Josh Reddick on The A-Team: Altuve Will Get In Your Face If Needed

Former Astro Josh Reddick joins the A-Team, ahead of his second game in the Astros Radio booth with Robert Ford. He talks about taking over that role for this A's series. Plus, he talks about who the Astros clubhouse leaders are on this current team. He also might have AC incredibly jealous about a piece of wrestling memorabilia he has at his house. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So too, fragment Lynes, thisone detail I field and you can guess
that one. Goodbye. Make ittwo homers for Alex Ragman Astro's latest four
to two. Don't let the kidget hot. That voice you heard right
there at the end of the RobertFord home run call number two last night

(00:20):
over at Minute May Park here onAstros Radio, your home for Astros Baseball
Sports Talk seven to ninety was thatof Josh Ruddick, former teammate of Alex's
and favorite of Astros fans, favoriteof ours and great to have you join
us here now, Josh, whydon't you just set us off with how
was game number one? With theheadset on callin baseball on the radio alongside

(00:43):
Robert. Definitely different, a littlebit harder than the pre and post game
that I've been a part of hererecently. But it was a lot of
fun just watching the game from adifferent perspective, and you know, just
trying to kind of talk about itand try to flow with Robert as well
as I could. That was kindof the tough part, knowing when to
chime in and when not not totalk. You have been a part of
the television side of the broadcast onSpace City Home Network as one of the

(01:04):
analysts, been sitting alongside Brian bogaSevic and on nights with Esh, Michael
Bourne, Mike Stanton. Great groupof people there and now doing a little
radio sitting in for Steve Sparks.And I'm sure it's not a coincidence.
I know TV game number one wasan Astros win for you because I joked
with Kevin that you should never leavenow. Radio game number one was also

(01:26):
a win for the Astros. We'retrying to tell our listeners that we're seeing
the signs of a team coming outof their early season funk. Are we
seeing the right things? Is thatwhat you're saying? Is this reality?
Yeah? I think so. They'redefinitely heading in the right direction. And
I'm not trying to you know,jinx anything, but I'm four and oh
whenever I'm talking about the team andcover the team. So hopefully that's something

(01:47):
that we can continue this week becausethey've got me tonight, tomorrow, the
next day, and Friday for theSpace City Network, So they need to
strink together some wins and they,you know, with the night like Bregman
had last night, who better thanto be a guy who's gonna get this
team hot and get him going ona really good streak. They're getting some
they're getting their money's worth out ofyou. Let's start with Breggy because you
know him as well as anyone,and and we were just talking about how

(02:09):
cerebral a player he is and howhe's, you know, the baseball equivalent
of a gym rat. Is itpossible in your opinion when it comes to
him, But just in general,the guys can get in their own head
and not just you know, kindof get out of their own way and
just try and play the game whenthey're going through extended struggles like he had
gone through. Yeah, I thinkhe You know, when you see Breggy,

(02:30):
everybody knows how tough he is onhimself and how very analytical and how
much he breaks everything down to atea of a tea of a tea,
and he breaks it down a lotmore than a lot of other guys.
And that's all he thinks about,Reggie Breeze and eat some Breeze Baseball twenty
four to seven. So I know, knowing him that he was going home
breaking everything down, waking up,breaking everything down so he can get a

(02:52):
little You know, do it overdoit a little bit, but simplified things
last night I think very well.And I think he put it best whenever
he talked about, you know,guiding the knob through the zone and really
just not dragging the barrel, andthat he showed that last night on two
very good hanging breaking balls that youknow, good hitters are supposed to hammer.
And it was like watching the oldbreaking up there as you're watching the

(03:12):
team this year, because I meanBregman, he kind of has that reputation
as being a slow starter or whatever, but it's it's hilarious because he eventually
becomes the Alex Bregman we all know. But as you're watching this season unfold,
especially in light of the last seven, you know, preceding it,
have you ever seen so many thingsseemingly going against a would be contender like

(03:32):
this Astros team has dealt with andobviously injuries and that kind of stuff come
along with the territory, but itjust feels like they could not catch a
break in any way, shape orform. No. I mean, it's
hard to pinpoint a team that Imay have seen personally, you know,
it's it's teams start off slow it'sjust what happened, you know. And
we always tell fans and when Isee him out in public, it's like,

(03:53):
be glad they're doing it now,because if this was August and September,
then everybody would be losing their minds. And you want to get these
things out of the way early becausethe way if you break down a season,
every team's gonna go through a stretchthat they went through at some point
in the season. Every team doesn'tmatter if you're the Dodgers, it doesn't
matter if you're the Astros, doesn'tmatter. If you Listenincinnati Reds, everybody's
gonna go through a bad stretch andit's gonna get magnified way too hard,

(04:15):
and everybody's gonna look at it waytoo much. But they're getting out of
the way early. By the timewe get to July and August, nobody
will be talking about this stretch onebit. Josh Reddick joining us here on
Sports Talk seven to ninety, AdamWactuler, Adam Clinton here with you.
You've been in a lot of differentclubhouses, and I want to get into
the dynamic of the leadership angle ofit, but also wanted to begin with
a new manager They've obviously made achange from Dusty Baker, who you played

(04:39):
under here, and made it toJoe Aspota, who was obviously a part
of the team when you were hereas well. The list of managers you've
played for is incredibly strong. Allof them have been to or one at
World Series other than Bob Melvin,and it seems like he's on a great
team almost every year. Just hasnot been able to do that. What's
the challenge for someone who's been withthese guys like Joe has so much to

(05:02):
moving into that much more important,big time communicator running the team chair as
Joe is in now. Yeah,I think there's several things that you can
look at. Good thing about Joeis he's been here for so long.
He knows how to communicate with hisguys. He knows how to talk to
these guys, and he's already gotrelationship with probably eighty five to ninety percent
of this roster. And you knowthat's half your battle as a new manager

(05:25):
coming in. You know, theseguys come out of different organizations, and
even Dusty had to come over hereand learn everybody, and he did a
great job at it. But whenyou're here and you've been here for a
couple of years. It makes itthat much easier for you to transition into
that role. And you know,looking at another way of looking at things,
he's he's with a good team.He's been with a good team here
in this organization for years, soit's a lot easier to come when you

(05:46):
have a good team. Then you'regoing, you know, when you're trying
to do like a rebuilding year orsomething like that. So he probably got
a good got into a really goodsituation, and I think it's definitely the
comfort level for him has to behuge, and then you know, you
get your rough start. Some peoplecan put point that, look back at
the manager and blame it all onthat, but you know what, end
of the day, like I said, everybody goes through it, and like
I said, we're gonna look lookpast that once the end of the year

(06:08):
shows up. The other part ofhis jumping inside the clubhouse group you were
with had all sorts of leaders andthey've had many more over the years.
Some are the same, some arestill there. Now, what do you
believe the leadership dynamic is inside theAstros clubhouse currently? Who do they look
to, who has a louder voicebeyond. Just watch what he does and
he leads by example. Oh,I mean, that's that's simple. We

(06:30):
I mean we literally love Jose Altuvefor a reason. And you know,
I think when you put that quotetogether, your two guys come to mind,
and Justin Verlander and Jose, becausetwo has been here from the start.
He's been here from the transition fromyou know, the bad years to
what they're doing now and creating thisdynasty. And we've all seen gv's big
moments when he stepped up and fromyou know, the Games and World the
first World Series we're in, hecomes up and he's screaming at the dugout

(06:54):
to get us fired up. Andthen you know, nobody sees that behind
the doors because we had so manyteam meetings behind the closed doors, and
no but he sees who leads it, and it was always JV. JV
was always the one getting us going, firing us up, getting on our
butts if we needed too. Andyou know, Jose doesn't hold back either.
If there was something that need tobe addressed, he took. He
took what he needed to do,and he get in your face if he
needed to. And you know,I'm speaking from experience. They've they've litten

(07:15):
him up but a few times.But you know, it makes everybody a
better person and a better player anda better teammate. And that's what you
want, which was once you becomea better team and a better teammate,
it makes it that much easier toshow up and win every day. What
did Justin say that night in thedugout at Dodger Stadium. I have no
idea. I don't think I forgotI was near you. I don't think
I was near him because if Iremember, it was Game two, right,

(07:36):
it was the Marwin home run,So I honestly don't know. I
was probably not even in the dugout. I was probably in the video room
or something. But I really don'tknow what he said. I'd have to
ask. I'm not even sure heknows what he said. By the way,
since you brought it up, andthis is a good question for a
member of that team, we've talkedabout this a lot, and there's been
a lot of them throughout this run. Is Marwin Gonzalez's home run in Game

(07:58):
two of the twenty seventeen World Series, the biggest home run in Astros history.
Oh, man, that's tough.If not, it's definitely top three.
It's hard to pick. And thosequestions are so hard to pick a
number one because so many people havedifferent opinions. I mean, you could
look at that one and you know, who knows if that doesn't happen.
You know, look at how twoVay's home run, you know, Gillie's

(08:20):
home run in Game five, Likeyou know, Giley takes Kershaw deep on
a three run home row. Nowtwo of eight takes my eighta deep one
a three run homer in a bigsituation, there's a lot of things that
can pop out to your mind.I mean you look look back way back
at Lance Berkman's big home runn inGame five of the NLDS, I think
it was yeh, a lot ofones coming, A lot of them come
to mind. But yeah, ifyou're talking like World Series home runs,

(08:41):
I think that it's it's definitely numberone. If it's if it's World Series
home runs for the Astros, Ithink it stands up as number one.
And also, since you brought itup, is Game five of the twenty
seventeen World Series the stupidest baseball teamor game you've ever been a part of
or even seen that was exhausting.No, no, it's not really,
it's not. I'm gonna make thisfinal call just because we won. Crazy

(09:05):
game to be a part of.But I was a part of the twenty
fourteen AL wild card game Royals Athleticswhere we were up by I think seven
at one point in the seventh andwe ended up get walked off and I
think the twelfth or thirteenth ooh,and we had Lester on the mound and
it was set up perfect for usto win, and it just we got
walked off and they came all theway back. I'm gonna say that one

(09:26):
just because we lost in the waythat we lost, because we were so
far ahead and then we gave itup and we're on the road, and
then I think, just with uswinning here, it's it's definitely right there.
It's it's close. It's it's veryvery close to the fact, definitely
the second second best World Series gameI think in history. The fact that
you have a choice, that's prettysweet. Well, that's what I liked
about the Astros answer, because you'reyou're kind of only scratching the surface.

(09:48):
On Astro's postseason home run excellence.Even in within games you rattled off three
home or multiple homers from the Gamefive, there were clearly more homers after
Marwin's homer in Game two, inthe late stages, in extra innings.
And this is what I would imagineyou, much like the fans, still

(10:09):
marvel at to this day, theseven years of this now potentially eight.
It's not as easy as you guysand this team have made it. Look,
do you consider this just it isalmost unthinkable to me teams won't do
this again. No, it's it'sa pretty magical run. And as players,
I think we look at it asyou know, I don't even think

(10:30):
we think about it. Really.We just come to the ballpark. And
all I remember from my four yearshere is that every person on that roster
expected to win, and if wedidn't win, we were genuinely hurt about
it. And I think that's whatthings one of the things that make a
dynasty like that work. And that'ssomething that's not every day either. You
talk about being just being in abig league clubhouse is one thing, but

(10:50):
if you don't have a good chemistry, even a semi good chemistry, you're
not going to play it to yourfull potential on the field, and that's
just just the bottom line. I'venever been a part of a dugout that's
been so supportive of their teammates,have been genuinely happy for everybody to succeed,
and that's a pretty special feeling tohave one last thing baton from the
left side. In the couple weeksnow that he's been here, he had

(11:11):
any initial thoughts on what you seewith Joey Loperfido as an astro. I
think a guy that's come up anddone way above what he was probably expected
to do for this ball club andthen done some great things in some big
situations, some big hits. Madea great defensive play on that left field
wall here, So I think he'sdefinitely maybe exceeding expectations, but I think

(11:35):
in his eyes, definitely something thathe knew he was capable of. Josh
the I know you probably have multipleyour favorite signed piece of wrestling memorabilia.
Ooh ooh, okay, because I'vegot the big Gold belt signed by Flair,
but I've got five other belts autographedas well, so I'm very curious.

(11:56):
I've got the Flair belt, I'vegot you know, I've got the
thirty for thirty signed by Flair personallast sign. I mean, that's that's
probably that's probably not it. I'mgonna go so Triple h about ten years
ago just ran away out of theblue sent me a package and it was
a money in the bank briefcase signedby Degeneration X WHOA And I always thought

(12:16):
that was a cool piece because youknow, it's a money in the bank
contract. So where you display itin your man cave? You dangle it
from the ceiling in the middle ofthe room. You did it? Oh?
Absolutely, Oh that's fantastic. Theonly way, that's the only way
to display it. Yeah. Ijust had a little bit of rope to
it and hung it from the sitarcenter of my man cave and it just
sits there and slowly spins around.So how long until the kids set up
the ladder and try to take itfrom you? It could be a few

(12:39):
years. They're not into wrestling justyet. They're just they dontly wrestling.
They know as Daddy throwing them intotheir ball pen. But we'll get to
that point. Because we have atrampoline, we have a big pool.
Those days are coming. Poor jetI love it. I absolutely love it.
I'm looking forward to those days too. Well, Josh, we appreciate
the time and we're really enjoying seeingyou or hearing you on the broadcast,
and and good luck the rest ofthe season, and let's catch up again

(13:01):
soon. Yep, sounds good.Thanks for having me, guys, All
right, Josh Reddick here on SportsTalk seven nineties. He's part of the
broadcast here on your home for Astrosbaseball sports Talk seven ninety throughout this series
against the Oakland A's