeah, I mean that that is an interesting And that
was the last that was the last forty round draft,
I'm not mistaken. And so it was a it was
a it was a pretty crowded the clubhouse there. But yeah,
so Josh, you know Davis Winzel, Ryan Garcia, Justin Slayton
who's now with the Red Sox. Then you Kellen Strom,

(29:47):
your teammate. It was like having like a nice, nice year. Yeah,
Brandon Sprote who was not signed, Zach Kent, who's in
the majors. Yeah, that's that's that's damn impressive.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
Class.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
You've got to get hats off to your amateur scouting.

Speaker 5 (30:07):
I never really looked at it, and then eighteen and
nineteen were Church and Crim. I mean, that's that's pretty solid.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
I mean it is.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
I mean, these are all guys that they all look
big league ready. I mean you do too, twenty four
years old at Triple A during what you're doing that
that creates opportunities right there, and that's not ann Listen.
You know, facts are facts. We have Cody on. We
love you, Bud. But hitting three hundred with seven home
runs and doing what you're doing sure helps to have

(30:33):
you on because we've been talking about him for a
couple of weeks. Yeah, I mean it helps. It creates opportunities. Congrats.
I mean, it's it's exciting to watch.

Speaker 6 (30:41):
I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Gotta keep it wrong, yeah,
keep it wrolling.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
Long season, long season.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, all right, what.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
You get your questions lined up for him?

Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah? I got a few fun ones, but I've got one.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
For him too. When you I'll give you a chance.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
To talk though. Okay, so what you always go to
fun stuff with you one day? All you know, I've
always I like this. It's intriguing for me as somebody
that wished I would have played Big League ball or
any kind of pro ball. What's your game day routine?
What do you like when you know you got seven
o'clock first pitch? What time are you up? What are
you eating when you get to the field. What do
you do that day?

Speaker 6 (31:15):
Yeah, I know, I'm pretty similar every single day.

Speaker 7 (31:17):
You know, I'm getting up around that nine to nine thirty,
hopping the shower, go outside and read, read my devotional
you know, eat the same thing every single day, avocado
toast with two eggs on top.

Speaker 6 (31:29):
You know, play a little bit Fortnite right after.

Speaker 7 (31:30):
I got an hour in between after that, so place
some Fortnite with Trey Hoe, one of my roommate or
one of my teammates, and then you know, head to
the ballpark. And then from the ballpark on, it's pretty
much the same thing every single day, doing all the
baseball stuff before the game, and then the game, and
then after doing your.

Speaker 6 (31:48):
Post game stuff, hit the showers, eat and rinse, and repeat.

Speaker 5 (31:53):
So as the price of eggs have come down, have
you noticed that if you're buying your own eggs.

Speaker 6 (31:59):
What's funny is I don't I really don't ever look
at the price of eggs.

Speaker 7 (32:02):
I just grab them because regardless of the price, like
I'm gonna get them. But I just really don't know,
like if they've gone up or down.

Speaker 4 (32:10):
So do you know the key to picking a good avocado?
Can you do?

Speaker 3 (32:13):
You tell?

Speaker 6 (32:15):
Yeah, I can't.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
I don't know, so I'm asking you.

Speaker 7 (32:17):
So I usually get to like a five to six
pack because I'll eat them all week, and like I'll
make sure one's somewhat ready for the next day and
then like make sure the other one's a little bit
harder that way to sit.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
Out and then ride and be ready over the next
four or five days.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
But not too soft, right right, not too soft, but
kind of in between. My I've got my aunt is
uh makes great guacamole, And man, she is a when
she goes for the avocados, it's a clinic and how
she picks them out. But it's the best guacamole I've
ever eaten in my life. I mean, I'm addicted to
it when she makes I used to hate.

Speaker 4 (32:51):
The avocado, but it's the best I've been eating it acquired.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
Yeah, it's I can't get tired of it.

Speaker 5 (32:58):
Coming from California, avocado is big the southern southern California.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Very true speaking, we always get into food. So speaking
of food, I always wanted to know, like this, So
you're in round Rock this year. You were in Frisco
last year. Have you found any spots maybe in the
Austin area Round Rock area, like hole in the wall
places where you're like, yeah, man, this is you know,
at least two days a week or whatever, I hit
this place for whatever or this place for whatever. Have
you found any good spots.

Speaker 7 (33:24):
Honestly, Like when it comes to eating out, like during
the playing week, I really don't because you know it's
like you go to the I mean I eat my
I make breakfast every day and then like they provide
lunch and dinner, and like by then it's I just
go home.

Speaker 6 (33:39):
And the time we do go out, like if it's on.

Speaker 7 (33:41):
A Sunday night after a Sunday afternoon game, like to
go get dinner, it's somewhere downtown, like my go to
just any type of good steak, Like I'll go to
a steakhouse, but like I just.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Found in Austin or a round Rock.

Speaker 7 (33:52):
Usually we go down in Austin just to get like
it's only fifteen minutes downtown or fifteen to twenty minutes
from us. So there's plant plenty of in tons of
nice restaurants down there, but there's not one that specifically
stands out.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
Okay, do you do or have you become a part
of guy.

Speaker 6 (34:09):
I've always been.

Speaker 7 (34:10):
There's obviously you guess probably heard of Terry Blocks down here,
and uh that place is pretty pretty electric.

Speaker 6 (34:15):
But uh, yeah, I'm a I'm a big barbecue guy.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
I mean, have you tried them all? Have you tried
like Franklin's And Franklin's is.

Speaker 7 (34:22):
The only one I haven't tried that's in like the
Dallas area. I've tried.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
I believe it's like Hutcheons or Hutcheons.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
Hutchins is up by McKinney.

Speaker 6 (34:32):
Yeah, Or what's the one in Frisco? I had last year?

Speaker 4 (34:35):
It was there's one in Frisco too, they have too Loa.

Speaker 6 (34:38):
Yeah, that's I've had that pretty that one's great as well.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
So yeah, Franklin's is I mean pretty much downtown Austin.
It's across the highway.

Speaker 6 (34:47):
Okay, yeah, I've heard Franklin. Yeah from down I have
not had it though yet.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
It's good. It's listed as the best restaurant in the
state of Texas by this thing I saw. They go
to each state in the best restaurant in the Oh wow.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
This monthly does a top fifty barbecues like every three
or four years, and there're a ton that are always
in Awestoin. But like Aaron Franklin's kind of started this
whole thing, I.

Speaker 6 (35:08):
Gotta got it, got to give it a shot.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Well, I mean you gotta go. You gotta stand in line.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
Oh that's what a pain in the ass.

Speaker 4 (35:15):
Maybe if the team you can say, hey, you know,
can you hook up.

Speaker 6 (35:19):
An express anyway?

Speaker 3 (35:23):
Uber?

Speaker 6 (35:23):
Eat something? Something?

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Hey, let me ask you this. I mean, you guys
travel around you now in the you're going around the
Triple A stadiums now and doing that. Besides Round Rock
and is it Dell Stadium that they play Dell Diamond
and whatever it is there, have you found any places
that's your favorite stadium to go to outside of Round
Rock that you're like you know, it's pretty cool here.
The city's cool or something like that.

Speaker 6 (35:49):
Yeah, I know, So that's easily taking over my favorites.

Speaker 7 (35:52):
Charlotte playing on the field, like with the view in
the background, that's easily my parents like being in the box.

Speaker 6 (35:58):
But overall like like clubhouse, like hotel field, all that
kind of stuff.

Speaker 7 (36:03):
Is the new Salt Lake field that we just came from,
it's really stadium is and everything is just so sick
about it.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yeah, it's in the suburbs, right.

Speaker 7 (36:11):
It's about twenty twenty five minutes south of Salt Lake,
but it's yeah, that that clubhouse, the field, it's just it's.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
Sick, nice nice. Well. You know, Charlotte I think wants
an MLB team.

Speaker 6 (36:26):
Yeah they should. I said that when I was there.

Speaker 7 (36:28):
I mean the stadium that they have is I mean,
it's almost smacked downtown with the sky rises behind. It
kind of reminds me of Peco Park when I played
there in nineteen for Instructs.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
It's just so sick. Yeah, Charlotte like Nashville.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Nashville they have a nice stadium too.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
Was a Rangers affiliate trip before and their stadium is
very similar. It's you look into the skyline.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Yeah, they have a big guitar.

Speaker 6 (36:56):
But yeah, I went there to offseason.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
I was, I was near it.

Speaker 6 (36:59):
I had I think I had lunch right next to
the field and I went to go look at it
as pretty stick.

Speaker 4 (37:03):
Yeah they have they have they have MLB aspirations too. Yeah,
I don't know what's what I'm going for. I don't know.

Speaker 6 (37:11):
I like.

Speaker 4 (37:11):
I like both cities. I like them both both.

Speaker 6 (37:14):
They're both really nice cities too.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
Yeah, Charlotte. Charlotte is very nice. I really liked Charlotte.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Yeah, I used to go to Charlotte business. I've always
liked one to Charlotte. It's great.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
We would go down once in a while when we
were in Hickory. It's like an but the thing is
like a fifty minute drive.

Speaker 7 (37:30):
So like, you know, on an off day or a
Sunday night, like we would go have a nice dinner
or something.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
Sure, Yeah, you know, when I was covering it's been
a while, but when I was covering NASCAR.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Oh yeah, I've been to the racetrack. I've been to
the Charlotte race track before.

Speaker 5 (37:44):
It's just a nice are. It's like pine trees that'll
snow there. But then it's you know, four seasons.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Both North Carolina and South Carolina are very pretty. I
mean I've always said if I Texas, but if I
didn't live in Texas, I've always loved Carolina. Carolina gat
off courses too. There.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
How is your brother doing.

Speaker 6 (38:05):
He's doing He's doing great right now. He's he's started.

Speaker 7 (38:08):
I mean he started off, like you know, it's tough
going from I think nine or nine years in the
same organization and then getting traded and right before the
season starts, like a couple of days after or before
smreen training ended, and you know, it's tough mentally for him.

Speaker 6 (38:22):
And he started off a little slow, wasn't playing too much.

Speaker 7 (38:25):
And then now he's, uh, he's he found it and
he's he's kicking butt right now and I think he's
hitting right over three hundred and.

Speaker 6 (38:32):
Yeah, he's he's doing that thing. He's playing right field
a lot more and uh, yeah, he's he's enjoying it.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
Have you talked about how abysmal the Rockies are rock
record wise?

Speaker 7 (38:44):
Yeah, he's said it's a little different, even coming from uh,
you know Treo, our teammate, he was, Yeah, he was
in the big leagues with them, or he was with
us and then got sent over the trick to the
Big He's played there for six or seven weeks, and
so it's a little different, you know, my especially for
my brother, he's coming from the Guardians, like a very
winning organization and going from a top year that the
Rockets are having. It's, like I said, it's a little different.

(39:07):
It was mentally different too from that change. And it's
just you know, it's part of the game. It's just
like hitting. You know you're going to struggle and teams
are going to struggle and just can't ride him too loud,
can't ride him too low, and then just stay consistent,
keep doing your thing. And yeah, he just said it's
it's it's a little different. But there's not much he
can he can do.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
Yang does it.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
It's a it's a team sport, but it's like a
super individual team sport. You know, you just got to
do your job. You can't you can't worry about the
other eight guys.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
And for sure on the mound. But yeh, still a
big leaguer, he's still a big leader.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Absolutely in a great city bias, but in a great.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
City, yeah, we know you're going to work in Colorado.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Great ballpark.

Speaker 6 (39:51):
Yeah, I've never I've never been to to the ballpark there.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
So is the course force field? Yeah yeah, like, well
that's getting to But they redid right field. So even
though the Rockies aren't great, they still get pretty good
attendance because it's kind of a place where people like
to go. Now the on field product, you know, it's
not this isn't just a one off for the Rockies

(40:16):
here the last few years there kind of they don't
have a lot of directions. So hopefully hopefully Tyler can
get him going.

Speaker 6 (40:21):
Yeah, that's the plan.

Speaker 7 (40:24):
Hopefully I could, like depending on where I'm at, post
season whatever, just goes see a game, go to that
ballparkn I like to, like, you know, go to new
ballparks and stuff like that.

Speaker 6 (40:34):
So like to see see him play a game.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
Yeah, it's nice. Even if I wasn't from Colorado, I
would say that it's a nice ball Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
I've heard it is too, And I understand Corus Beer
has a big play there, right, they're players there. Yeah, Okay,
you're done.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
I've done. That was all I had for Cody on
the non baseball stuff.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Okay, a man, Well that's it. I think we can
wind it down. We're sitting right at an hour here, Cody.
That's great to see you again. We're actually planning the trip.
We're gonna try to get down there for Yeah.

Speaker 5 (41:04):
We gotta go down there at least once and see
the fellas and see Chris and Tim. They always seem
to take care of us, and Rylan is a good dude.

Speaker 6 (41:12):
They're awesome.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
Get down there, so we'll we'll see you soon enough.

Speaker 6 (41:16):
Yeap, perfect, Thank you guys for having me as always.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
All right, Cody, as always, we appreciate you.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, thanks for coming down guys. Hey, guys, we're going
down in the bus leagues right after this. Hey, big
thanks to Cody Freeman for joining us right there. It's
time to go down in the bus leagues. We're gonna
touch all the way from Triple A the Round Rock Express.
In fact, this week we're gonna go to the DSL
just a little bit. They finally started their games up.

(41:41):
We're gonna touch at each level, talk about a player
or two there as we go. Obviously, we start out
with Round Rock with the Round Rocket Express, who, by
the way, our sponsors of ours, that's right, and we
got to give them some props. You got to give
them some props for that, not just for the bus leagues,
but for the for the entire show, so so big
thing thanks to them. But uh, let's go get Let's

(42:02):
go to Round Rock Express. Round Rock Express with thirty
one and thirty four. Right now, they're five and five
in their last ten. They won last night. They are
in fourth place in the Pacific Coast League. And you
know Rockers started night before last.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
He did it was it was good. A run in
four innings, so that's.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
Uh, four strockouts, no walks. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (42:24):
The key of continues to be that he just needs
experiencing games. You know, the play in Tampa. You know,
not to be a dead horse, but you know, he
needs to be in games and experience things like that
and understand game situations. It's been you know, it's been
a while since he's played. He hasn't doesn't have a

(42:45):
ton of professional innings. And at college he was so
dominant he probably didn't have to think much about what
was going on. And you know, but it's more than
just run in the first space. You know, he terrible
holding runners, yeah, you know, and and then there's some
pitch sequencing things going on too, because he's trying to
throw this cutter type thing or a harder slider or

(43:07):
whatever you want to call it. But you got to
know when to when to use it.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (43:11):
So there's there's a lot that he needs to work on,
and you know, I hope that he gets the time
to developed further before before.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
They have are like all right, let's get him back up.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Yeah, there's a need. We got to get him back
because let's be honest, if you haven't noticed, I'm just
talking to you fans. Hit the stuff's there. He's got
stuff that gets out big league hitters period. I mean,
there's no adeing around it. He's he throws an upper
nineties fastball. He's got off speed stuff. Now whether that translate,
does he only throw three pitches.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Three or I mean he thinks he throws like five pitches,
but he really how many you can trust?

Speaker 4 (43:50):
Ball and slider.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Yeah, that's what he goes through a lot.

Speaker 4 (43:53):
That's something else he needs to do. I mean, he's
opened up his arse. He seemed to growm throw the
curveball more this year.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
Just some just some stuff like that. You know, a
lot he just has things to work on and to Grom.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
I mean, I'm we've already talked big league stuff and
we've already praised to Grom. But de Gram is like
Greg Maddox that throws one hundred miles an hour. He
is always thinking of what he can do to offset it.
But Kamar throws so good, and that he looks so
fluid throwing that ball. I mean, you look like you
look at lighter. He looks like he's really got to
wind up to bring it. Although he's pretty smooth this year,

(44:29):
but Rockers just fluidity is just he throws ninety nine
just swinging and thrown.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
It is easy.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
But but you gotta throw strikes and you gotta you
gotta move the ball, and you got to do that.
Let's talk about the bats before we go down to
Double A. I mean, we we've already talked to Cody Freeman.
We know what he's doing there. Blaine Cram is still
doing well there. I mean, I tell you what, I
know that it's because they're not getting at bats. But
but uh no, just fosc you is still doing well

(44:59):
down there.

Speaker 5 (45:00):
He came off the injured list last week I think
it was last week, and he's done really really well.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Now Duran spot is who you think of if he
were to come up and replace somebody, But there's just
not at bats right now.

Speaker 5 (45:11):
Yeah, and you know, I would think more I'd think
that Freeman would be more of a Duran replacement, somebody
who can play play just about everywhere and even okay
as right, and uh, you know, but Krim is continuing
to do very very well. I don't think they'll recall

(45:32):
killing Strom, but he's having a nice year down there,
and he has twenty two stolen bases and he also
been caught once.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
That's kind of cool. I just throwing it out there,
but yeah, I didn't even know.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
I didn't know that. That's Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:45):
Dustin Harris to hit for the cycle last week. I
think we mentioned that.

Speaker 5 (45:48):
But it's been kind of a struggle down there for him.
So hopefully he can get things going in the right direction.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
And besides Rocker, the arms there are well wher of us.
Curvello is still there. There was rumors last week that
he was coming up to the big league team. He wasn't.
He's still got great numbers.

Speaker 5 (46:08):
Yeah, I think he would have been called up if
they decided to put Martin on the injured list. But
they decided to not do that, and he's what made
one appearance maybe two. He's been okay, Yeah, he hasn't
been bad. Let's go down to Double A. The Frisco
Rough Riders.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
Risco Rough Rouders are thirty three and twenty five, four
and six in their last ten. They did win last night.
They are in second place in the Texas League. Right
now there, I mean, Walcott's continued to obviously do well.
He's got sixteen or seventeen doubles now, sixteen man, nineteen

(46:43):
year old double A kid hitting over too fifty. His
ops is over eight hundred, isn't it a right at it?

Speaker 4 (46:50):
Right below it?

Speaker 5 (46:50):
But I yeah, it's exciting. Don't get too excited. He's
not coming to the major league at anytime soon.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
He's not coming to Triple A anytime soon. I think
he's gonna stay there till maybe at least.

Speaker 5 (47:01):
I think he's got a little time still here at
Double A. The this' is a big series for for
the boys. They're trying to they're trying to win the
first half here. You know, mid I think Midland is
the team ahead of them. This is kind of the
this is the this is going to decide to first
have champs and you know lock up a playoff spot.

(47:21):
But you know there are some just some guys doing
some good things. You know, Cam Colly is coming around,
which is when you player of the month or week
or he's like the defensive player of the month. Okay,
you know, and then you have Abby, you know, who's
hot and runs hot and cold.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
But Luis my my s s. We've talked about who's
a little bit older. You know, Josh hasher just god,
just real.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
Steady does not walk, but he puts the puts the
bat on the ball frequently, but really everybody every time. Really,
we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about Walcott. And
then on the pitching side, uh uh. You know you've
got you've got the two lefties with with Drake and Bratt,
who are just good doing phenomenally. You know, Mitch, Mitch

(48:11):
the are I climbed over to finally h he pitched
okay the other night he needs to subcity. Drake pitched
well last night. You know when he's when he's on
his stuff is good. You know, it's too much, it's
too much for these these double A kids. So yeah,
I'd suspect that both of them will be on the

(48:31):
move before too long. Uh, to Triple A, and then
at Triple A that's when they will would become options.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
For the big league club. They're you're gonna skip them
from Frisco.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
I was unless it's total emergency.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
That explicitly they're not skipping a level.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
So the only way you'd ever see that is is
trauma at the big league level where three pitchers go
down in three knots or something and you're forced to
reach down even further than you want to. But no,
I I agree, Uh, they need to go to Triple
A and keep going. This is a good team they are.
They are a good team. The Hub City. Let's go

(49:06):
to High A now, the Hub City Spartanburgers. They are
thirty and twenty nine. They are four and six in
their last ten, they've lost three games in a row.
They're in third place inaugural season that that they're going there.
This is this is a team that that shows some promise.
They've got some good players. Yeah, the standout of the team,

(49:27):
there's no even getting around it, is David Donalio. Who
is their their standout pitching prospect. Who you got to
think at some point it's gonna be up in double A.

Speaker 5 (49:36):
Yeah, you know, there'll it'll become promotion season here, not
not too much longer. You know, they're they're reaching the
halfway point of of their seasons.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
So and unlike most businesses, this is a roll up business.
So it's got to have ahead of them. That happened too,
so you don't roll down when when things start, you know,
when the boss gets mad at Rose Downhill. Promotions are
roll uphill, so you got to roll uphill, and there's
got to be some openings to clear up ahead of you.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
Our guy, our guy, our guy.

Speaker 5 (50:06):
Keith Jones has had a good little yeah go here
lately with some home runs. He's been pretty pretty pretty good.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
I think.

Speaker 5 (50:16):
Let's see here one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight game hitting streak again, there's some homers in there,
some doubles, some big hits.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
So that's good to see.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
And he can go bowl three hundred, that's.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
Right, and he will.

Speaker 5 (50:29):
He will beat you at the bowling now, and he
will beat you and beat you bad and won't show
any remorse.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
No, go back and watch that guy, kid, Oh, go
back and watch it. That interview is fun. He is
just a great kid. You can't help a pull fup
for him.

Speaker 5 (50:43):
Yeah, figureo still all power, not a lot of hits
to go with it. I think Dryling has picked it
up a little bit after a after a kind of
a slump, which may have coincided with his appearance on
our show. I hope he doesn't see that. But there's
some good there again. They're good to arms down there.
Leandro Lopez is doing well.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
Yeah, he had another good night the other night.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
Yeah, so you know, the there's just good things happening
at this team. And it's I know they're in third place,
but it's not like they're twelve games back.

Speaker 3 (51:15):
No they're not. They're pretty bunched up. Yeah, yeah, pretty
bunched up there. Let's go down to Low A Hickory,
the Hickory crawd Ads. Of course, they've been with the
organization for a long time, but they're back in Low
A again. They are thirty and twenty eight. They're five
and five in their last ten games. They did lose
last night. Also in third place. There are the crowd ads.
I mean, if you're gonna go, you've got different ways

(51:37):
you can go there. To talk about players, I mean.

Speaker 5 (51:40):
Well, Max Max and Martin was the player of the
Week in the South Atlantic League last week, so that's
second time this year he's been and he gets on
a streak and goes he has twenty eight extra base
hits in fifty three games.

Speaker 4 (51:53):
That's pretty that's pretty good.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Another good kid with a good story. If you want
to go back and listen to that one. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:58):
Yeah, he's an interesting guy that we learned a lot about.
So you know, that's and and you're gonna get to
the point where some of these guys maybe get called up,
like like uh, Martin, though you know he probably not
till later.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (52:18):
You know, Chandler Pollard has been been around at this
level for a while and he's doing pretty well.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
No, not a lot of power there, but.

Speaker 5 (52:26):
You could see that happening on the on the pitching side,
it's it's the usual suspects. It's Scarborough, Mason, Molino, We've
we've we've mentioned them. Ismail, I'll grade that. Dalton Pence,
who I think was the Rangers reliever of the month
for May. Brock Porter still still out there getting those

(52:47):
relief appearances in and doing just fine. No need to
no need to worry about him. Just let him do
his thing and and it'll all it'll all work out
in the end.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
That that that's the main thing. This was a kid
that was thrown close to one hundred or around one
hundred coming out of high school. Of course, his competition
coming out of high school wasn't huge, right, And that's
where it all changed for him. When you dominate what
you're at and then all of a sudden you run
into kids that are like, well, I can hit that
if you're gonna throw.

Speaker 5 (53:14):
It well, and then you know, he was fine as
his first full season and then just had some mechanical
issues last year.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
Oh yeah, that was he was off on that stream. Hey,
Arizona Complex League, this is a team that's in first
place right now in the ALC, the ac L West.
They're seventeen and twelve, five and five in their last ten.
They've won their last couple of games. I mean, if
you're not talking fits slash Gerald, then I don't know
who you're talking about. That kid is tearing it up.

Speaker 5 (53:41):
Yeah, he's cooled off the last few games. But he
was the Rangers player of the Month in the minor leagues,
beating beating Cody Freeman. So he you know and again
this is a nineteen year old.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
Yeah, and he was.

Speaker 5 (53:55):
Drafted, has a short stop, He can play a couple
of different positions. He is that league in home runs.
All right, this guy he's not six foot five, got seven,
doesn't he yes six? But he's he's He's not a
huge guy. He's uh five ten, five eleven. It's not
like he's You look at him and say, oh, there's

(54:16):
that Guy's not a power hitter, but he hits for
some power. Yeah, uh claimber climber Lamos has cooled off
a little bit, the first baseman. But you know, there's
some there's some pretty good players down here. And your
Frank Caste has has hit a slump. He's he's which
is unusual for him. No, uh again, no power, but

(54:38):
I guess his swing. I asked Ross instwer Maker about it.
His swing is kind of right now, geared for line drives.
But there's so much contact that. Yeah, they don't really
worry about the power right now. It's it'll it'll come.
He's still a wiry guy.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
And young. These guys are still young. It's not it's
not a couple one one pitching note. And I wasn't
I wasn't aware that he was back.

Speaker 5 (55:10):
David Hagman, who I believe was the fifth round pick
last year for the Rangers out of West Virginia, even
though he had had Tommy Johns surgery, so they knew
that he was not going to pitch last year. He
made his first appearance since Tommy john and pitched two
innings and struck out four. He had big stuff. That's

(55:35):
why the Rangers drafted him. It was, you know, twenty
three pitches, six straight outs, dominating stuff. He was a
really good college pitcher. All right, he's he's twenty two,
so he's not going to be at this league long.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
But he'll go out.

Speaker 4 (55:51):
Is this might be like kind of a rehab assignment
if you will, and then he'll he'll be out. I
would guess Hickory.

Speaker 5 (55:58):
But but him, I go to the Hub City just
because he has pitched in college and was really really
good there.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
Okay, well, let's go down to the Dominican Summer League
which is started there. Now they look they haven't played
a lot. Let's just talk. There's two teams there. They
got the Red team and the Blue team, a vast difference,
even though they try to say they split it evenly.
The Red team is five and two right now, blue
team owing six.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
Yeah, not a great start for the Blue team.

Speaker 5 (56:24):
But uh, the the Red team, you know, it does
have a couple notable guys from this most recent signing class.
A Lorki Rodriguez's playing kind of all over.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (56:40):
He he has three home runs, he's been in four seven.
He's seventeen, all right, that's pretty good. John Simon is
an outfielder or is it outfielder second base. They they're
trying to athletes, trying to figure it out. He's an
up the middle guy, John Simon, who I think got
five hundred thousand. He's he's not doing great. He's getting

(57:00):
on base a lot. And then Marco Harguden, who they
signed in February.

Speaker 4 (57:08):
For not much. He was he just was.

Speaker 5 (57:10):
I believe he was the DSL player of the Week
last week, spatting five twenty four.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
That's pretty good.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
He's nineteen.

Speaker 5 (57:18):
He's from Cuba, so I you know, this one was
not publicized, so obviously he had to somehow get out
of Cuba, right, So maybe a.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Lot of them are defecting to the South American countries.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
Someone to someone to definitely ask.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
About any powers.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
He's showing right now is just a homer in four doubles.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
And this guy, so he does have some slots.

Speaker 4 (57:38):
This guy's on it.

Speaker 5 (57:40):
So that's that's a pretty interesting name to watch on
the Blue team. David Ortiz Junior.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
Is on the Blue team. I know his dad is Yeah,
his dad. His dad's pretty good. So, you know, it's
just some guys.

Speaker 5 (57:56):
You gotta have the little patience with It's early in
the season for everybody. The guys going good and the
guys who aren't going uh good. Yeah, absolutely, grammar is terrible.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
None of it means anything. The guy hitting five hundred
could be eaten one twenty by a month from now.

Speaker 5 (58:10):
It's still hitting five hundred in a month, then they
would probably have a story on her hands. Yeah, sweet
it So we'll we'll, we'll see how that plays out.
So anyway, and then and then the Blue team has
a guy named Walking Areas, which makes me think of
the old Rangers infield or Walking Areas.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Is this this kid?

Speaker 6 (58:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (58:27):
It's possible, but I do not I do not have
a lot of information on him.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
Hey, he was the eighteen, wasn't he the big drawl
that came with h with the Alex Rodriguez train.

Speaker 4 (58:39):
They had a choice between Canoa and Areas, and they
took areas.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
Yeah, so they made the you know, the choice the
guy who wanted the wrong call on that one. Yeah,
they did. They seem to have that one off. Well,
that's a good one right there in the books. Big
thanks to Cody Freeman for joining us there. You've got
a post game show that's going to be coming up Rangers.
If you're looking now, they're starting where we're at right now.
Just tell you where you are that you may you're
watching this now obviously after we're done, but we're about

(59:02):
an hour away from first pitch up in Minnesota where
Patrick Corbyn's going. But Jeff's gonna be heading to the
big studio I'm assuming, yeah, you don't watch it up
there and get ready for the postgame show. Hey, guys,
we appreciate every week. Big thanks to Round Rock again
for sponsoring this for Cody Freeman and Jeff Wilson. I'm
John Moore. Until next week, guys, we'll see at the yard.

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