Jeremy Pena at Fan Fest

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Jeremy Panya, the man himself joiningus here, Ross Dan and Chris Gordy
with you, Jeremy, I meana couple of years ago, just a
rookie and an up and coming player. Now look at all this, all
these Houston astros friends looking to seeyou here. Thank you guys for having
me. I appreciate it. Andthen thank you guys for coming out.
I appreciate it. I mean,what can I say. I feel like

(00:24):
the city of Houston just took mein as they loved the son since the
first day said spring training. Ifeel like you guys took me in and
embraced me for who I was asa person, as a player, and
that brought a lot of confidence outof me. So thank you guys for
that. All right, man,glad to have you here, Thank you
for joining us. So basically thequestion we've been starting with a lot of
people the big signing, Where wereyou when you heard it? And your

(00:47):
reaction? Josh Hater now at theback end of the bullpen. So I
actually found the news pretty late,So it was like a day or two
after because you're in the woods orsomething, or I was wanted to make
our public I live on a farm. Okay, I live on a farm
out there, and we don't wedon't have Wi Fi. Okay, so
that's good. Actually clear clear yourmind down there, of course, you

(01:10):
know, and uh milk and somecows hanging out with the animals. The
count didn't tell you. The countdid tell me, you know. But
uh then I went into the cityand that's when all my cousins told me
that we had just sound Hater,and uh, yeah, I'm excited.
I'm excited, all right. It'scrazy to think of having arms like Brian
I Bray you, Ryan Presley,one of the best postseason closers in recent

(01:30):
history. And now you put JoshHater in the mix. We'll figure out
roles down the way. I justknow seven eight nine is gonna be absolutely
filthy. Talk a little bit aboutyour your year last year, you know,
I know it. It wasn't abad year, but it wasn't the
year that maybe you wanted at theplate. Uh when you look back on
it, was it just adjusting tothat year two where man pitchers think they
got film on you. Now theycould figure figure you out, or was

(01:52):
it you know, mechanics mental withwhat was it where you weren't able to
maybe have the the biggest year atthe plate that you maybe wanted to have.
I'm I said, it's baseball.You know, it's baseball. It's
the nature of the game. Forone player to do good, another has
to not do good, you know. So last year there was a lot
of ups and downs, a lotof learning and h yeah, there's a

(02:12):
lot of information that I took withme in the offseason, a lot of
stuff we worked on, and I'mexcited for this upcoming year. Now.
I feel good, body feels good. Mine's in the right spot, and
we have a great team. Soit should be an exciting year for Houston
Nationals as a team, and Houstonwas as a fan base, and for
you guys too as well. Imean, you know, to have all
this anticipation and hype coming into aseason, But for you guys in that

(02:36):
clubhouse, I mean, what doesit mean to have that group of twenty
six that goes in there every dayand kind of it feels like from the
outside it's kind of a singular mindsetthat everybody is able to adopt. How
hard is that to be able tohave? I think that's what makes such
a great team It's a mentality that'sbeen instilled in the players since we're drafted.

(02:58):
You know, since you drafted,your expected to win and to improve.
So once you get to the bigleagues, the mentality is to win
every single game. So the cultureI came into was I came into the
perfect scenario with Josel Tuowe to myleft, Bregman, you know, Yule
in twenty two now, jose Bray, Tucker, Michael Brandtley, yod You

(03:19):
just look around and these guys areall all stars, Hall of famers and
great people. So you know,they took me in, gave me a
lot of advice, and I'm gratefulto be playing alongside them. Jeremy Paniel
with us here on news Radio sevenforty K tier Age. Part of that
culture that you came into was DustyBaker as the manager. Now the transition
to Joe Aspada, what did youthink of that move and what your relationship

(03:43):
been like with Joe now at theHelm. So, Dusty Baker was my
first manager, and he was someonethat showed a lot of confidence in me.
You know, even when the seasonwas going ups and downs, his
confidence in me, his commitment neverwavered and That's something I've always been grateful
for, and that's something I'm alwaysgonna love him for. But you know,
Joe Spotta heat same thing since thefirst day he saw me. In

(04:06):
spring training twenty nineteen, I gotcalled to back up a game. I
remember in Port Saint Lucie. Wewere playing the Mets, and I was
shy, you know, I wasjust in the background and college career catching
ground balls at shortstop Alex Reregman,at third base Michael Brandley, and I
was just kind of in the back, like doing my thing in the back,

(04:28):
and Spotted kept me after practice whilethey were getting ready for the game.
I wasn't playing. I was justa backup, so he kept me
around and hit me more ground ballsand more ground balls, and the rest
of the spring training he always calledme to keep backing up games so I
could be around those guys, soI could keep learning from those guys.
And I don't know what he sawin me, but you know he saw

(04:49):
it in me before I saw itmyself. Wow, that's awesome. And
one of those things too, thatDusty seemed to have is win or lose.
It seemed like when he came totalk to us, he was the
same guy. How important is thatfor you guys, that when things are
going great, it's easy to bea front runner. But when things aren't
going so great that the guy isstill out there, they oh, they're
playing hard, They're they're out there, They're they're trying to get through this

(05:10):
one sixty two and trying to getto the top. I say that comes
with the experience. You know,he's just been around the game for so
long that he knows how to bringthe best out of his players. He
knows that panicking is not gonna help. He knows that short frustration is not
gonna help the team. You know, he's a person that's very straightforward and

(05:30):
what he says and how he saysit is what it is. He's not
gonna sugarcoat anything. He's not gonna, you know, find a way to
lay it on you easy. He'sgonna say it. But that's that,
and I think every player appreciates that. I think what I what I love
about your game, too, iseven on a night where you know maybe
it's not going great at the plate, you still bring that A plus defense.

(05:50):
How much of that game you know, since you've been at the big
league level, how much of yourfocus has been on bringing that elite a
game defense every night at short Soas a player, not just as a
defender and not just as a hitter, you got to be able to disconnect
the two. Just because I'm nothaving the results I wanted to play doesn't

(06:11):
mean I need to carry that tothe field. You know, the mentality
is still to be the best defenderever. And then even though you missed
your first two at bat, threeat bats, you still haven't at bat
that could change the game. Soyou always try to keep your mind in
the game. And that's something thatyou know, I've been doing since since
I was younger. What's crazy isyou look around baseball and there's a lot

(06:31):
of new pieces on a lot ofnew teams, Like every year teams are
it's getting used to new guys onthe infield or the outfield or whatever.
And it's just that the astro isthis core that you guys have built for
you to go out there, andyou know you got Alex Bregmanty, you're
right, you know you got ahotel to your left. I mean,
just that continuity. It means something. Having you know those guys that know
are I know on this kind ofball, he's going to be here and

(06:53):
that sort of thing. It helpsso much exactly. It's learning each other,
learning the culture of the team.Uh. These guys have been doing
it for so long, you know. Josel Tuve is a Hall of Famer.
Alex Bregman, you know, he'son his way to to do great
things in his sport, you know. And h those guys show up every
single day with the hunger to getbetter. Even after all that Josel two

(07:15):
has achieved, he still shows up. I always say with the uh,
with the drive of a rookie.He's a veteran with the drive of a
rookie. Alex Bregman is a veteranwith the drive of a rookie, you
know. And that's something that Itry to take out of them. L
two like the most humble superstar you'llever It never but it boggles the mind.
Like in the postseason, we're therein Arlington, he just hit the

(07:36):
three run homer. You guys winGame five. That guy walks around,
okay, and I was just like, he's so nonchalant, like doesn't want
to spole. He wants his hewants his his teammates. He's like going
to your Bregman, going to Jeremy, Like it's just so crazy that that
guy is such a big superstar butstill so humble. Yeah, and that
speaks volume to his character, towho he is as a person. You

(07:56):
know, Like you said, hehit the game winning home run versus the
Rangers, and he acted like he'sdone it a million times, which he
has. He's been doing his wholecareer. But you know, he never
wants to speak down on an opponentor speak down on a teammate. He
always tries to bring everybody up,make it a healthy game, and just

(08:18):
let the best man win. Youtalked about those moments. I mean,
it's not all gonna be four forfours every night. It's not gonna be
you're getting every single ground ball.Is that a learned mentality? Like did
somebody have to teach you that of, hey, you can't take yourself,
you can't be too hard on yourself, or did you just kind of already
adopt that and just bring out tothe field. So that's something I learned

(08:39):
from my father. My father playedin the big leagues with the Saint Louis
Cardinals, and that's something that he'sbeen teaching me my whole life. You
know, He's always said that whenyou make a mistake and you start thinking
about it, you're just giving yourselfmore chances of making another mistake. So
one of the things we have witheach other there is if it's gonna if

(09:03):
you're gonna make a mistake, makeit confident, you know, so play
the game confident and just let thegame take care of itself. And that's
something that you know, I've beendoing my whole life. Just a little
more time with Jeremy Paine you hereon our Astros fan Fest coverage here on
ktr H, Jeremy upcoming season,have not necessarily numbers wise or anything else.

(09:24):
Do you have any goals that youhave something? Mean? Your goal?
Glover? You're World Series champion?Is there anything as far as a
goal that you're setting for this upcomingseason? I think the only goal is
to go back to the World Seriesand win the World Series. You know,
that's our team goal every single year. That's what we strive for.
And I always say once, whenyou play for the team, then your

(09:46):
numbers will take care of themselves.You know, when you play unselfish baseball,
then you'll be good. So whatabout shout out to these fans,
these the best fans in baseball.I mean, what can I say?
It's freezing out here, and howmany faces me hea here? You know
they're they're staying warm. I'm tryingto stay warm. But I appreciate you
all for coming out. Uh trulyappreciate the support that we received from y'all

(10:09):
in the season. It doesn't gounnoticed. And when you guys pack the
stadium, it just motivates. It'sthat much more to put together a good
show for y'all. Well, he'strying to stay warm. Nobody beats this
guy in the gym. By theway, every spring train, I'm like,
my god, Jerry Payne must havespent every day in the gym just
looking ways. It's incredible. What'sthe biceparing team? Man? Man?

(10:31):
I would say genetics, man,good genetics. Dang. So there's no
hope, no hope, all right, Jerry Payne. Yet, thank you
for the time as always appreciated,and good luck this upcoming season. Thank
you guys for having appreciated that