Dodger Talk (3-6-23)

Spring Training Dodger Talk with David Vassegh who talks to MLB Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Morgan Sword and Dodger outfielder Jason Heyward.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Dodger Talk. David Vassewith you until eight o'clock tonight here on
AM five seventy LA Sports. Andthis will be one of only two Dodger
Talks this week because we have UCLAbasketball in the Pac twelve Tournament. I
fully expect them to win their firstround game and then move on to Friday

(00:21):
night. So just expect tonight andThursday night for Dodger Talk same time.
And in case you missed any ofthe shows or any of our great pregame
interviews during the spring, you canfind them on the iHeartRadio app. We
have a great show for you tonight. We are going to catch up with
Jason Hayward. You only heard aportion of our conversation on the pregame show

(00:44):
today. Tonight you will hear thefull conversation with Jason Hayward, who certainly
is having a strong spring and certainlymaking a statement after all the hard work
he put in during the opseason.Also coming up at seven fifteen, we
are talking rules rules at the highestlevel. That's right, Executive vice president
from Major League Baseball's Operations, Morgan'sSword is going to join us. He

(01:10):
is at the very top of thefood chain when it comes to the pitch
clock and all these new rules thatMajor League Baseball has implemented. So we'll
talk to Morgan about it. Maybehe can clarify it for you get you
ready for Opening Night, which isfast approaching. It's coming up at the
end of the month. March thirtiethis Opening Night at Dodger Stadium between the

(01:32):
Dodgers and Diamondbacks. So you needto know the rules and it's a work
in progress for everybody involved. ButMorgan's Sword is going to join us in
the next segment. He is theexecutive vice president of Baseball Operations for Major
League Baseball and coming up at thebottom of the hour, Jason Hayward.

(01:53):
But I really want you to voiceyour opinion tonight about the rules, especially
after Morgan's Sword joins us. Eightsix six nine eight seven two five seventy.
Speaking of the rules and the pitchclock, Clayton Kershaw, after his
b game outing yesterday, voiced hisopinion on the pitch clock, even though

(02:15):
he hasn't even been in a gameto use it today. I mean,
I need to get out there anddo it, you know. I think
my times are within the within thepitch clock realm, But obviously I need
to get out there and test itout and make sure that you know,
everything's good there. And you know, obviously there's some ways to scheme it
too, to mess with the hittersa little bit too. So hopefully,

(02:35):
hopefully I feel comfortable enough to dothat too. We all watch shars,
you know. I think he gotcalled for a quick pitch though, so
I think they're probably gonna be lookingat that. But yeah, I mean,
there's definitely ways to to scheme it. You know, there's some timing
issues there for some hitters, sothere's some unintended consequences for the rules for
sure. Yeah, this pitch clockwas not only supposed to make the game

(02:58):
quicker, have a quicker pace ofplay, but also generate more offense.
And I don't believe the pitch clockin itself is going to generate more offense.
The shift being eliminated will the biggerbasses probably will entice space runners to
try to run more. I heardTim Neverd say on the broadcast yesterday that
stolen basses are up sixty percent.I'm not sure where he got that number,

(03:23):
but I believe it. I believethat runners are on the move more.
But the pitch clock is going tobe interesting because, as you heard
Kershaw reference, certain pitchers are goingto play a Ketton Mouse game with the
hitter. And just from what I'veseen so far, it feels like hitters
are being rushed more than pitchers feelrushed. Eight six six nine eight seven

(03:46):
two five seventy is the phone numbertoday. The Dodgers and Padre squared offen.
It was a big day for NoahSyndergard, who went three perfect innings
for the Dodgers against San Diego andthen in May followed with three scoreless innings
against the Padres at Camelback Ranch.I wouldn't put too much stock in these

(04:08):
type of games because the Padres reallybrought out their B game B line up,
I should say B lineup to camelBack Ranch outside of Fernando Tatise Junior.
But it's better than those two guysgetting roughed up. So the one
thing about Noah Syndergard that you haveto keep your eye on, and I

(04:29):
know he is as well and sorethe Dodgers, is his velocity and the
life on his fastball. It wasn'tthere last year for the Angels. The
Dodgers were confident they could get himto have better mechanics to in turn turn
up the heat on his fastball.So far, we haven't really seen it.

(04:51):
We saw him in his first outingninety one ninety two. Today we
saw more than ninety two ninety three. He touched ninety four a couple of
times. But I'm a big believerin pitching, knowing how to pitch rather
than be a thrower. But incertain pictures cases, they need velocity to
be effective, and that's Noah Syndergard. He needs velocity to be effective.

(05:15):
I've talked to hitters in the AmericanLeague last year. They told me he
did not have it, and hewas not the same pitcher. Plus,
he allowed thirty out of thirty threebase runners to steal bases safely off of
him last year because he was soslow delivering the ball to the plate.
He's working on that as well.So there's a lot to work on for

(05:36):
Noah synder Guard here between now andwhenever his first start with the Dodgers eventually
is during the regular season. Iwould imagine he's going to be the fifth
starter to open in the rotation thisyear for the Dodgers. Speaking of their
rotation. Tony Gonslin did not pitchtoday, but he was working on some

(05:58):
fielding drills on the backfields and sprainedhis left ankle and had to be helped
off the field and taken to theclubhouse. He has been scratched from his
Wednesday start. So Tony Gonslin sprainshis left ankle, and hopefully it's not
a severe ankle sprain because he's anAll Star, seventeen game winner, he

(06:19):
was feeling healthy and the Dodgers needhim quite frankly, so hopefully an injury
like that does not keep him outtoo long. Speaking of injuries, want
to send our well wishes out toformer Dodger Justin Turner who in the first
inning got hit in the face.Scary scene in Fort Myers, Florida,

(06:41):
where Justin Turner was hit in theface and had to be helped off the
field with a towel covering his face. Since then, since going to the
hospital, his wife, Courtney witha K. Courtney Turner used Twitter to
let everybody know Justin is doing well. Yes, I don't know how well
you could be doing after being hitin the face by a major league pitch,

(07:04):
but she did tweet out three hoursago that Justin Turner was back home
in their Fort Myers spring training homeand he had sixteen stitches and a lot
of swelling. But she said,we are thanking God for no fractures and
the clear scan. So that's goodnews. No fractures and major concussions as

(07:29):
of now. But sixteen stitches forJustin Turner, and it's very easy for
us to say he's doing okay.We're not the ones that got hit in
the face with a major league fastball, it look like, so thankfully he's
okay. I'll have to look atthe pitch again. It was kind of
grainy from what I saw, butI couldn't tell if it was a fastball
or not. Nonetheless, gotta hurtsixteen stitches, bleeding walking off the field,

(07:56):
who could forget right. Twenty seventeenor twenty eighteen, final game of
spring training, Justin Turner broke hiswrist and was out for six weeks.
This is certainly more serious, andit's not the first time Justin Turner has
been hit in the face by apitch. When he was playing at cal
State Fullerton, He's squared to buntand got hit square in the face,

(08:20):
so he dives over the plate now, and that's the risk obviously that he
takes with everybody part, but certainlynot something you want to see and unfortunate.
But our well wishes and prayers goout to Justin hope he's doing well.
We're gonna take a time out hereon Dodger Talk when we come back
the executive vice president of Baseball Operationsfor Major League Baseball, Morgan Sword.

(08:46):
He's gonna go over these rules andwe're gonna ask some questions that major league
players gave me to ask Morgan about. So that's coming up next right here
on Dodger Talk on and five seventyLA Sports come Back Ranching Dale, Arizona.
Our coverage begins with Dodgers on deckat eleven thirty, with first pitch
at twelve oh five. Today,the Dodgers beat the Padres eight to three

(09:11):
in a game that lasted only twohours and twenty four minutes, which brings
us to our next guest. Heis the executive vice president for Baseball Operations
for Major League Baseball, and thatis Morgan's Sword. Morgan, thanks a
lot for coming on Dodger Talk.Appreciate it. Yeah, thanks, for

(09:33):
having me. I think it's importantto explain to the fans how this is
all going to work. But I'mjust curious from your standpoint the vision that
you and others at Major League Baseballhad for these games. Have you seen
it in the early results of springtraining. Yes, we're really excited with
what's been going on on the fieldof you know, we're down on twenty

(09:56):
four minutes or so so far inspring for any relative to spring training games
last year, with run scoring actuallybeing up. And you know, we
know from talking to fans that youknow, improving the pace of the baseball
game and increasing the amout of actionare you know, to the things they
want to see the most. Sothe test has been going great. You
know, we're in a transition periodright now. Will everybody gets adjusted,

(10:18):
learns the rules, and you know, it's been going going really well so
far. It feels like being atthese spring training ballparks in Arizona that it's
running dialogue. There's usually somebody fromMajor League Baseball next to the timekeeper.
You've had retired umpires be up inthe press box and in the stands as
well. How much running dialogue isthere on a daily basis with you and

(10:41):
others in the league office, andright now it's probably it is constant.
You know, we're speaking to eachother every day. Uh, and you
know there's a lot to work through, and you know, we we've tested
these rules and over eight thousand minorleague games, and even then, you
know, we're learning new things andfacing new situation now that it's at the

(11:03):
big league. So uh, youknow, we're talking every night. We're
communicating with the umpires and the managersand trying to make sure everybody, everybody
feels comfortable by the time it getsopening days. Morgan, A question I
get asked a lot is how didyou settle on fifteen seconds with nobody on
base and twenty seconds with runners onbase? How did you guys come up

(11:24):
with those times? Yeah, wedialed that in after a couple of years
of testing it in the minor leagueswhere we actually ran slightly quicker times in
the minor leagues, but felt likein talking to our players and in our
clubs that you know, an extrasecond or so might make sense at the
big league level and you deliver thekind of you know, gain time improvement

(11:48):
that fans really want. So sofar, so good on that front,
and it feels to me anyway,like you know, not rushed, but
you know the pace is is uhis much better and you notice it immediately.
Morgan Sword is our guest. Heis the executive vice president of baseball
operations for a major league baseball Allright, Morgan, I'm sure you've had
a million different scenarios thrown at you, So I got one for you.

(12:11):
The conditions here in spring training inArizona and Florida have been ideal. But
what about the hot summer days inLos Angeles, in Saint Louis and Cincinnati?
Is there going to be enough timefor pictures to get the rosin to
get a grip on the baseball?I mean, perspiration will be very high

(12:31):
in those situations. Is there enoughtime for pictures to be able to do
that? Does that fall under youknow, normal understanding time limits to for
the picture to be on the moundand ready to go. We think so
yeah. I mean we've spent lastyear in the minor leagues with even quicker
times running in the Texas League whereyou probably dope get and you know,

(12:58):
in all kinds of a crazy otherconditions, and you know, players are
incredibly resilient. I think our ourguys are not getting enough credit a lot
of times, and they've adapted sowell, they've been so prepared for this,
and and uh, you know,we we think they're going to be
really get through it. What didyou think when you saw Alex Cora the
Red Sox use his left fielder tobasically do what you're trying to eliminate and

(13:22):
put the shift on the right sideof the infield against a player like Joey
Gallo. Yeah, you know,we knew that with a possibility, and
some pumps told us that they wouldthink about doing it, and and you
know, I think it remains tobe seen how much of that you're going
to see in the regular season.And even with these new rules, Uh,
you know, you're making a bigsacrifice to play your left fielder over

(13:45):
there, right, because a bloopover a third base is probably a dullware
a triple mount. So you know, we'll see how frequent that defensive alignment
is. But you know, ifit becomes if it becomes popular, I
mean there's you know, we cantalk about going further on defensive restrictions,
but you know, we're comfortable withwhere we are right now. And you
know, I would say, youknow, I'm both were excited to see

(14:09):
the way the clubs play it.I know you've had the clock going in
the minor leagues now for a coupleof years. When did you believe that
there was an issue at the paceof play in Major League Baseball? When
did the commissioner feel there was aneed for this and a need to try
to eliminate the shift? Yeah,I'll say you I mean Ray wins.

(14:31):
Mister Manser was elected in twenty fifteen. Uh, you know, he expressed
an interest in, you know,modernizing the game on the field and making
some improvements to you know, theentertainment value. And you know, it's
been a long process, you know, if it's been a long times at
twenty fifteen, but but I thinkthat it's a it's a welcome change,

(14:52):
and you know, I think onereally encouraging thing in the early going here
is how many different kinds of baseballpeople have of this version of baseball.
You know, the players that coaches, even the old grizzled scouts with the
radar guns behind home plate, youknow, are telling us that this is
this is great, and you know, this is gonna be great for the
game. Morgan, you just mentionedthat if teams try to circumvent elimination of

(15:18):
the shift, you may do somethingmore to force them to stop doing that.
Do you believe that the commissioner andyourself and the rest involved are willing
to amend rules if necessary in themiddle of the season or is that something
that you would have to wait forthe conclusion of the twenty twenty three campaign.

(15:39):
You know, I think we're prettyset in terms of what we're doing
this season. I think, youknow, uh, but we are going
to be evaluating how it all goes. And I expect that we didn't get
all of these rules perfect on thefirst plush, so we'll probably want to
be making some adjustments as we gohere. But again, we've had the
benefit of its testing of all thesethings, so we got a pretty good

(16:02):
idea of what's coming, uh,And you know, we like what the
spring trainings look like so far.I talked to players on a daily basis,
so they had some questions, andone of them was about, you
know, the commercial times of nationallytelevised games with the time saved with the
pitch clock and the pace of play, will it be canceled out on nationally

(16:23):
televised games. Do you believe thatthose games are going to be longer?
That's a question that players had aswell. Yeah, we do have fighting
longer commercials in you know, inthe postseason and in the nationally televised games.
But I think you're still going tosee a significant, you know,
improvement not only in the length ofthe game, but just in the pace

(16:45):
during the during the play so andyou know, in a lot of ways,
the timer is going to be mostnoticeable during the postseason, where we've
probably watched a lot of postseason gamesthat really slow down, you know for
day. Yeah, you know incertain moments, and you know that time
is going to keep keep ticking.So uh, you know, I think
that the postseason is probably where wherefans are going to notice as the most.

(17:10):
Was there ever any consideration to possiblyturning off the clock in the ninth
inning a playoff game being decided bythe pitch clock? I know minor league
players have adapted, and so farin spring training players have adapted. Was
there any consideration to maybe turning itoff in the ninth inning or does that
just completely uh you know it,does that completely undermine the clock in the

(17:34):
first eight innings. Yeah, wetalked about it. We talked about everything
really, so you know, Ithink where we came out ultimately was that,
uh, you know, if we'regoing to do something like put a
clock in a baseball game, youknow, we wanted to deliver materially more
entertaining uh game, you know,to fans. And in order to do

(17:56):
that, you need it for noneall the time. And we also were
concerned that turning it off in thenineteen would be unfair to players, right
to have some players playing under oneset of rules and another group of players
playing under a different set of rules. And you know, I think that
this is going to be like anyother rule in the rule book now,

(18:17):
right, It's going to be appliedconsistently and fairly by the umpires and and
you know, hopefully, and springis pretty good evidence. You know,
players are going to get adjusted andyou're not going to see that many violations,
and certainly by the time we getto the postseason, hopefully they will
be very few and far between.And you know, nobody wants them to

(18:38):
impact the you know, the outcomeof a postseason game, but you do
need that penalty out there to motivatethe kind of paste that you know that
fans want. Morgan Sword is ourguest, the executive vice president of Baseball
Operations for Major League Baseball, andMorgan just watching every Dodgers spring training game
covering them. Outside of the firstgame on the brew side, there hasn't

(19:00):
been any pitch clock violations from hittersor pitchers that I've seen. Yeah,
well, you know, I likeI said, I mean, our our
players have uh, you know,known about this rule change since September and
have done a remarkably good job gettingthemselves prepared. And you've probably seen in

(19:21):
the bullpens and on the backfield,clubs have installed timers. Players have been
working out getting that clock kind ofprogrammed into their heads, and you know
a lot of a lot of playersare have adjusted already, are you know,
feel like they're you know, readyto go. And uh and that's
great because you know, I think, you know, we don't want the

(19:41):
timer to be a significant part ofthe competition, but but you know,
I think that this this quicker paceis really really important to the sport and
it's gonna it's gonna lead to somegreat things for baseball. It kind of
feels like the pitch clock and theelimination of the ship. If our bigger

(20:02):
impact on the game are going tohave bigger impacts on a more entertaining game
than the bigger basses, would yourank them in that order? I would
rank them in exactly that order.Yes, I would say the bigger bases
are definitely the smallest change. Ihaven't heard anybody yet tell me that that
that was difficult to adjust to,And honestly, they already looked kind of

(20:23):
normal out there. I'm adjusted asa as a fan watching. Yeah,
no doubt. Now full disclosure,Morgan, There's a lot of rabbitier players
out there and that follow me onTwitter, and when they saw that you
were coming on, they told meto ask you about getting pitch cooms for
every position player instead of limiting itto just four or five. Do you

(20:44):
think you could deliver for the players. I gotta tell you that pitchcoms has
been more popular than almost anything we'veintroduced in the last several years. I
mean, we were testing this thingin spring training last year, not really
with the thought that we might beusing it in the big leagues, but
it became so popular so quickly thatwe were scrambling with you know, they're

(21:07):
a fairly small company to get enoughdevices made to really you know, do
this in uh in the big league. So uh, you know, we're
we're experimenting this spring with allowing thepictures to call their own pitches and where
the where the transmitter. That alsohas been more popular than I expected.
You know, I think a lotof pictures have been messing around with it
and have enjoyed it. And it'sa really important tool in the timer era,

(21:30):
you know, to be able tocut down the time that it takes
to get on the same page withthe catcher. So yeah, we're we're
that was you know, that wasa really big piece of speed nuppy game.
We actually dropped a couple of minutesoff our game time last year that
we attribute to you know, clubsusing pitchcome. So but we'll get to

(21:51):
work on those extra devices, allright. I'll report back to the clubhouse
tomorrow that you're working axcellent. Heydid you hear what Curse Shaw said?
He talked about he noticed what MaxScherzer did in his last start where he
was holding onto the ball. Heuh, he was trying to play with
the strategy of the pitch clock.Are you okay with that or is that

(22:14):
something that you will address moving forwardto try to discourage Pictures from doing what
Scherzer was doing over the weekend.Well, you know, Max is an
elite competitor, and you know heis meticulous and how he prepares, and
you know, I think where he'sdoing is you know, sort of looking
for where the line is, whichis totally legitimate and unfair. And you

(22:36):
know it's our job as the rulemakersto draw the line for him, right,
So I think it's actually been helpful. It's it's created a lot of
dialogue with the umpires, with thewith the managers, and we kid we've
gotten some guidance out to clubs aboutyou know, how we're going to call
situations like that, and honestly,we're going to call him the same way
we've always called him, which is, you know, the rulebook has a
prohibition on quick pitches, which isbasically delivering the ball before the batters so

(23:00):
reasonably set in the box, andthat's so good to apply, so provided
you know, the umpire's job isto protect the hitter, you know,
keep him safe and make sure he'sready and as long as he continues to
do that. We should be weshould be good. Morgan, I could
tell you to the consensus in Arizonais spring training games that would be well
over three hours are under three hours, are right at three hours. And

(23:22):
I know a lot of people areenjoying this brand of baseball. And look,
nobody likes change, but once youget it going, then people adapt,
and like you said, the playerswill adapt. And so far,
so good. And thank you forcoming on the show and speaking to the
great Dodger fans who obviously support theDodgers better than any fan base out there,

(23:44):
and just helping them understand these newrules. Because fifty thousand plus will
be at Dodger Stadium on March thirtieth, no doubt, and they'll be home
a little earlier than they thought.I'll be home before one am now after
Dodger talk, Morgan, right,exactly, Thanks a lot for coming on,
appreciate it, and hopefully we seeyou down the line. Yeah,

(24:07):
thank you. There he goes MorganSar, the executive vice president of Baseball
Operations for Major League Baseball. Yourthoughts on what Morgan had to say.
I thought he was very patient withsome of the questions and explaining the thought
process behind it, your thoughts onwhat baseball has done eight six six nine
eight seven two five seventy. Whenwe come back, you'll hear my thoughts

(24:30):
on what he had to say inall these new rules. But it's about
you eight six six nine eight seventwo five seventy Jason Heyward. Also you'll
hear that conversation coming up next aswell as we take you up to eight
o'clock right here on AM five seventyLA Sports. In some ways it's a

(24:51):
new game that we're going to seein twenty twenty three. But today's Dodgers
Padres game that had eleven runs andfourteen hits, mostly by the Dodgers,
lasted only two hours and twenty fourminutes. So games are on average about
two and a half two forty.But as we know, as we get
into the regular season, we aregoing to see commercial times for these nationally

(25:17):
televised games, and that's the onething players don't get. We're getting the
pace of play going, but thenwe're slowing it down in between innings for
the sponsors national sponsors, which isfine. We all understand the business of
baseball, and sponsors drive it,But I know talking to some veteran baseball

(25:38):
people, they said, why notdo a double box like they do in
golf, where you see what's goingon on a nationally televised game, you
see the pitch, what's going onon the left side, and on the
right side you got the commercial finishingup, just like they do in golf.
That seems like a fair idea,and I know it was send it

(26:00):
to Rob Manfred, but he obviouslydid not care for that ideal. So
for me, that's you know,nationally televised games are gonna be longer because
of not the pace of play,but the sponsors. And that's an easy
fix to me because you don't missa pitch of the game and you have

(26:21):
the sponsor commercial on the right side. Eight six six nine eight seven two
five seventy And quite honestly, fromwhat I've seen in spring training, the
disengagements, that's one thing I forgotto ask him about the two disengagements and
all that a back seems like you'regifting runners the extra base because if you
have first and third less than twoouts and the picture has disengaged twice and

(26:47):
tries to pick off the runner atfirst base, and all of a sudden,
you got two runners that possibly couldbe in a pickle. If you
don't get one of those runners out, run scores back, guy goes to
second base. So for me,I don't like that part of it.
But the pitch clock. Look,these Dodgers spring games, there have been

(27:10):
no violations, so that's not anissue. I do see the hitters needing
to make a bigger adjustment than thepitchers so far. Eight six, six
nine, eight seven, two fiveseventy. Let's go out to Mike and
Chino Hills. You're on Dodger Talkwith David vasse Hi. Mike, Hi,

(27:30):
David, how are you. I'mdoing well. What'd you think about
Morgan's sword? I'm sorry I didn'thear you say that again? Yeah,
what'd you think about Morgan sword fromMajor League Baseball and these new rules?
Oh? It was great, Itwas great. Honestly, we just turned
on. My wife and I arelistening. We just happened to turn on
right now. We got on yourDoctor Talk a little late, so we

(27:52):
didn't hear the whole interview, butit sounded great the end of it.
Okay, did you something spark youto call? Yeah? I had a
question. My wife really wants toknow because he really likes Justin Turner and
then we know we got hit todayand stuff. But her question was was
he offered a contract by the Dodgersor they just he just decided to go

(28:15):
a different way. He was offereda contract, but it was not near
what the Red Sox offered him,right, Okay, Okay, we just
wanted to clarify that. And I'msure you gave an update on him at
the beginning of the show, butwe missed it, so I'll give it
to you again. He got sixteenstitches, according to his wife, Courtney,

(28:37):
and he's resting at their Fort Myershome, which is close to the
spring training facility of the Red Sox. So no fractures, just sixteen stitches
and a lot of swelling. Okay, well, that's great to hear.
Good all right, Mike, thanksa lot for the phone call. In
case you missed any of the show, you could podcast it on the iHeart

(28:57):
Radio app. Eight six nine eightseven two five seventy is the phone number.
Yeah, I'm kind of kicking myselfnow because when players heard I was
going to have Morgan sword on,they threw all these questions at me to
ask him. But the two disengagementsto me, seemed to be the biggest
disadvantage for pitchers, more so thanthe pitch clock. The pitch clock so

(29:22):
far does not seem to be adisadvantage to the pitcher. It kind of
feels like it's a disadvantage to thehitters. And as we get into more
intense games and more intense moments,if there was a pitch clock in nineteen
eighty eight Game one of the WorldSeries, would we have had the drama
of Kirk Gibson's home run. Itwasn't just the home run that made it

(29:48):
dramatic. It wasn't just that hewas basically on one leg. It was
that he worked a full count.Mike Davis stole second base, and he
fouling pitches off and there was evenone that was a dribbler up the first
baseline that went foul. That wasthe drama of him then stepping out,

(30:11):
taking a deep breath, gathering himselfand thinking about Dodger Scout Melddier saying,
partner, as long as I'm standinghere full count, look for that backdoor
slider. All of that drama wouldnot have taken place if there was a
pitch clock in nineteen eighty eight.Major League Baseball did not want to have

(30:37):
to do this, but their handwas forced the era of analytics and teaching
pictures to gather themselves and rear backand go. Max's effort on every single
delivery has brought us to this point. It's brought us to the point where

(31:00):
we need a pitch clock now.So you talk about unintended consequences, this
is all of this is the resultof analytics taking us to this point.
The think tank in Tampa Bay.That's where the ships started all of these
things. What about what about minimizingstarting pitchers and using the opener? Where

(31:26):
did that start started in Tampa Bay? So that's where we're at. Major
League Baseball had to do something tosave their game moving forward thanks to the
think tank of guys that are kindof like dungeons and dragons, people that
want to break the code and wantto break the game. Congratulations, you

(31:51):
broke the code to baseball and herewe are. Eight six six nine eight
seven two five seventy is the phonenumber. Earlier today, I had a
chance to catch up with Jason Hayward, who is having a phenomenal spring training
with the Dodgers. Remember, heis not guaranteed a spot on the opening

(32:12):
day roster, but it's looking moreand more like he is going to have
a spot on this opening day roster. And here is our full conversation with
Jay Hey Jason Hayward in spring training, the new guys. Everybody is so
anxious to talk to them, butyou gotta let people breathe. And I
have a feel for people, andthat's why I knew I had to let

(32:34):
my guy, Jason Hayward breathe alittle bit, get his feet underneath him
in spring training. And here weare, that beautiful beard, beautiful bald
head staring at me right now,Jay Hey, thanks a lot for the
time. No, absolutely, Iappreciate you having me, Thank you for
the breathing room. Coming into camp. A lot of new faces on the
squad, but it's fun to behere. I hope Freddie did not ruin

(32:54):
my reputation with you, No,not at all, Freddie. Freddie speaks
highly, he speaks high lay inand I see here George talking to you.
I know that that comes sometimes footand far between, if it's not
talking about baseball for free. SoUh no, thank you again for for
having me on. What's it likebeing back with him? You've guys known
each other since you were teenagers.Does it feel like this is made you

(33:15):
feel more comfortable being on a newteam. Yeah, it's nice. This
is no fourth team now when you'rein transition. It's nice to see familiar
faces when you come to the clubhouse. Obviously, like you said, we've
known each other since we were sixteen, so it's cool nine years later to
join back up and you know,have the baseball vibes at the field and

(33:35):
competing and getting ready for a seasonthere. But off the field, no,
obviously, as as friends as family, that's that's also really cool to
see. You know. Obviously weknow I was there for when he got
married and two the other fourteen hereand Chelsea, but now seeing him have
three kids, you know, mehaving a child on my own, which
it's pretty cool. Jason. Iknow you spent some time with Freddie and
his dad, Fred Freeman at theirhigh school in Orange County. When you

(33:59):
talk about family, it seems likehe really cares not only about you as
a person, but wants to seeyou succeed in baseball. No, definitely,
that's one thing that you know,my wife v you know, she
didn't get a chance to meet Freddieuntil here of late last couple of years,
and you know, she picked upon right away that Freddie, you
know, which is nothing for thebest but for me, you know,

(34:20):
on the field obviously as a asa family member and having a family.
But he loves to see me havean opportunity here with the Dodgers, you
know, them investing time and me, and he knows who I am as
far as work ethic goes. Heknows how I'm going to show up and
put the work in and have fundoing that. But he's really happy for
how much did Freddie help you?How much did his dad help you when
you guys were trying to put thisall together to make the adjustments that you've

(34:44):
made. Well that day, honestly, we just hit one time on his
high school field. We just didsome soft toss. Uh. You know,
I don't think any of us asas baseball players put too much stock
into offseason stuff. But uh,but no, it was it was a
good day. It was a greatworkout. We had already had a tough
work out of the gym and wewent to the high school and we we

(35:05):
had a good job just starting ourprocess right of getting ready for camp and
a lot of good swings that day. But we know that's just you know,
setting a foundation for what's to come. That's why I wanted to let
you breathe a little bit to seehow all of this is coming together.
You've had a few games under yourbelt. How do you feel, I
will say it feels like spring trainingas it should. Pit pictures you know

(35:28):
are ahead because one because they're nastyand they have big arms these days,
but they just have good stuff.But as far as timing, you know,
that's that's what has to come next. And being able to repeat that
day to day. You know,love to see results obviously, especially a
team like this one with an excitinglineup, a lot of guys that can
beat in a lot of different ways. You want to contribute to that,

(35:50):
but also on a day to daybasis just managing what I need to manage,
and that's continuing to build on afoundation of being able to be consistent
and uh, you know, managethe loads like you know on your worst
days, you know we're you're ableto be productive. Were you were able
to help this team win and onthe best days, obviously it's nice.
It's nice to hit home runs,it's nice to drive runs, and no
doubt, but uh, you know, just being respective of the process,

(36:13):
Well, you're a champion, that'sfor sure, a champion on the field
and off the field. Jason Heywardis our guest and Jason one of my
Jimminy Crickets of baseball. I'm notgoing to pretend that I could talk baseball
with you. But Mark McGuire usedto be a hitting coach with the Dodgers.
Still keep in contact, and Isent him a picture of the way
you look, and he said thenumber one thing he recognized was your lower

(36:35):
half was stronger. Everybody seems tobe obsessed with the hands, but how
do you feel about the lower half? Do you feel it's a stronger base
than would it's been? Man,I feel like there are so many pieces
oh hitting. It can be simplewhen we when we don't think and we
locked things in right. But no. Lower half was a starting point where
Robert and Aaron Bates where we startedworking this offseason and the hitting car.

(36:59):
I don't want to leave any out, you know, we put a lot
of time in and you know,enjoying the process. But the lower half
of where we did start actually justhaving something repeatable, manageable, you know,
also seeing how my body works andwhat's gonna put me in a consistent
enough position each time to just manageagain, like I said, the day
to day, you know, feelingtakes in between you know, pitches and

(37:22):
and what I need to make anadjustment on on the fly. So I
think Mark is I mean, obviouslyhe's he's got the resume as a hitter
as as a baseball rat to tobe able to pick up on something like
that right away. And then yeah, hands do come next? And I
would say hands do come last.Uh, That's that's gonna be something that
I'm that I'm you know, buggingwith for for the rest of the time.

(37:43):
I feel like I'm not trying toname drop on you, Jason,
I'm just trying to just trying togive you some credibility. You don't think
some fly by night radio guys gonnatalk baseball with you. No, that
was a great That was a greatname drop. If you're gonna name drop,
you know, hit hitting wise andobviously power hitting wise, and come
petition wise, historic wise, margatWire's a good name. Drop who did
Jason Hayward idolized growing up in baseball? What drew you to this game and

(38:07):
what still drives you? What drewme to the game when I was younger,
I was fortunate enough to see.First off, I gotta say my
dad got me into the game becausehe wanted me to have something to do
in the summertime growing up. Majoritywho was like, You're not just gonna
sit around the house. My dadplayed basketball mainly high school, college,
went to Dartmouth, so he youknow, family time was Thanksgiving and Christmas

(38:31):
all that stuff. But summertime,he's like, no, you gotta have
something that you're gonna work at andget out of the house with. But
mom is from Queen's parents grew upin Brooke. Her parents grew up in
Brooklyn. The Bronx. Wow.My favorite team or favorite player Derek Jeter
growing up. And then other favoriteplayer was Kim Griffy junior. Yeah,

(38:53):
and Griffy was the first player thatI got to see outside of watching the
Braves growing up in Georgia. Uh. You know, of course, gotta
give credit and pay homage to theteams that the Braves put together in the
nineties. I mean you could runup and down the list of guys and
and and players that they had onthe team. Getting to play for Bobby
Cox after watching him growing up,getting to play with Chipper Jones, you

(39:16):
know, a bunch of guys inthose groups. But I fell into love
with the game at an early age, and I feel like the nineties with
a very good teacher of baseball.Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, it's
changed so much, right, ohyeah, oh yeah, it's changed.
But it's cool to be around forthat change. Yeah, you know,
it's cool to cool to be ableto watch that stuff. Uh, you
know come into play. Uh,I know, you remember like twenty twelve,

(39:37):
I think it was the first yearthat they implemented replay. Yeah,
and a couple of years before thatthey were like, oh, there's no
chance we'll have replay, this's gonnahappen, And sure enough it's there.
And I feel like right now whereyou know, like every major sport and
and all the sports, it's kindof nice to have that play coming to
play where you want to make sureyou get it right. Do you wanna
replay for a strike baller strike?One day? I'm i feel like for

(39:59):
me, I'm just gonna let themtell us what they're gonna do and and
adapts because uh, you know,they're gonna continue to do what they think
it's best for the game. They'regonna listen to the fans, which I
feel like are so important. Uhyou know now being a fourth historic franchise,
opportunity to break camp with the Dodgers, Like, fans are super important
to our game, and so ifthey're gonna do anything to try and make

(40:20):
it better for them and make itexciting, then we got we adapted on
the fly, but keep loving thegame. Well, I can't wait for
Dodger fans to see Jason Hayward playin this uniform at Dodgers Stadium coming up
this season. And uh, you'llhave to fight Trace Thompson for King Griffy
Junior. That was his favorite playertoo. No, actually, uh you
know, tra Trace told me astory on he was able to find some

(40:42):
of my Griffy swing Man spikes online. Obviously this is before I got over
to the team, So I'm gonnahave to see what I got and dig
him up and and and definitely givehim some of those because it's not often
I find someone else Kook and Rockof fourteen. Yeah, but no,
Kim Griffer Junior. I think anawesome role model, awesome, awesome ball
player for a lot of us youngguys, especially alfielders to wash growing up.

(41:04):
Well, you're a great role modelfor everybody that wants to play baseball.
You're a great person because you notonly handle yourself with class on the
field, but certainly off the field. And I can't wait for Los Angeles
to get to know you more andmore. I will see you at Dodger
Stadium on March thirtieth. Jason Hayward, I appreciate you man, Thank you
so much. Looking forward to it. I don't take it for granted.

(41:27):
And you know what a beutiful placeto start another chapter. Thanks a lot
for the time there. He isJason Hayward, and that was our full
conversation with him, and just inthe small time that I've been around him
and observed him at Camelback Ranch,just a stellar person. And you can
see why everybody in Chicago loved JasonHayward. He is really a great guy

(41:51):
and easy guy to root for.And look, he's put in the work.
It's not like he's a veteran thatjust is packing it in and trying
to hash one more paycheck. He'sdoing this for his own pride. He
does not want to go out theway he went out the last few years
in Chicago. That's why I putin so much work to basically reconstruct who

(42:15):
he is as a hitter. AndI'm not kidding. When I was in
Arizona this past week, had anight off, Mark McGuire's in Arizona watching
his son Mason get ready to havehis career take off at the Chicago Cubs,
and went to dinner and the firstthing Mark McGuire told me was he

(42:35):
noticed the foundation his base, hislower half, Jason Hayward's lower half is
much stronger than what it's been inthe past. And look, Jason agreed
with it. He's put in alot of work. And I wasn't just
telling Jason because he was in frontof me that I will see him on
March thirtieth. I really believe it. We will see Jason Hayward on this

(42:57):
opening day roster now and he continuewhat he's done in spring training into the
regular season. Because those are twodifferent things. It remains to be seen,
but nonetheless he has earned an opportunityto be on the opening day roster,
and if there's a right handed pitcheron the mound, you are going
to see him in the starting lineup. Like you did today Camelback Ranch.

(43:22):
I felt like today's starting lineup isa very close starting lineup to a right
handed pitcher in a regular season gamewhere you have Mookie, Freddie Smith,
Muncie j D. Martinez as yourfirst five hitters, followed by Jason Hayward,

(43:43):
and then you have the two middleinfielders eighth and ninth and Rojas and
Vargas. So the lineup. Goback and look at the box score today,
or go to my Twitter account atthe real Underscore DV and look at
today's starting lineup, because that isif everybody's healthy as of now, that
is the way a starting lineup verywell may look against a right handed pitcher

(44:07):
in the regular season. Speaking upstarting lineups, our next Dodger broadcast will
be this Friday, as the Dodgerswill host the Angels at Camelback Ranch.
Dodgers on Deck will begin at eleventhirty with first pitch at twelve oh five.
In case you missed Morgan's sword fromMajor League Baseball or Jason Hayward.

(44:28):
You can find him on the iHeartRadioapp. Thanks to our one man crew,
Ronnie Fossio, the best in thebusiness. Our love to your dad
who was a big Dodger fan.Saw him. Blessings to him over the
weekend and he will always be withTommy Lasorda, no doubt, no doubt.
And Happy birthday to my guy,the Big Aristotle, Shaquille O'Neill.

(44:50):
It's his birthday tonight. Love Shack, love covering Shack, he was the
man. Happy birthday to my guy. Coming up next, Jason Smith on
Fox Sports Radio. We will wetalk to you Thursday night at seven o'clock
right here on Dodgers Radio A fiveseventy LA Sports. See you