Episode 85: Christian Colon

A lot of great short stops have come through the doors at Cal State Fullerton, Christian Colon is arguably one of the best to have ever worn the Blue and Orange. A three-year player at Fullerton, Colon played for the Titans from 2008 through 2010 and was drafted fourth overall by the Kansas City Royals in 2010. (What's notable about that 2010 draft, Colon and teammate Gary Brown were both drafted in the first round. That is the only year multiple Titans were selected in the first round of the same draft.)

During his time at Fullerton, Colon batted .349 with 29 home runs and drove in 147 runs. His 17 home runs in 2010 led the team and he currently still ranks in the top 10 in numerous Titan Baseball categories. His single season records with the Titans has him ranked tied for eighth with Sam Favata for runs scored at 82 in 2009. His 21 sacrifice hits in 2008 ranks second for a single season and is a Titans freshman record. Talking about sacrificing his body, he is tied for sixth with Ivory Thomas and Reed Johnson being hit by a pitch in 2009.

For his three-year career in college, Colon's 766 at-bats ranks 8th but first among 3-year players. His 267 hits ranks sixth all time but again, ranks first among three-year players, ahead of other notable 3-year Titans like Mark Kotsay and Phil Nevin. Colon scored 214 runs in his Titan career, again, tops among three-year players. Christian was not only good at the plate, but he also had an excellent glove recoding 219 assists in 2010 which ranks third for a single season and 547 total assists in three years. Those 547 assists ranks fourth all time in Titan Baseball history and you guessed it, ranks No. 1 among three-year Titans. Only David Bacani, Justin Turner and Shane Turner, all four-year Titans, have more assists than Colon.

An All-American all three years on campus, Colon also played for the Team USA Collegiate National teams in 2008 and 2009. Drafted fourth overall by the Kansas City Royals, Colon would make his debut July 1, 2014 with the Kansas City Royals. Playing six years in Major League Baseball with the Royals, Maimi Marlins and Cincinnati Reds, Colon's seminal moment came in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series vs. the New York Mets.

Tied 2-2 in the Top of the 12th inning with Jarrod Dyson on third with one out, Colon gets a pinch-hit opportunity facing Addison Reed. On a 1-2 count, Colon hits a single into left field scoring Dyson to score the go-ahead run.

Recently Colon was named the manager of the Arkansas Travelers, the Double - A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

Highlights include:

🎙️ Growing up and moving as a kid (8:43)
🎙️ Choosing Cal State Fullerton (15:00)
🎙️ Choosing college over the MLB draft out of high school (22:08)
🎙️ Frosh year at CSUF (25:57)
🎙️ Broken leg before Junior year (36:10)
🎙️ Draft day (44:42)
🎙️ 2010 Super Regionals vs. UCLA (49:53)
🎙️ Starting professional career (51:46)
🎙️ Getting called up to the Show (58:21)
🎙️ Hit & stolen base in 2014 AL Wild Card (60:29)
🎙️ Now manager of Arkansas Travelers (1:08:37)

▶️ Visit our website: CalStateOmaha.com
▶️ Follow us on Twitter: @CalStateOmaha
▶️ Follow us on Facebook: Facebook.com/calstateomaha
▶️ Follow us on Instagram: @calstateomaha
▶️ Follow Christian Colon on Instagram: @christiancolon24
▶️ Suggest a guest: [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Cattle State's Fard Tennis done it.They've gone from fifteen and sixteen the champions
of Cottage Baseball. Welcome to thefifteen hundred and forty four Miles to Omaha
podcast. Talking about the past presidentand future of cal State bulletin baseball.

(00:26):
And he drives this one Hindzee thecenter field Eliot carry all the way back
and that one is good on thethree runs shot for Timmy Richards three fields.
So people that Parkimpson or house timehit to center. Philhower coming over.

(00:50):
The cal State Philip Titans are goingto the super regional spodgain. Here's
your host, Dave Lamb. Welcomeepisode eighty five of the fifteen forty four
Miles to Omaha Podcast. Today's guests. He is Titan shortstop and infielder Christian
Cologne. A lot of great shortstopshave come through the doors at cal State

(01:12):
Fullerton. Christian Cologne is arguably oneof the best to have ever worn the
Blue and Orange. A three yearplayer at cal State Fullerton, Cologne played
for the Titans from two thousand andeight through twenty ten and was drafted fourth
overall by the Kansas City Royals intwenty ten. What's notable about that twenty
ten draft is that Cologne and teammateGary Brown were both drafted in the first

(01:34):
round, and that is the onlyyear that multiple Titans were selected in the
first round of the same draft.During his time at cal State Fullerton,
Cologne batted three forty nine twenty ninehome runs and drove in one hundred and
forty seven runs. His seventeen homeruns in twenty ten led the team,
and he currently still ranks in thetop ten in numerous Titan baseball categories.

(01:57):
His single season records with the Titanshave him ranked tied for eight with San
Favada for runs scored at eighty twoin two thousand and nine. His twenty
one sacrifice hits in two thousand andeight ranked second for a single season and
is a Titans freshman record talking aboutsacrificing his body. He is tied for
six with Ivory Thomas and Reed Johnsonbeing hit by a pitch in two thousand

(02:20):
and nine. For his three yearcareer in college, Colognes seven hundred and
sixty six at bats ranks eighth,but ranks first amongst three year players.
His two hundred and sixty seven hitsranked sixth all time, but yet again
ranks first amongst players that only playedthree years at Fullerton, ahead of other
notable three year Titans like Mark Cootseand Phil Nevin. Colonne scored two hundred

(02:46):
and fourteen runs in his Titan career, again tops among three year players.
Christian was not only good at theplate, but he had an excellent glove,
recording two hundred nineteen assists in twentyten, which ranks third for his
single seat, and five hundred andforty seven total assists in three years.
Those five hundred and forty seven assistsranked fourth all time in Titan baseball history,

(03:07):
and as you might have guessed atranks number one among three year Titans.
Only David Batani, Justin Turner,and Shane Turner, all four year
Titans, have more assists than ChristianCologne, an All American all three years
on campus, Cologne played fourteen USAcollegiate national teams in two thousand and eight

(03:28):
and two thousand and nine. Draftedfourth overall by the Kansas City Royals,
Cologne would make his debut on Julyfirst, twenty fourteen, with the Royals.
Playing the six years in the Majorleagues with the Royals, Miami Marlins,
and the Cincinnati Reds. Cologne's seminalmoment came in Game five of the
two thousand and fifteen World Series versusthe New York Mets. Tied two to

(03:49):
two, in the top of thetwelfth inning, with Jared Dyson on third
with one out, Cologne gets apinch hit got a pinch hit opportunity facing
Addison Reid, and on a oneto two count, a single to left
field, scoring Dyson to score thego ahead run. Recently, Cologne was
named the manager of the Arkansas Travelers, the Double a affiliate of the Seattle
Mariners. So lots of information andlots of background and lots of introductions.

(04:15):
So welcome into the show, Christian, Thanks for joining us. Thank you
for having me. David, Iappreciate it. It's been it's been a
crazy looking back at some of thosenumbers that I didn't even know. It's
been a crazy journey and I'm excitedto, you know, sit down here
and break it down with you andreally just say hi to all the fans

(04:36):
you know, Calsidate Flords and fansthat go across not only the West Coast,
but you know, all over thenation. In doing some research looking
up in the media Guide, dida search for last name cologne, and
your your name appeared, like Iwant to say, like forty seven times

(04:56):
off the top of my head.I could probably be corrected, but you
know, your name is just litteredthroughout the media guide and the record books.
Hearing those accomplishments, what what kindof emotions does that bring back for
you? Well, A lot ofa lot of emotions, you know.
I first think about given given thanksto God for keeping me healthy and giving

(05:19):
me an opportunity to follow my dreams. Uh. Then I think about my
parents a lot, and the sacrificesthat they made just to be able to
get me in those precisions too,you know, to move forward and the
sport that I love. And thenI think about my coaches. I think

(05:41):
about teammates, you know, thinkingabout coaches that gave me an opportunity to
play right away as a freshman,opportunity to earn you know, to go
out there at a young age ata really prestigious uh uh, you know
college program, and I was justblessed with you know, opportunities, and

(06:08):
I also, you know, feltlike I worked hard to make sure I
took care of those opportunities, thattook advantage of them. And so,
you know, just a lot ofa lot of you know, throwing me
back to a lot of conditioning,a lot of grinding moments that all my

(06:29):
teammates, you know, we hadthere. You know, I think about
the Will Heights and Jared Clark andJosh Philhower, guys that you know,
we're we're a big part of me. Just come Joe Scott coming in and
kind of embracing me, Joe Weeksagain, I can keep the name of

(06:54):
them. But it was fun.It was a lot of fun. They
taught me a lot, They gaveme an uppportunity to to join the team.
And and you know, and Garyknows how I feel about him.
You know, we've been really greatfriends since the beginning. Kevin Rath,
Jake Flothy, guys that we youknow, we came in together. So

(07:16):
yeah, it just takes me backto those great moments. Hopefully in the
next half an hour, however longwe have. You know, I'm sure
I'm going to ask you a fewmore questions that are going to bring up
some more of those. But let'sgo to the beginning. Born in Puerto
Rico lived in Texas, but thenmoved to California where you went to high
school at Canyon High School in AnahemHills. Take us through growing up before

(07:40):
coming to kel State Fortune. Yes, No, that was that was my
background. That was like my foundationwas Puerto Rico. Growing up there baseball,
you know, it was very popular, very important, and I developed
my skills early. You know,my dad and I we practiced a lot,

(08:01):
and we always just kind of tookpride in wanting to be the best
and going out there and having peopleask and say, well who's that shortstop?
You know, and great players ofcoming out of Puerto Ricos and you
know, back in the day.And so we had that drive, you

(08:22):
know, to to be able tobe able to achieve something in the sport.
And you know, I give themcredit. My family sacrificed a lot
time, you know, taking meto practices and games and tournaments and so
yeah, then from there we wentto Waco. That was a tough transition
just because personally, you know,I was I was twelve, No,

(08:46):
I was fourteen, and you know, moving to a whole different you know,
cultural state, it's it was,it was completely different for us,
especially you know at that age.But one thing that looking back really helped
me was that I was already sofar developed in the game that my skills

(09:09):
were a little bit more advanced thanyou know, my age group, and
so I was able to get onthe map quick when it came when it
came to baseball, so that thattransition was really helpful. It was.
It was a lot a lot better. And then from there my dad just
constantly he just kept getting better jobs, better opportunities that he couldn't pass up.

(09:31):
So we kept moving and we endedup in California, and you know,
I remember a quick story that Iwas my dad every time we moved
he found like the best baseball school, high school for me to play,
Like they had the name, youknow, and I remember him asking about

(09:52):
El Dorado High School. And youknow, at that time, I was,
I was going to all these tournaments. I was, I was getting
ranked, and I remember going himgoing there, asking, hey, like,
we're gonna move here. I havea son to play baseball, and
we would like to join your school. And you know, I remember them

(10:18):
kind of telling my dad, well, we have a junior and a senior
playing shortstop. You know, wedon't really know who it is, like
we don't. We're not taking anybodyelse on and and you know, here
comes coach Hoggett back in the day. He was there for to I mean
a Canyon. It was it wassuch a like normal, like easy transition.

(10:41):
When I showed up at Canyon,they they really made me feel comfortable.
It was almost like now, hey, like we're in the same boat.
We still have players here that aregoing to play. Grant Green was
part of the team, and hewas a well known player at the time,
and now like come on, andyou know, hey, you got

(11:01):
to earn it. We're not justgoing to hand it to you. And
so I think, but it wasit was it felt back at home,
you know, and you know weI had some like great coaches there,
and I was able to give anopportunity to play next to Grant from a
from an early age too. Hewas playing short stop. I played second,

(11:24):
and then once he committed to USC, he got drafted and ended up
going to USC. Then I movedover to short but really really fun times.
I remember being you know, aCanyon and it was it was a
beautiful campus, beautiful school, andyeah, and then from there, you

(11:48):
know, it kind of came downto do I want to stay home and
play in front of my parents,or do I want to go to Arizona
State. And Pat Murphy was inArizona State at the time, and we
had a lot of conversations, andyou know, I pretty much my dad
made me pick up the phone andsay, hey, like, you're the
one that has to make this decisionand call call Pat and let them know

(12:11):
that you're staying here and you wantto go to Fullerton. The reason I
picked Fullerton from the very beginning,not only was it close to the house,
but also they had a chance togo to the World Series every year,
you know, the College World Seriesevery year, and in the history,
the fact that it's a baseball school, there's nothing else that can distract

(12:37):
you from that. It's a goodthing and a bad thing, I believe.
So the focus was on us,and I really enjoyed, you know,
taking on those challenges, and Ifelt like, I love the colors
of the you know, the uniformsand the penstripes, and I just felt

(12:58):
like I was a huge you know, I still am justin Turner fan,
you know, and I think likethe Blake Davis is of the world and
you hear all these stories, andnot only like the the older players kept
you accountable in away, but itwas just the culture, you know,
that had been created in this placethat I loved it. From Augi gurto

(13:22):
to to Horton. So then youknow, Gilly recruited me vander Hook,
you know, all these all thesenames and all these people that have achieved
so much. Serrano was my coachBerdrawn. It was just really special.
So that's kind of how I endedup, you know, really fall in
love with with Fullerton. You saidit essentially came down to Fullerton and Arizona

(13:48):
State and you had to make thatdifficult phone call. Were there other schools
that that were coming after you?Or was it just pretty much you had
narrowed it down to Arizona State andFortune. You know, I say these
humbly, but every school, everyschool was was an option. I remember,

(14:09):
you know, kind of like sittingback and saying, wow, like
where I can choose to go wherever, you know, I want? Really,
and I had scored good in myall my tests, and you know,
obviously it's a lot more than justscoring good on your fact tests and
stuff. But I I felt likeI had a chance to go to anywhere

(14:30):
I wanted, and and uh,but I was just so in love with
baseball and and just that cultural feelingof like being one of the greats at
a place where baseball was really valuedlike that, that to me was like

(14:50):
really special. And so you know, obviously my goal going in was to
win a national championship, and thatwas kind of what we uh, you
know, we we just always kepttalking about it, and you know,
the other things the personal acculates,like believe it or not, Like none
of us really thought about any ofthat. And I think that's where we

(15:13):
played up. Our abilities played betterbecause of that. Well, you mentioned
that you were recruited by Jason Gillprimarily. Yeah, unfortunately, George Horton
accepts the job to go to Oregonright before you come in and and and

(15:33):
play. And obviously Dave Serrano comesover from UC Irvine and he was your
coach for three of his four yearswere the three years that you were on
campus. So talk to me alittle bit about was was it kind of
a little bit of a shock wheredid you did you essentially commit to cal
State Fullerton or were you committing toa coaching tree here. I mean,

(15:56):
what was that transition like for you? Yeah, no, that's a good
question, because I felt like,you know, Horden and Gilly and vanner
Hook. I mean, vander Hookwas actually the first one to ever approached
me and gave me, you know, kind of that sense of like,

(16:17):
hey, we we like you,you know, and Forardton be a great
spot for you. And so itwas a collective, you know, recruitment
process, and like I fell inlove with those guys, you know,
like their personalities, who they were, how they talked. They're baseball people
and you know, to this dayI see them, I'm you know,

(16:38):
I'm giving them a hug and I'llstop whatever I'm doing. But I think
we committed. It was based moreof the the towent around the area in
high school at that time was reallypowerful. It was Freddie mad Dominguez,

(16:59):
Freddie Freeman, me Gary Brown.I believe Ryan Dent was in that mix
too from Long Beach Wilson. Andso we felt like, all right,
if we can I know Freddie hadcommitted to Calston Fullardton, Matt demingus too,
and we felt that if for somereason we didn't go in the draft

(17:21):
where we wanted to, and weshowed up to school. It was gonna
be over Like we had the bestplayers from the area going in and it
was going to be a powerhouse forthe next three years. And that was
kind of like the first you know, conversation we had. But the coaches,

(17:44):
I wasn't worried about it. Imean I was, I was fully
bought in. I mean, theyhad done stuff before that was really impressive.
But then show actually showing up tocampus and you know, that fall
and everything's new to us. Imean, yes, it's it wasn't like

(18:04):
a big time crazy school like youwould think. It was still a close
net homie campus and but still likeit was it was the first time for
us to be really under like areal structure program. And so I remember
one day hearing that, hey,coach Horton and some of the staff members

(18:29):
might leave. They're they're going mightgo to Oregon where you know, the
offer they got it it's just youcan't you can't say no. And it
was shocking at the time. We'relike, whoa, so what is this
going to look like? You know, now we're sitting here like to start
a freshman year. You know,we're in the fall. But who's going

(18:52):
to be our coach? You know, what kind of what kind of mentality
we're going to have, and wecan I don't worry about that for a
little while until you know, wesaid, look, we can't control it.
In the end, we came hereto do something together and trying to
achieve things together whoever it is.You know, we're just gonna continue to

(19:12):
work. And and it's kind ofcrazy to think about it because we were
so young and to have that kindof mentality at that that young age.
But it was kind of like it'sgood, what's good or bad? You
know, it's I don't we don'tknow, you know, we're just gonna
We didn't know any better. SoI think the older guys obviously felt a
lot more pressure and a lot moreyou know, Uh, they're a lot

(19:37):
more worried just because they had beenwith coach Horton and that coach and staff.
But we didn't know any better,you know, the younger guys coming
in. So for me, yeah, and then when I look back now
and I'm like, well, ithappened the way it was supposed to happen.
You know, it couldn't have workedout any better. I think a
full coaching staff coming in hungry,they were excited to be there, they

(20:03):
were pumped about the opportunity, andthey were looking for players to help him
out as well. And we wereyoung, we were hungry, we wanted
to play our best, and Ithink that that combination really helped us mutually,
you know, flourish into having somegood seasons because I know Horton loved

(20:27):
me and he thought highly of meand and Vanderhook, but those guys had
like a system, you know,like you really really got to outperform some
players to be able to start asa freshman. And maybe they would have
used me different, who knows,But you know, we were thankful that
Toronto showed up and coach Burgee andyou know Sergia Brown Wally which he's now

(20:57):
at gc U Churge or like,there's just many guys that really helped us
during that time. You had mentionedthat Freddie Freeman was essentially part of that
class. We all know his storyand the fact that he got drafted where
he wanted to get drafted, andhe's done quite well for himself. Making

(21:21):
that decision, whether it was throughthe Braves and then obviously coming over to
the Dodgers. But what was itabout your path that you were coming to
cal State Fullerton and decided to passon on the draft opportunities you had coming
out of high school. Yeah,I had a good opportunity to go.
Actually with the Royals there was thefirst they're the first ones to call,

(21:47):
and we just felt like at thetime my upsite was a lot better.
It was gonna be a lot betterin three years. And you know,
we just good match up with thenumbers, you know, enough for me
to not give myself those three yearsof development. I thought about it in

(22:12):
many ways, you know, amI gonna Am I gonna really go to
rookie ball and with the wood batand really not really developed physically yet trying
to put up numbers and put myselfon the map. It might have taken

(22:33):
me a little while. And Ilooked at it as like, you know,
I'm gonna stay. I could.I could be around the house still,
my parents are around. I canstill you know, we're swinging metal
bats, and there's a thing abouthaving to put that together. Yet still
like I was still very weak,you know, I wasn't like super strong

(23:00):
as I as I wanted to beand I wanted to get faster, and
I felt like, before I canput myself my product in the professional baseball,
I wanted to be a little bitmore mature, not only physically,
but you know, mentally too.And it worked out where I looked at
it as like, well, youknow, the risk is that we get

(23:22):
hurt, and I ended up didn'tgetting hurt or really bad injury. But
the other thing too was that maybeI you know, I skipped some levels.
Once I get out of fuller team, I don't have to start in
rookie ball. You know, Ican start in some of the the you
know, high double A, middleleagues. So it kind of it worked

(23:45):
out. You know, it workedout in that sense. But to your
point, I mean it was itwas not easy decision too. I mean
that's all we we always think about, you know, playing baseball professionally and
make it to the major leagues.There was an opportunity to do it and

(24:07):
that step in the classroom for alittle while, and you know, but
we felt like it was we haddifferent, you know, different views on
it, and you know, Iwanted to make sure I was ready to
kind of jump into that world.I never gonna be ready. And you

(24:29):
know, looking back now, it'slike, if the number made sense for
me to do that, I wouldhave done it. But in the end
it worked out that were supposed to. So take us through that freshman year.
You had a pretty good season andmentioned in the in the intro that
you had, you know, acouple of records that still stand. But
how was that transition from Kenyon HighSchool to freshman year at colseate Ford.

(24:56):
It was big. It was big, more people, there's more struck.
Sure, I felt more, notpressure, because I embraced the pressure of
it. I liked it, butit was it was like a little bit
more anxiety, like a little bitmore nerve racking in a sense because you

(25:17):
know, you go from our highschool program to a pretty big time program
and you know, I they dida good job. The coaching staff did
a great job maintain balancing, givingme some literature like being a leader.
Hey, like you're a short stopand you can be a leader, but

(25:40):
also understanding, like we might putyou in a you know, two hole,
or you might lead off, butreally right now we need you in
the seventh eighth spot, you know, and I think you need to focus
more on let's move guys over.Fine your role. Eventually we're hoping that

(26:02):
you're going to develop him too,a guy that's gonna hit in the middle
of the lineup, you know,and hit some hits for power and be
more of a presence. But rightnow, coming out of high school,
you do have a lot of hype. You do have, but they were
so good identifying. Look, yourtools aren't it's not your Gary Brown that

(26:23):
it's an eighty runner. You know. It's not like you're Chris Davis with
the crazy power. It's not likeyou're but your solid player all around to
a point where you elevate your gamewhen you stay within yourself. So they
encourage that, you know, onme, and I can looking back,

(26:45):
I can be, you know,any any more thankful for any happier because
it really it's set a good foundationfor me there. Like to your to
your point, I sacrificed most ofmy time. I felt like I had
a lot of sacrifice bunts, butI also found a way to really understand

(27:08):
that that year that I didn't haveto get a hit every single time up,
you know, to to help theteam. It took a lot of
pressure from me as a freshman toget hits here and there and you know,
play good defense, solid defense andkind of give them a foot in
the door that way. So itwas it was good coming out of high

(27:30):
school. You did have those accoladesand they did say that you you had
that pedigree coming in. Was wasit difficult to hear that at the time?
I mean, going back to beingan eighteen year old freshman, was
it Maturity is one thing, butwas it was it difficult to hear that
and and have to embrace that roleor because it was cal State Fortune that
had the tradition that it was,was it like, okay, but you

(27:52):
know they know better than me,or you know, how how did you
how did you receive that information,especially as a freshman. That's a great
question, And I'm thinking that itwas tough to hear first, and it
was kind of like I wanted toa little bit go against it, but
also I was trying to play thisgame where you know what, Like you

(28:15):
said, this is cal State Fullerton, so many guys have come out of
here. This is such an eliteprogram. I was. I was thankful
to to have the opportunities to bethere, and I think a lot of
how I was raised came out inthe end or of being more of a
leader, Like I understood that atan early age. I understood that if

(28:38):
we succeed as a team, everybody'sgonna eat, everybody's going to be successful,
everybody's going to be talking about whata great team it is and what
you know. And I understood thatplaying short stop too comes with the with
that tag, you know, likeyou the you the captain of the infield,

(29:02):
a lot like the send the fielderto the outfielders. So to me,
it's like all I want to dois just I didn't want to sit
out a year. I didn't wantI would do anything to be on that
field every day playing shortstop and Imaturing and what eventually would become, you

(29:22):
know, a fourth pick. Overall, that was really not ever. Yeah,
I wanted to get drafted in thefirst round, but it was really
not ever a main goal. Itwas always let's win, let's let's take
care of each other. And thoseare the years that I really value even

(29:44):
now, Like there's nothing like beingin the locker room, clubhouse full of
guys that are pulling the same waythat pulling for the same things. There's
no there's no value to that thatyou can't put the chemistry, the love,
going through the failures together, goingthrough running stadiums, you know,

(30:07):
puking your brains out and just grinding, like just working as hard as you
can to get the best out ofyourself and and to get the best out
of each other. And so withthat, we were really good about that.
The core group of freshmen was reallygood about pushing that. And I

(30:29):
really think it's because we didn't wantto be the ones that messed up the
culture. You know, like we'veheard so many stories that we didn't want
to be that class that came inand that class is lazy. Ah,
that class is talented but never fulfilledtheir their their full potential. Like nah,
not at all, Like it wasthe opposite. It was like too

(30:49):
much of no, Like we can't. We can't be the reason why Fullerton
starts to maybe dip down. Ever, there's too much us respect for guys
like you know you said Cat sayPhil Nevin, all you Garrito guys that
go way back, and you know, David Bakani and Shane Costa, Like

(31:11):
I can name all these guys becauselike they're truly guys that you know did
something that Ricky Romero like, youknow, so it's just really cool,
really cool to to be able tobe part of that. Who were some
of the older guys you mentioned,Josh Bellhauer, Chris Davis, those guys

(31:33):
were a little bit older. Werethere any guys that kind of took you
under their wing and we're like,hey, freshman, you know, this
is this is the way, thisis the way it is here. You're
you're a Titan now and this isthis is the way it is. Yeah,
I mean really all of them WillHie, John will h Uh,
Joe Scott, Joe Weeks, youknow, even I mean I remember guys

(32:01):
that came in from the outside,you know, like junior college transfers come
out to Nick Nick Ramirez as hewas younger than us, but he kind
of followed in the in those stepstoo, like you know, let's see

(32:22):
man, like so many impactful peoplethat you know, I remember them really
pushing me really early on in thefall. They wanted to test us.
They wanted to test like what kindof personality, what kind of like grit?
Is this guy tough or is heweak? Is he gonna like fold

(32:45):
under pressure? Because I think thoseguys you know, the Will Hides and
the Fay he's in those and ChrisJones, and then then guys like they've
been they were you know, theywent to the World Series before they abandoned
places and super Regionals and all that'sit's like, it gets, it gets,

(33:06):
you know, for eighteen year oldkid, freshmen like you got to
be composed and you better be youknow, just tough because you're gonna hear
things that you know, I wantto from the fans. You're gonna there's
gonna be things that aren't gonna goyour way. So they mainly they wanted
to see what kind of grit Ihad, you know, and I I

(33:28):
like to say, I responded,you know, the best I could.
And I responded to well, butyeah, I know those guys, those
guys gave me tough love. Butthey ended up really then like embracing me
like a like a brother. Well, speaking about of adversity, you mentioned
the injury which you had broken legin twenty ten, suffered in the in

(33:53):
the summer, So take us takeus through trying to overcome overcome that point
where you had a broken leg keptyou out for quite a bit of time.
Yet you're still able to put togetherthat junior season and then eventually get
drafted where you did. Yeah,that was that was one of the hardest

(34:15):
moments of my life, just fromthe uncertainty that going into college was like,
Okay, well you got three yearshere, let's get after it,
let's work, let's win games.And you know, I felt like I
was living in dreams, you know, I was. I was really focused

(34:36):
on on my body, getting better, getting better in all aspects of it,
you know, of the game,and playing for Team USA again.
I can name a bunch of peoplethat made that happen and gave me an
opportunity to be part of that organizationfor so long and and so I felt

(35:00):
really blessed, you know. Andwe played some hostile games, and one
of them was that in Canada.I was having a great summer. I
was at the end of my sophomoreseason. We had just you know,
as a school, we just comeoff the College World Series. Yeah,

(35:21):
we're you know, two losses andout. But we felt like, okay,
like this year coming coming on,like our junior year, is it
Like we got a taste of whatit's like. Most of our guys were
returning like we're feeling good about it, like and so you know, I
remember being really excited that summer andreally like focused, and then it came

(35:45):
out that, you know, mynumbers were just I was even surprising myself.
You know. I think it wasthat kind of mentality where I just
couldn't wait to get back to school. So the high roller coaster I was
I was writing came down crashing thatthat Uh, that day in Canada,

(36:06):
we it was a hostile game.I remember Garrett Cole was pitching. Uh.
We were playing Team Canada and Canadaand there was a it was a
close game. I was playing shortstop. They hit it or they bunted to
third base, but it was ahard bunt and I'll go to cover second

(36:30):
base and I'm acting like a firstbaseman because the guy he's like not even
halfway yet to second base. Andyou know, I catched the ball like
a first basement. I sent myfeet and then I throw the first base
for a double play. But theguy that was coming to second, which

(36:51):
he was already out, he kindof ducks out of the way so I
don't hit him. And then Iturned I kind of turned my my back
a little and so he kept going. He kept going, and then try
to he said, break the doubleplay or something, and it was on
purpose, like it was just uh, one of the dumbest plays that anybody

(37:12):
could try to argue. But hekept going and then he hit my shin
pretty good. I didn't see himcoming or anything, so I knew it
was fractured in the minute he hitme. And so then you know,
a bral breaks out. You know, we're trying to get everybody out of
there and everything. You know,finally we calmed down, and I remember

(37:36):
guys like Trevor Bauer was in thatin that brawl, I mean, does
Monti Grendal, Garrett Cole. They'reall fighting for me. And it was
maybe feel good at the moment,I mean it was it was cool to
feel protected. But then then thatit set in. You know, I
was almost in shocked, you know, Leven going to the hospital, Like

(37:58):
a lot of stuff goes through yourmind at that age, especially when you
you have built something up for solong and it felt like it was going
right. And then that happened,and it took me back mentally for the
rest of the It happened in July, so the rest of your life was
really bad mentally August, especially becauseI couldn't I couldn't really, I couldn't

(38:22):
walk. You know. I wasjust sit somewhere in the house for a
while, and all my buddies aregetting ready to come back from their seasons
and summer ball, and you know, we show up back to school and
I I'm on crutches or I'm youknow, I'm not. I'm not taking
part in really that sole team bondingthat goes on in the fall. You

(38:49):
know, It's like the fall isespecially a fortune. It's like it's more
than just get reps. You know, it's a chance to get to know
your teammates really well and find outlike really who they are and be together
and like not so much of achaos atmosphere that the spring's gonna bring.

(39:13):
So I wasn't being part of that, and I felt I fell alone.
But I had a great group ofguys that were around me, Like those
those guys I mentioned, Kevin Rath, Jake Flothy, Gary Brown, we
all lived together, and they keptreminding me, man, like you're you're
part of this team. You're ahuge part. You're gonna be all right,
We're gonna get through it and thatreally was the the pushing point for

(39:35):
me to to feel like, youknow what, like at least I have
these guys here, man, they'rethey're pushing me, and they believe in
me that I can come back thisyear. And and so yeah, I
had surgery. Obviously, after gettinghit in the broken leg. I stayed
in Canada for a couple of days, let the swelling go down and trying

(39:59):
to be medications so I wouldn't hurtas bad, but kind of an air
cast type of deal. And thenI flew to California. We went into
surgery right away, and to beable to fix it, it fit like
quick. In order for me tobe able to at least try to play,
that sprang was to put a metalrod in the bone through you know,

(40:22):
through my knee and in the bone, and so technically I'm I was
standing on a on a metal baruntil until it healed. So then we
go on and fast forward to Igot clearer to kind of you know,
play and walk around and stuff.And it was it was really bad.

(40:45):
I mean I was hobbling really bad. I hurt. I didn't move like
before the season was coming in afew months and it's just like wouldn't get
any better, and I just Igot off to a slow start. He
just didn't feel right, and youknow, I just kept praying I have

(41:07):
faith. But at the same time, I just kept trying to work it
out, do everything else supposed to, trying to strengthen it while playing,
icing it after the games, justbeing real good with it, you know,
and trying not to let those doubtscreep in of you know, what
are the teams going to say?Now? You know, what are they

(41:29):
going to evaluate? And our teamis not performing how I was hoping,
you know, Fullerton, And andthen I remember one day, I think
it was in May, May seventeenthor so. I remember the yeah,
like late May, I woke upand the kind of the pain kind of

(41:52):
went away, and I'm like,hmm, so I started running better and
things started picking up from there,and and we ended up like, you
know, doing well as a team, and you know, didn't didn't didn't
achieve our goal of being in theWorld Series, but we came damn close

(42:14):
to it, And and then thingslike that just kind of went went up
from there. You know, Ithink the Royals and at the time dating
Moore, which is I'm forever gratefulfor him. He he saw the grit
and the passion and the hard workthat I had put in, and he

(42:36):
knew the skills were there, andI think he, uh, he gave
me that opportunity. Let's go throughdraft day first. For you that going
through the rehab of having a brokenleg and it finally feeling better pretty late
in the season. What was whatwas draft day like for you? Were

(42:57):
you terribly surprised that being the fourthoverall pick or did you kind of have
some conversations before the draft kind ofknow that it was coming. So I
have put myself in a really goodplace according to some you know, the
the agent I had at the time. And to be honest, like I

(43:20):
felt like it was a win winfor me. I had. I had
kind of beat something that was likementally beating me up, and I just
I had that mindset of like whatevercomes is the win, it's a win,
it's a plus. Like the factthat I'm able to play again,
like I'll I'll be fine wherever Igo, Like I can play again with

(43:42):
no pain. And you know,they it was a surprise that day just
because like you don't know how thatthe draft's gonna go. They want to
tell you, you know, yourrepresentatives want to tell you, but they
still gotta, you know, wait. And I remember being in my apartment

(44:05):
with my teammates, my mom anddad. We had a we had a
regional game that night against Minnesota,and I don't know if it was regional,
it had to be or super regional, but it was. It was
against Minnesota, and I know,I was just sitting there and they picked.

(44:25):
They picked Bryce Harper, Thailand getspicked, and then Machado gets I
knew I had a chance to gothat early with Baltimore because I felt like
we had to get conversation with Baltimoreand they were looking for a short stop.
They just didn't know if they weregoing call it short stop or they
going high school. And uh,when I saw Machado got picked, I'm

(44:50):
like, Okay, there's the answer. They went with the high schooler,
and that's fine. Like obviously itturned out to be a pretty good pick.
But like at the time, youknow, we're just like okay,
cool. So then I'm probably thinking, all right, I was telling guys,
let's go, like we got togo to the field, and we
just kind of have to get readyfor what we got to do. You
know, we will find out lateron, you know. And I get

(45:13):
a call my cellphone with like Ithink it was like forty seconds to go
or something, and it's, uh, that's what it's it's my agent and
goes, hey, congratulations, likeyou're getting picked right here in this spot,
the royals are picking you. AndI looked at my parents and I

(45:35):
just broke down, you know,started crying. Like a lot of emotions
came out. My teammates were obviouslyjumping and you know, so happy for
me, and uh, and thenwe just kind of sat back waiting for
the pick to come in. Andwhen they said Christian, we just all
lost it and couldn't believe it.But at the same time, we have

(46:00):
put a lot of work, alot of tears, a lot of sweat,
a lot you know. It waslike a grateful feeling but also like
man like we put in the work, like and it's true. It's true
if you put in the work,at some point, you're gonna get a
break. And so I was.I was thankful for that. I was

(46:21):
like one of the highest obviously momentsin my life and my family, in
my career and then from there wewent to the game, went to the
stadium and it was like I waswalking on I was in the air,
you know, I was just likeI couldn't feel any movement. You know.

(46:42):
We had guys from other teams withthe other team just congratulating me and
my teammates. It was it wasreally special moments. Do you remember how
you did that night? Yeah,now balled out. Yeah, I did
well. I think I had afew hits and made some plays. And

(47:06):
yeah, Kansas City a good reasonto tippy where they took you. So
yeah, yeah, nothing like turningon the TV and seeing a regional and
seeing the guy you picked forth overallactually have a pretty good, pretty good
game and validated. Yeah. Sounfortunately didn't make it back to the Cult
World Series. I believe that wasthe year where the Super Regionals were up

(47:30):
at u C l A. Yeah, and your face, you're facing former
teammates from Team USA. You mentioned, you know, Garrett Cole, who
I believe was uh, you know, what was was pitching and and so
what was that? What was thatkind of was that for you? The
fact that you guys were Team USAteammates. But then now you're trying to

(47:51):
beat each other's braids in to getthe Omaha. Yeah, it was the
dogfight, you know, those thosethose games were in tens. Incredible talent
when it comes to Baur and Cole, and they had Rasmussen two which he
actually ended up beating us on Sunday, but you know, they just dog

(48:14):
fights and looking across you know andthinking about it now, ye, looking
across the dugout back then and goingto battle with those guys like dream come
true, Like it's that's what youthat's what you trained for, that's what
you you lived for. And youknow, Garrett was given his best.

(48:35):
I was giving my best, allof our teammates and and we came.
We came, I think and oneout, one out on Saturday to to
to go to Omaha. But weended up walking the guy and then the
next guy hit a walk off homerand then uh we had to go play
Sunday. And you could tell,you know, when you have when you

(49:00):
have a team, you know,you got to step on their necks when
you have them right there laying down, and so we gave them, we
give him some breathing room. AndSunday was just an awkward, weird feeling.
I think a lot of guys justtheir psyche and their mental you know
state. We weren't. We weren'ta good mental state, and so they

(49:20):
ended up getting us. But itwas a good series, really good series.
So unfortunately, don't make it theOmaha. But we've already been through
the draft. What was that foryou? Season's over with. We know
you're going to be going to theminors, so take us a little bit
through the minor league career. ButI definitely do want to be able to

(49:42):
hit on your major league career,especially the two major postseason moments. Yeah,
no, that was uh, thatwas after that game, you know
it was it was bittersweet, uh, because I knew we didn't accomplish our
goal. It was bigger than us. We wanted to get to where we
wanted to get, but it itended, so you know, it's better

(50:07):
sweet, and we ended up justI remember just hugging it out and kind
of just going our separate ways.And I still stayed in touch with a
lot of those guys and obviously thecoaches too, but I took a couple
of weeks to kind of get togetherfor what was you know, get my
mind right for what was coming next, and we uh we flew to Kansas

(50:30):
City, signed a contract, andthen the next day I was I was
in hi A in Wilmington, Delaware, and that was a shock again all
over again. You you would think, you know, here I just got
done playing in college, like it'llbe a smooth transition. No. Like

(50:53):
I found myself having the after takinga couple of weeks off going straight into
a season, and that I hadto put up. I had to I
had to do well mentally. Youknow, it was exhausted, you know.
I I wish I would have justtold the team at that time,

(51:13):
hey, like I need a coupleof weeks in Arizona, you know,
to get to get ready to train, to hit, to like slowly get
back into things. Because then mylegs started hurting again, you know,
just not playing for two weeks andthen now I'm off of it and then
now getting try to ramp it backup again. So I wasn't running one

(51:37):
hundred percent, you know, andnow you're getting evaluated, you know,
you're get evaluated by the pro scouts. And it just wasn't trying to be
a team guy and trying to bea guy that was like Okay, you
know, I'm a I'm a thisis something bigger than me. And at

(51:58):
the time, you know, I'mthinking in this way just like Fullerton.
But then I come to quickly realizethat this is more of a business,
and this is more of like takingcare of who you are in order for
you to be the best you canand then you're gonna You're gonna perform for
the team. So you know,we go on and then uh and then

(52:22):
yeah, not pretty much it.You know, we just and I came
back and I got ready for myfirst full of spring training. So in
talking with a number of Titans thathave gone on and played professionally, whether
they've made it all the way themajors or or their career ended in the
minors, they said that it wasa very tough transition because coming from that

(52:45):
Titan culture where it is all aboutthe team and we want to get to
Omaha and we want to win together. But then once you get into professional
baseball you might be able to speakof this because now now you're a manager
and for a double a team thatunfortunately it's very individualized, so the team
may lose, but if a guygoes four for five, with a couple

(53:06):
of home runs and stolen bases.You know, it doesn't affect him as
much as if you were losing thegames as a team in the college.
Oh, you're one percent right onthat. And I think it's important to
know that winning is part of developingand it's tough to our job nowadays especially

(53:27):
I look at it from this perspective. Yeah, I want you to be
happy about the performance you put outthere. But in the end, like
if you want to be a winnerand you want to be part of something
bigger than yourself, you learn howto deal with that. You know,
maybe when you get back to yourhotel, your apartment house, whatever,

(53:50):
Hey, you call your family oryou call your wife, whoever. I
had a pretty good day today personally, it was good. But overall there's
a sense of being a professional andwe're all in this together. And so
yeah, just a little bit,I would like to say that in college
it's just pushed onto you so much. Then you're on this side of it,

(54:15):
it's all about the team you take. You know, you've got two
strikes and they throw you take thepit. You let it hit you like
to a point where like it's liketoo much on this side, right,
like, we got to be rightin the middle and not not so selfish,
but not so bought into I'll doanything for you know, for for

(54:39):
the sake of winning. That's whatminor League is about. It's like,
how can we bridge both of thoseand combine those together and have a smooth
you know, just be neutral,be in the middle. A lot of
guys that come from good programs havestruggles with that, and you know,

(55:00):
but in the end, I believethat that's if that's who you are,
it's going to pay off at somepoint. I think that's where I.
I have this testimonial to like deliverbecause I was a very very team guy
and got to pro ball was hard. Try to switch to a more personal

(55:27):
level for me. Take care ofme first didn't work out. It was
starting to really cause a lot offriction and it just wasn't me. I
didn't feel right. So I wentback to being you know, I want
to be part of something bigger thanmyself, and eventually we ended up you
know, fourteen fifteen, and Iwasn't in the roles that I thought I
should have been in, but inthe end, that was the role that

(55:51):
I was in. And actually workedout because I did a good job with
the role, so not all thetime. If I had to miss on
one of the other sides side,I'll miss on the being a team guy
and understanding that if we all havesuccess, we're all gonna eat. We

(56:14):
talked about getting drafted, but talkto me about getting the call up and
going to the show. Going tothe show was in the middle of the
summer. I remember in June Ihad really played well in trimple A,
and like I said, I waskind of in this in this mindset where

(56:37):
I'm gonna just continue to play forthe team, continue to play for the
organization for you know, bigger thingsthan me, and I started playing well.
I got the call. I remember, it was nothing crazy. The
manager called me. It's like,hey, you're going to uh You're going
to Minnesota. That's where you're gonnameet the team. They were playing twins,

(57:01):
and it was crazy. I walkup to my first at bat in
the major leagues and Kurtsuzuki is catching. It was such an amazing moment for
me, and I remember telling himlike, dude, this is this is

(57:21):
awesome, Like literally, no,I don't care what happens the fact that
my first at bat in the majorleagues, I can always look back to
it and another Titans right here.That was that was cool and that kind
of Titan because kurtz Zuki is alegend, so it really it was really

(57:43):
really powerful, really powerful for methat first day. It was was trying
to take it all in and that'snuts. I didn't I didn't know that
Kirk was. Kirt was was behindthe dish when you when you took her
first at bat, that's awesome.So let's let's go through the at bat.
Two thousand and four thirteen American AmericanLeague Wildcard game against the Oakland A's.

(58:04):
And again, uh, we're inthe we're in the twelfth inning,
and it's extras. You hit aninfield single to score. Eric Hosmer ties
the game. You stole second toput yourself into scoring position. Salvador Perez
singles, you score the winning run, and then all bedlam breaks out.

(58:25):
Yeah, take me through that.Well, here's Cologne with the time run
a third, and you wouldn't putthe squeeze out of the equation right here
either, especially when Cologne has alook for the signs until right now.
Now he's stepping out of the box. You got two chances. Here got

(58:45):
Cologne and you got Gordon on deck. Hi chopper, you'll never hear time,
you know? That was really Igot to give credit to our coach.
Is there to Rusty Rusty Khu's ourfirst base coach really was the one
that told me, let's go,this is the time to steal this pitch

(59:07):
right now. And then like justjust the whole vibe of that, you
know, being able to make itsomewhere as a team that hadn't been in
the postseason in thirty years, andthen realizing, you know what we're we're
I think we're kind of out ofthis thing. But it's seventy three in
the I think seven to three andthe seventh or eighth inning, and Lester

(59:30):
was still in the mound. Butwe just get stealing bases. Cologne has
two stolen bases right hand or mightallow him to steal. So the door,
Perez at the plate, Hamble throwsover, let's play their first base.

(59:50):
Christian Cologne fractured the middle finger ofhis right hand. That's why he
has that protective sleeve on. Ikidding, we always call it an oven
myt that sort of looks like tome, but it protect your hand as
you slide back into the base.The chance you're gonna get a break the
ball with two strikes, it mightbe worth a chance going on this pitch.

(01:00:15):
And there he goes and it pitchedout and off the gloves of Derek
Norris. They knew it was coming. You see where the eyes of Norris
were not on the baseball watching itinto the glove. They were on Cologne,
who was running the second base.That's a lot to miss. The

(01:00:37):
winning run is at second the teamthat led baseball and stolen bases and using
it to their greatest advantage tonight,now looking for a two out hit pass
doors in the love to what kindsof city timely hits? And then you

(01:01:05):
can see the momentum building and itwas like one of the coolest games I've
ever been part of, especially justcontributing that way, getting an infield hit
and then you know Salvey coming inwith that, I mean that hit.
It was We just couldn't believe itwas it was over. It went from
like such a roller coaster game,you know that. I it was one

(01:01:28):
for the ages. So I wasI was thankful to be a part of
and I got this, I gotthis picture that I gotta show you guys
that remind me of it every time. Oh that's awesome. So first,
obviously this is a this is apot audio podcast, but he just showed
us a picture from down the thirdbase line as Christian is coming in to

(01:01:52):
home and to score that winning run, because it was it was hit into
left field, into foul territory beyondthe back, so it was it was
a no doubt or you didn't haveto beat the throw because it was it
was it was a no doubter.So that's that's a fantastic, fantastic photo.

(01:02:12):
Yeah, it was specially pretty darncool. But I don't know,
does it compare to the fact thatyou had twenty fifteen game Game five of
the World Series, and well andtwelfth inning again and you get to you

(01:02:35):
get to hit the the hit thatbrings in the RBI. That was that
broke the tie and then the gamebroke wide open. So uh, take
us take us through that one aswell. Well. That was that was
really special. I mean again,we're going from keep topping these things better
and better and better, and Ijust couldn't believe it. I mean,

(01:02:55):
I was so excited to be ableto we want to be part of this
group. And then on top ofall this, to be able to get
back to the World Series after losingGame seven to you know, the Giants,
like that was that was a blessingitself to get back to that spot
and give us a chance to win. And I remember just the year before

(01:03:21):
that to me prepared me for thetwenty fifteen at bat. You know,
I was more calm. I knewexactly what I kind of had to do
in order to get Dison in andI I remember telling myself, like,
hey, you've done this before.I know you're nervous. Just put the
ball in play. And I forgetthat the picture too, Like Addison,

(01:03:46):
he was a good picture, buthe was nervous too. This is a
high leverage situation and so you know, we I ended up putting the ball
in play and it happened to bea basic and you know, I really
just couldn't be happier it was.It was one of the obviously the most
memorable moment in my baseball career.It's first to the postseason. Come on

(01:04:14):
and this schools and Kansas City isin town. Three to two. You
were just recently announced as the managerfor the Arkansas Travelers, which is the
double A affiliate for the Seattle Mariners. Take us through that and then,
you know, just kind of bringus up to speed to where we are

(01:04:35):
talking now. Yeah. No,I after I retire in twenty twenty one,
again, I was able to playin the major leagues for bars of
six seasons. I had a lotof fun, met a lot of good
people in the game. And youknow, now we're we're. I retired

(01:04:58):
in twenty twenty one, went andworked for the Royals for a couple of
seasons as an assistant hitting coach andthen a bench coach. And then this
opportunity came uh to move up inmy in my coach career and become a
manager. And I can't thank theMariners, you know, organization enough like
I can't think there their front office, you know enough believing in me to

(01:05:24):
lead young men. I know,I know how passionate I am about it,
and I and I can't wait toget started. So yeah, first
season to be the be a manager, and I'm looking forward to it.
I know, you know, it'sit's not gonna be easy. There's gonna

(01:05:44):
be plenty of offstacles, but thisorganization is really doing things right. They're
really empowering younger and and really youngerguys to be in roles to really impact
some of these younger players. Andso I'm excited for it. I can't

(01:06:04):
wait. I'm getting ready to hitleave here in a couple of weeks and
get going. So one of yourfinal thoughts for the Titan fans out there
before you get to work, Yeah, come stay hello. If you've ever
seen me, I love talking baseball, I love talking forwardson. I know

(01:06:27):
I've been talking to Neil Walton abunch, you know, and I'm just
excited to keep up with the guys. I know they had dinner with the
Titans not too long ago, alumnigame all that. I'm looking forward to
maybe being part of that soon nextyear, and I'm excited. So if
you see me, come say hello. And I mean, once the Titan,

(01:06:49):
We're always the Titan. So andthanks for the support all the years.
Seriously, all the fans out there, thank you for the support.
It really does mean a lot.Thanks for listening to the fifteen hundred forty
four Miles to Omaha podcast. Feelfree to visit our website, Calstateomaha dot

(01:07:14):
com. While there, you canorder an official Calstate Omaha T shirt from
the merch Store. Follow the fifteenhundred forty four Miles to Omaha podcast on
Twitter and Instagram at cal Stateomaha.Please like us on Facebook at Facebook dot
com slash Calstateomaha. The fifteen hundredforty four Miles to Omaha Podcast is an
on the Lamb Enterprises production. Itis not affiliated with Calstatefulletin or Titan Baseball