Kyle Tucker at Fan Fest

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We're coming out here with the bignames already, the big dogs, Kyle
Tucker, two time All Star goldGlover. Appreciate you joining us. So
let's go ahead and just start rightat the gate. The hot question everybody
already wants to know, where's thehoneymoon? We kind of already did it,
but what Yeah, I mean wegot we got a spring training coming
up, that's true. Yeah,we did it beforehand, went over to

(00:22):
Italy, Switzerland, France. Wow, it was really cool, really nice.
We definitely appreciate Samantha dot Tucker dotthirty on Instagram filling everybody in on
all the wedding and honeymoon activities.And King Tuck is a thing. It
was a thing at your wedding aswell, So it's King and Queen Tuck
now correct. Yeah, Yeah,that was kind of a little bit of

(00:45):
the theme that we kind of wentwith a little bit. And you might
have seen like the little ice sculpturewith the crown on it too, So
just kind of threw in a fewthings like that in there. Well,
one thing that happened prior to thisyear, and it was different this year.
As we slide over a little baseball, the situation contractually is done for
the upcoming year. Arbitration avoided atwelve million dollars deal you move into.

(01:07):
As you were telling us off theair, it's time to get ready for
the season. Yeah, you know, we're excited for this upcoming season.
We've got a really good team.As you saw yesterday, we got a
new addition. So yeah, lookat us four questions and we haven't even
mentioned it. Yeah, So we'reexcited and kind of you know, fantast
today to kick you know, thingsoff with all the fans and everything.
We had the caravan going on thepast couple days. So we're excited to

(01:30):
get to spring training and get everyonetogether and get it going. Yeah.
So with that addition, obviously JoshHater five years, ninety five million dollars,
you guys have arguably the best backend bullpen in all of baseball.
Probably pretty good that you don't haveto face Josh Hater anymore now he's a
part of the Astros, right,Yeah, I mean I don't I don't
think I've ever faced him before.Who's always in the National League, and

(01:51):
right I just never had the chanceto face him. Thank Yeah, you
know, he's a pretty good pitcher. So we're happy to have him and
you know, happy to see himout around them, not for us.
I mean, Brian and Bray,Ryan Presley and Josh Hater. That's your
in whatever order it is. Seveneight nine. That's pretty nasty. Yeah,
that's pretty good. You know,hopefully every can stay healthy throughout the
whole season, those three and everyoneelse on our team. So hopefully you

(02:14):
can just stay healthy, get throughthe season, you know, get to
the playoffs and go and make arun. There might be like some seven
eight nine innings where you don't evenhave to walk, you don't have to
move if like at the end ofthe game. Nice, right, yeah,
be nice. But either way I'llbe out there running now. Yeah.
Okay, So of course we knowyou personally at the plate didn't go
the way that you wanted to inthe playoffs. What do you think is

(02:37):
that anything? Is that just likea bad slump and anything you've been thinking
about or working on or anything thatyou thought was missing in your game,
or was it just a run ofbad luck. I mean it's tough.
I mean, if you if youdon't know what's wrong with it, it's
kind of hard to fix it.It's just kind of just terrible timing for
for that, but you know,just working on stuff, trying to be
more consistent throughout the season and getback to the spot and you know,

(02:59):
make a different How does that impactyour off season? You obviously had a
great regular season, You have plentyof good off seasons in your past,
or plenty of good postseasons in yourpast. Does do anything to how you
prepare for the upcoming season? Imean, you want to get better regardless,
but I mean definitely definitely don't wantto you know, do bad,
especially in that you know type ofenvironment and you know, at the end

(03:21):
of the season. But so Iwant, I want to come back and
you know, have a really goodtrunk season, just continue that into the
postseason, just providing the you knoweffort or you know success to the team
as they can. Can you appreciatewhat these fans will feel, maybe more
than ever and you guys probably thesame. There is a definitive rivalry between
the Rangers and the Astros. Now, I mean that they have a really

(03:44):
good team, but so do we. And you know, every every game
is gonna be tough, every everygame is gonna be exciting, So you
know, hopefully we can just getget a lot of wins out of it,
and along with every other team thatwould face out of the season.
So we're we're gonna go out thereand play our hardest every single time.
So I want to I want togo back to a little bit of your
struggles in the in the postseason.How much was that affecting you mentally?
Did you feel like you were startingto press I mean, obviously, you

(04:05):
know, your batting gloves one game, no batting gloves, switching everything up.
How much pressing were you doing?Uh? I mean it's tough because
obviously you don't want to struggle atany time, but yeah, you know,
especially then, but uh, youjust trying to I mean, I
was just trying to mix it upjust so hopefully, you know, if
something clicks. But you know,even if I am struggling, still gonna
you know, try and go upthere. And you know, even if

(04:25):
I don't get a hit, tryand move a runner over from seven to
third or have a good quality atbat. Yeah, yeah, you know,
at the very least, I mean, still trying to draw some walks
or do something, you know,even if it doesn't result in a hit
or something. So I was justtrying to go out there and do that
and hopefully, you know, sometimesthey click with just all this stuff I
was doing in the cage and whatnot. Yeah, it's just how I think
we're all collectively kind of waiting foryou to just have like close jam shots,

(04:47):
singles, you know, pick yourthumbs up, but you find your
way on base, just actually touchthe base and things start to roll.
And I mean, obviously hitting isvery very difficult, especially at y'all's level,
but man, I just I alwaysthink about them and the mental side
of things when you go through struggleslike that. So I don't know,
I just I thought you were gonnaget through it. And then my one
of my questions, wex already tookit, but it was like, how

(05:10):
are you gonna does that feed youroff season? But you already kind of
answered that. So I look forwardto, you know, seeing if you're
gonna be rocking batting gloves or nobatting gloves at the start of the season.
We'll probably stick with it a littlebit with the batting gloves. Yeah,
okay, see how it goes.Might mix it up every now and
then, but yeah, well we'llsee. Okay, so you're coming into

(05:30):
I mean the year, seventh majorleague year. What as far as the
off season in preparation, what doyou know now or do differently than maybe
you didn't do when when you wereyounger in the game. I just,
I mean, as you grow upand the longer you play, the more
you kind of know the the guysyou play against. You just kind of
know how to go about your offseason a little bit more, a little
more detailed and stuff you don't probablywhen I was younger, you know,

(05:57):
first coming up, I've just notso I've worked out everything. It's kind
of just I kind of know whatto do now. I just it's just
like fine tuning little things here andthere, rather than you know, harder.
Yeah, basically, so instead oflike hitting for five hours like every
single day, Like I can hitfor an hour or thirty minutes or whatever,
but it's way more detailed to whereI don't have to hit the entire

(06:18):
day. There'll just be more detailedand you just get quality working. Why
aren't you grinding in the lab everypossible moment and posting it on Instagram like
Bregman Seriously, I mean, hey, I mean that's that's just what he
likes to do. He's out thereworking hard and everything, and you know
he likes to, you know,show people what he's been doing, and
you'll help other people that are youknow, trying to you know, whether

(06:40):
it's little league, high school,college, whatever, guys just kind of
get you know, pick his braina little bit through that. So I
just don't can you appreciate what he'sdoing though, like it is, it's
I wouldn't say it's over the topbecause this is what he's been since he
was at LSU. I mean,this is just he is a rat for
the art. I'm just doing everyevery possible drill. But you know that's
that's what makes him great. Butyou know, I just don't post post

(07:03):
about it. But I problemse I'mstill out there. Yeah, no doubt
you are. We're talking with CaleTucker here at Astro's fan Fest. One
other thing, it'll be a changein the dugout. You walk down,
pick up your bat out of therack. Last guy will finished seeing is
your new manager, Joe A.Spota. Obviously, he's been with you
guys for such a long period oftime. It almost feels to us like

(07:24):
there won't be a huge difference.But there'll be a stylistic difference to how
things go every day. What areyour anticipation for what it's like with Joe's
managers. I mean, first off, Joe's a phenomenal person. I mean
he's been with this organization, aroundthese players for a long time, so
he kind of knows everyone personally.There might be a few players that he
will have to introduce himself to,but I mean, he's pretty approachable guy.

(07:46):
He's he's very easy to talk to. You know, he can talk
with English, Spanish, like,you know, he's very uh, you
know, capable of communicating with everyone. So it makes it pretty easy for
him to just be able to dothat with you know, pitching staff,
hit ors, whatever. And youknow, he kind of knows how everyone
works, everyone likes to do things, and he's very easy to, like

(08:07):
I said, talk too, sothat you can kind of go manage the
season, you know, through himand things to go to do a phenomenal
job. So we're a little lessthan a month away from pitchers and catchers
reporting. What's next for you?Obviously, you got married, you had
your honeymoon, and now you're herein ice cold Houston getting ready to go
back to the to the sunny stateof Florida. What's next for you as
far as getting ready to get readyto go down to spring training. So

(08:28):
yeah, I'm gonna go back,go back to sunny Florida a little warmer
than here right now, but justgo back, start working out again and
then hitting more, throwing more,and just you know, getting prepared for
the for whenever we report to thespring training and then get it going for
the games. So with a littlebit of a longer off season unfortunately for
you guys, because the last coupleof years playing in in November. Do

(08:50):
you throw at all or do youlet your body kind of rest for a
couple of weeks, maybe do acouple of things here and there, or
is it or is there just aprogram you follow? I mean, and
I typically start like work like doingmy workouts and stuff like come December and
then start more of my baseball stuffcome January. Just I know a lot
of guys like to do it likeright when they get back or stuff like

(09:11):
that. That I mean, that'sjust kind of personal and preference rise and
stuff and whatever guys want to workon. He could you know, get
better at certain times. But that'sjust kind of what I've been doing,
it's been going pretty good, andI just kind of know what I need
to do and I kind of figuredthat out over the past couple of years.
Yeah. Uh. And just circlingback about Joe's spot and the question
we always talk about, you know, and when the managerially search was happening.

(09:35):
Uh, and we're just guys,you know, with the microphones,
and we're like, this is whata good manager is. What what to
you is what you would like tosee as far as and I know,
of course, like you said,Joe spot of chicks, all the boxes,
So like what are the qualities thatyou think are most important for a
major league manager? Uh? Imean the biggest thing is just managing,
you know, the players in thelocker room. I think he's gonna do
a phenomenal job at that. LikeI said, he's been been around these

(09:58):
guys for the past couple of years, and I'm sure just kind of managing
like, you know, guys' workloads, you know they're off days, just
how much they're playing, just tryingto get through a full season healthy.
I think he's gonna do a phenomenaljob at that. And then you also

(10:20):
just you know, make your callson you know, guys coming in from
from the bullpen, and you gottaworry about the guys. You know,
they can't throw twenty days in arow. You gotta have rest at some
point. So, I mean,he he kind of knows ens and outs
of everything, does okay, SoI think he's gonna be a phenomenal job.
But making whatever calls he sees fit. Maybe it'll help the JV's gonna
put in a full season with theteam this year. Yeah, definitely,

(10:41):
I mean that that will definitely help. You know, JV's a phenomenal person
player, So I mean he's givenus a lot of endings and a lot
of quality starts the basket couple ofyears. So we're happy to have him
back out there. He's given usand you guys some tremendous locker room speeches
that we have to clean up onthe air. So we look forward to
hearing more of those this year.Yeah, hopefully we get plenty of more
of those going so you can,you know, hopefully keep blaring believing those

(11:05):
out. Did you did you winyour appeal for that home run the inside
the park to get you thirty three? You didn't win it, so technically
you had thirty stolen base and twentyon home runs. Yeah. Man,
you want me to call Rob foryou if you want? Yeah, I
mean I don't really want to talkto him, be honest with you,
but can we get you a thirtythirty season? Can we get there this
year? I mean, I meanbelieve, I know, I know we
all do. Yeah, you knowyou personally, I can't. Is that

(11:26):
a goal for you this year?I mean I'm gonna try and put up
as you know, high numbers asI can to you know, get as
many ones as we can. Imean, definitely hitting thirty forty fifty homers
that it definitely helps that. ButI mean it for me, like I
always said, it just kind ofcomes with, you know, the game
situation. Like I'm probably not gonnasteal base if we're up ten in the

(11:48):
ninth and you know why not.Man, that's that's not bushleagu or anything.
That's I mean, hey, gofor it you want, like,
h I'll be good over there.Yeah. I'm gonna show Kyle something right
here on this empty table. Here'sthe un and rules of baseball. Blay
Man, it doesn't exist, Itdoesn't except out there not real, all
right, Kyle Tucker, two timeAll Star Gold Glover here at astro Strantha
Swift us here and the Crowd,News Radio seven forty k here h,

(12:11):
Kyle, thanks for the time asalways. Man, we'll talk to you
superci. Thanks for having me,all right, appreciate it. There we
go, the man himself, KyleTucker,