April 17, 2025 • 19 mins
With the season now fully underway and assessing what we've seen roughly 20 games into the season, World Series winner John Smoltz joins Sean and Dan discussing the ramp up surrounding the MLB following some teams off to hot starts, some off to slow ones, and some up and down in the middle. Following his 21 season tenure in the league and sharing things he's learned throughout his career, John also shares a few things he's began to notice over the years since his retirement and the game the direction looks to be heading.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Beat.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It is well grateful now here at nine o'clock hour
to get on Hall of Famer great pitcher in Major
League Baseball, obviously the lead game analyst for Fox every
single week with Joe Davis joins us now here on
the Shaan Salasby show on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
John, Welcome in, my man.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
But let's get to the most important thing before you
do anything. Are you do you have a tea time today?
And will you try to qualify for the US Open
this year?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
The answer is yes to both, and it's been a
great week weatherwise here in Atlanta. So I've played thirty six,
thirty six, and thirty six leading into today and there'll
be a boring eighteen today.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Do you suck okay? Meaning meaning we all wish we
were there with you? Good on you. Let me ask
you about the competitive juices the same for you, nerves
wise and juices when when you tee it up in
one of those or when the qualifying or more than
when you pitched in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Way more in the US Open and playing in the
Champions Tour events or any celebrity event, there's always the
nerves of the unknown. Because I'm not mechanically sound like
I was in baseball. I know people don't believe it,
but I was really never nervous in baseball any big game.
I knew what I could do, and I was always
(01:18):
committed to doing that because I worked hard at it.
Golf is just a learn trait and I'm not Mechanically.
You get exposed, you see it at the professional level.
The nerves get you when you're uncomfortable. And the first
ees have always been the most uncomfortable for me because
I practice wrong, I play wrong, I get two balls
(01:40):
sometimes off the first tee. With my buddies, there's always that,
you know, kind of safety net, and there is no
safety net in a competitive round. One bad swing and
you're you're off to the wrong way. So I'm way
more nervous than golf.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, you know, John, it's interesting, and I having played
the quarterback position and coaching it and teaching kids mechanics
and being an obsessed golfer as well, I can't seem
to apply the same mechanics that I was so comfortable
with to golf. Yet I listened to you on your
broadcast and I was saying it before you came on today.
You're so good during pitches, in between pitches, pitch sequencing,
(02:17):
but the mechanics of explaining it to us as a
viewer so quickly but thoroughly, without you know, getting too
busy with the words and allowing us to understand the
mechanics of a hitter or a pitcher. So in your
golf game, when you apply it or when somebody else
applies it. Why do you think a guy who's a
mechanics fanatic like you are, why is it so tough
(02:37):
to apply it to your game and golf?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, the biggest reason has been, you know, physically, I
am not able to do some of the things that
It's the reason I don't take a lesson, right. You know,
I've had two hips were placed, I've got three shoulder
surgery spoil I mean, I'm basically you would have sworn
I played football, But I'm a self I'm self taught
at everything I do. I kind of tinker a little bit,
but what I learned is when I'm in, when I feel,
(03:05):
you know, good about something, I emulate it. And so
the reason it doesn't translate is I've just been banged
up and got some bad habits. And that's the beauty
of golf try to hide that. It's hard to hide,
and that's why I love it. That's why I'm obsessed
by It's why every day could be your day. And
you would think, unlike other sports, when you're in a
(03:27):
zone in golf, you would think that would last longer
than it does. It doesn't. Some of the greatest in
the world have, you know, two three week runs and
then it kind of disappears for a little bit. So
that's what I love about it. And you know, I'm
fifty seven, soon to be fifty eight. I'm trying to
train again now that I've got some artificial parts of
(03:47):
my body that make me feel better. I just I
want to play it as long as I.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Can, hey Man, and for me, it lasts two holes.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
John, that moment I'm we saw on Sunday with Roy McElroy,
it was literally from start to finish, every other hole
that moment and went away and it came back for
him to be able to do that and close it
out was phenomenal. Hall of Famer John Smoltz obviously the
lead analyst in game analyst for Fox and is one
of the great teachers. When you're watching a broadcast that
we have on television. All right, John, let me let
(04:14):
me get to baseball. How you know, with a long season,
overrated or underrated. When we talk about fast starts.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Overrated, thirty game barometer, it's more of a good indicator
of an oh or here we go, maybe even getting
to forty five. I know, I talked to some managers
and I find it hard to believe that they don't
look at the standings until the All Star break, which
good for them if they can do that, because we
(04:44):
are in a fast track world. I'm in or I'm
out on your team right and right now, there's been
some horrific starts to some teams that had high expectation.
And always I always talk about coming out of spring training,
you spend a lot of time working on something. I'm
not huge on the carry over effect of the year
(05:05):
before because it's such a long year. But you know
your warts. You know your strengths and your warts, and
I always say that when they when the warts get exposed,
that is the worst scenario to start for a team
that is concerned about that. Meaning let's say you're pitching
is an issue and you come out and just absolutely
(05:26):
don't pitch, Well, then that's going to be a topic
the rest of the year and or hitting. You know,
when you get exposed early, it's up to the other
aspects of your of your team to hide that until
you can fix whatever is getting exposed. And I definitely
have seen that with some teams already based on the roster,
(05:47):
are based on the slow starter or fast start.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Hey, John, we've had trouble here, you know, since yu
Ley left here in Houston, of trying to find a
bopper or somebody the productive, everyday guy at first base.
They go get Christian Walker and eighteen games in he's laboring,
you know, harsh. It's been harsh on him. Yet we've
seen him in Arizona. Good player, right, So when do
we what do you do with a guy like that?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
John?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Working on mechanics during the season, I mean, what do
you say to Christian Walker? And you mentioned man, you
see the wards of what's going on, and plus it's
heightened because it's at the beginning of a season for
a new guy. How does a guy get out of this?
And do you just let a veteran play through it?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah? I have a track record the baseball card, I know.
We don't go by that anymore. We're into so much
of the deep analytics and hard hit rate and all
those different things. And what I say is, anytime a
player who's been in an organization for more than six years,
it's always a transition bigger than people understand. So you
get a player new spot, and you have new hope,
(06:48):
and then that player presses or wants to impress their
team so much that you get out of the things
that make you who you are. Different stadium, although that
shouldn't be the issue because this is a pretty good
hitting stadium, and I think time is the best served
for a new player. We've seen it with some of
the high UH expectations of a Francisco lindor big time contracts.
(07:10):
Whenever you're replacing somebody and your your organization has a
transition and you lose some of that identifiable players, it's
difficult to figure out what is this team moving forward.
You know, you've seen no Bregman, no Tucker, You've seen
some some other guys go. And I think Houston has
a unique opportunity where they still know how to win.
(07:35):
And and I think once you once you let that
settle in last year, of course it got a horrible start.
They still went win the division, So I think you
got to give that player a little bit more time,
even if the team has had a historic run in
the last seven or eight years, as Houston has.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
John with the analytics you mentioned, this is a team
that's that's built. They've been doing it along one of
the one of the best at it. For you from
your from your vantage point, you've seen both because you
played in one. What was semi but it was feel
and now we've I don't want to say completely switched,
but people hinge on it and lean on.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Do you like looking at a card telling you what
you're supposed to do with the runner on second and
a guy at the plate? Are you big in the
analytics a mix or are you still a field guy?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, I'm a balanced guy. I wanted information right, I
didn't want information overkilled. I didn't want one bucket. I
needed to see with my eyes, learn on the job,
and get the information so that I can decipher what
works for me. I think the problem in this sport
and every time you you know, I talk about it,
people want to go kill me saying I'm anti analytics.
(08:46):
I'm an I'm a results guy right over one sixty two.
You can make some arguments there's there's some value in
the analytics department of what they've come up with, But
then I look at the outcome, what has become better
because of it, and we certainly aren't preventing injuries. It's
the highest rate of injury in the history of the game.
So analytics hasn't helped pitching stay healthy. They have certainly
(09:08):
helped pitchers be more dominant, but their careers are shut.
They're cutting half. Hitting has suffered dramatically because of it.
It's behind the eight ball. But the reward system is
what analytics is ultimately responsible for, right, So if you're
not if you can throw twenty five to thirty five
interceptions in a season and not get dinged for it,
(09:31):
then are you going to be worried about throwing the
ball away or you're going to try to fit it
in the tight space every time? Because analytics is we
want XYZ and so that's to me. The players are changing,
they're changing their reward system and they're chasing it. So
if you strike out two hundred times and run into
thirty five mistakes and hit thirty five homers, it's considered
kind of a good year even if you're hitting two
(09:52):
h five. So my biggest belief in the game and
how it's played is if it's balanced, then it's great.
But if you don't dev eight after a one to
sixty two schedule and apply your analytics to a best
of five, a best of seven, I believe you're at
a disadvantage. I think you're not playing the type of
game that allows you to win a championship. When you
(10:16):
have a runner on third, nobody out, and the amount
of times that I've watched baseball that a runner doesn't
even move and the ball is not even put in play,
that to me is not good baseball. But analytics and
the philosophy of teams says, I want you to hit
the ball in the air over the outfielders' heads. I
don't want you to hit a ball on the ground,
even if that'll score a run. So there's a lot
of things that I think we get out of whack,
(10:38):
and it's kind of what it is now. So as
an announcer, I have to adapt to the way a
team wants to play, even though I can still call
for what I think should happen, but I have to explain, well,
this team would prefer for this to happen. So I've
been doing this a long time. You do not win
a championship in the top ten in strikeouts, You just don't.
(11:02):
You don't win a top championship in the top five
strikeouts if your offense has too many strikeouts. I don't
care how many strikeouts your pitching staff has. You've got
to be able to put the ball in play to
win in baseball.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Lead Baseball analyst at Fox, John Smoltz, will, a Hall
of Famer, joins us for a few more minutes here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. All Right, John, when I
say from er Valdez, what's your answer if nobody's seen
a pitch with what's your first thing you say to somebody,
I drew.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I love watching them pitch. I think this is what
pitching is all about. I love his mechanics. I love
everything about what he does. I think you're going to
see him drift in and out of greatness. Maybe it
mainly because the mental locking in. Sometimes he might drift
we all I did that. I'm an advocate of listen.
(11:52):
Being honest, you know, it's it's hard to stay locked
in every single game. But when I watched him pitch.
That's what I would teach. Finishes in a great spot,
tremendous movement, doesn't have the max effort ninety eight ninety nine. Look,
he's not free of injury, but I would say of
all the pitchers I watch, he's less He's less capable
(12:15):
of being injured as we are teaching the other guys
throwing max effort. I think he is one of the
best pictures in the game. And if he can get
to a place where he could stay more locked in
emotionally and mentally, you're going to see a cy young
no doubt out of this young man. He pitches in
one of the tougher ballparks and still quiets the bats
(12:37):
at a rate that is what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And John, yeah, yea, and he eats innings.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
John, and you mentioned that part of it about the
question is that I know listening to you, just from
listening and watching you about the mental and emotional approach
to playing and pitching. So is he tough enough mentally
and emotionally in your mind?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
That did I guess those much?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
When he has him when he's like disconnected, can he
bring him back in good enough to be that guy
who you can rely on when it matters regularly and consistently.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
That's gonna be the big question. You never know when
a player clicks to the next level. It took me
a while to learn some things. In nineteen ninety six,
I went to the next level and I and I
thankfully never went back. I learned how to survive now.
It was a different rewards system. Thirty six starts is
different than twenty eight to thirty that are expected now.
(13:30):
And I learned. And I think that's gonna be either
his payday or is not going to be his payday.
There's gonna be a lot of talk around him on
when I think he's a free agent after this year.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, yes he is, And so that's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
That's gonna be either for some clubs that don't see
enough want to roll the dice for the current club
in Houston. You know, look, I know Jim Crane's very shrewd.
He makes great, really very big decisions, and he makes
them calculated and so so if he feels he's that player,
then he'll sign a ballplayer to a contract that's lucrative
(14:06):
and long term. But if he doesn't, then you know,
I think then then that's that's the rub right there.
You you got to understand as a player, everybody knows
everything about you, and your current club knows the most.
And when I see players, not every time, but when
I see certain players go other places and sign bigger
(14:26):
contracts and their club didn't make even close to it,
it tells you what you need to know about that
club feeling about that player, not one hundred percent, but
more than not. And so that's why you see a
lot of guys get rewarded for the one really good
year that happens later in their career, and they get rewarded,
(14:47):
and then you got to wonder, is that the player
you're getting or is it that one really really good
year that's an outlier? Right?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
You're my manager.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
We got an elimination game that gets us to the
World Series or wins the World Series. And I got
all my pitching staff healthy and Hunter Brown and fromber
my front two guys, and I got to win the game.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Who are you running out there? First?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Man, I'm a huge fan of Hunter Brown. I know
him from my home state and talk to him a
few times, and I'm telling you he's coming into his
own and he has arrived and he had to go
through the same thing. He had to shuffle the analytic
information what he's trying to do, and I think he's
become that pitcher. As much as I absolutely just laid
(15:35):
out how much I love Freimberg, I think you can't
make a bad decision, but matchup wise, it might make
that makes sense to go with one guy or the other.
Hunter Brown right now is the guy of the future
for the Houston Astros.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
He is.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
I think Justin Berlander did him well while he was there.
He's navigated who he wants to be. He's finding a
way to not strike out every single batter, which is
a problem for a lot of young pitchers because that's
the reward system. So I would not even think twice
about giving him the ball in a big game now,
(16:12):
And that's a good problem to have when you have
two guys you could go to at any point to
win a big game.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
And I'll leave you with this, John, talk me off
this ledge real quick. You and I are the same era, guys,
same around the same age, and I get I'm maybe
it's a little old school, but I think I can
be old school with this. Is healthy players that need
twenty five days off during the seasons that aren't this schedule,
that aren't part of that, you're not playing on that day?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Talk me off.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Am I crazy to think that the ball ain't heavy?
And if you're a DH or a first base or
a third baseman you should expect to play one hundred
and fifty plus games?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Or Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Now?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Do we got to have that rest?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
No? We've got all information over kill. This is what's
hurt the game. In my opinion. We have too much knowledge,
too much technology, too much nutrition. Listen, I would be
going off on this information if guys were healthier. I'm
about playing the game the right way and being healthy.
I want guys to have twenty year careers. We're not
(17:11):
even close to having that. We've got so much information
on sleep, study and nutrition. Why are guys getting hurt them?
Why are we overtraining the muscles and the body for
a sport that is not meant for big muscle sport.
It's a fast twitch You want to talk about football.
We got more players that look like football players in
(17:31):
baseball than in the last twenty years. So when a
guy's ten for his last fourteen, but he's got a
scheduled day off because that's what the sleep study says.
Uncle with that right, I don't even come close to
realizing why that's even an issue. And so our players softer,
not necessarily, but they've become softer because the information has
(17:54):
allowed them to. In our sport, it was nothing to
play one hundred and fift two games. But if I
tell you every day at work you're gonna get sick,
you're gonna get sick, You're gonna start not only believing
you're gonna get sick, you're probably gonna get sick. And
there's so much to the game and the mentality that
(18:14):
used to be where you train for the longevity and
the long run. Now if you don't feel good, you
don't have to play. You don't even have to pitch,
and so that's the way the game is run. They
think that's better. I hope they're right, but it's no
evidence that has showed their right. If the injuries go
(18:35):
down mysteriously in the next two years, you'll hear me
say great, if pitchers stay healthy and not thirty eight
percent are incurring Tommy John, I would be going great.
I'm not anti information, I'm anti results. When the information
doesn't match the results, and that's what you hear nobody
(18:55):
talk about. They love the information, they've built an empire information,
but they will not talk to the health and well
being of a player because they know that's unsustainable in
the current model. So no, you're not wrong to think that,
but it is Again, if you're playing today, you're not
going to beat down the door of your manager and
(19:17):
say I'm playing today. You don't even have that choice,
so you welcome it. And it's the norm. And so
again I'm not blaming the player. The player is only
a byproduct of the system that they are playing in.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I hate the norm of the system the way it
is right now, John, great stuff, hit him straight. But
let's do this again and have a great baseball season
on the broadcast and any of your qualifications for all
these great events that you have. And we appreciate you
spending time with this as always, my men, my pleasure,
Thank you, thanks, appreciate it. That's the great Johnsmos. We'll
come back and discuss and be a quick segment because
guess what, we're clearing the decks for our next guy,
(19:54):
Dana Brown here at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
We'll come right back
Beat.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It is well grateful now here at nine o'clock hour
to get on Hall of Famer great pitcher in Major
League Baseball, obviously the lead game analyst for Fox every
single week with Joe Davis joins us now here on
the Shaan Salasby show on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
John, Welcome in, my man.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
But let's get to the most important thing before you
do anything. Are you do you have a tea time today?
And will you try to qualify for the US Open
this year?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
The answer is yes to both, and it's been a
great week weatherwise here in Atlanta. So I've played thirty six,
thirty six, and thirty six leading into today and there'll
be a boring eighteen today.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Do you suck okay? Meaning meaning we all wish we
were there with you? Good on you. Let me ask
you about the competitive juices the same for you, nerves
wise and juices when when you tee it up in
one of those or when the qualifying or more than
when you pitched in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Way more in the US Open and playing in the
Champions Tour events or any celebrity event, there's always the
nerves of the unknown. Because I'm not mechanically sound like
I was in baseball. I know people don't believe it,
but I was really never nervous in baseball any big game.
I knew what I could do, and I was always
(01:18):
committed to doing that because I worked hard at it.
Golf is just a learn trait and I'm not Mechanically.
You get exposed, you see it at the professional level.
The nerves get you when you're uncomfortable. And the first
ees have always been the most uncomfortable for me because
I practice wrong, I play wrong, I get two balls
(01:40):
sometimes off the first tee. With my buddies, there's always that,
you know, kind of safety net, and there is no
safety net in a competitive round. One bad swing and
you're you're off to the wrong way. So I'm way
more nervous than golf.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, you know, John, it's interesting, and I having played
the quarterback position and coaching it and teaching kids mechanics
and being an obsessed golfer as well, I can't seem
to apply the same mechanics that I was so comfortable
with to golf. Yet I listened to you on your
broadcast and I was saying it before you came on today.
You're so good during pitches, in between pitches, pitch sequencing,
(02:17):
but the mechanics of explaining it to us as a
viewer so quickly but thoroughly, without you know, getting too
busy with the words and allowing us to understand the
mechanics of a hitter or a pitcher. So in your
golf game, when you apply it or when somebody else
applies it. Why do you think a guy who's a
mechanics fanatic like you are, why is it so tough
(02:37):
to apply it to your game and golf?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, the biggest reason has been, you know, physically, I
am not able to do some of the things that
It's the reason I don't take a lesson, right. You know,
I've had two hips were placed, I've got three shoulder
surgery spoil I mean, I'm basically you would have sworn
I played football, But I'm a self I'm self taught
at everything I do. I kind of tinker a little bit,
but what I learned is when I'm in, when I feel,
(03:05):
you know, good about something, I emulate it. And so
the reason it doesn't translate is I've just been banged
up and got some bad habits. And that's the beauty
of golf try to hide that. It's hard to hide,
and that's why I love it. That's why I'm obsessed
by It's why every day could be your day. And
you would think, unlike other sports, when you're in a
(03:27):
zone in golf, you would think that would last longer
than it does. It doesn't. Some of the greatest in
the world have, you know, two three week runs and
then it kind of disappears for a little bit. So
that's what I love about it. And you know, I'm
fifty seven, soon to be fifty eight. I'm trying to
train again now that I've got some artificial parts of
(03:47):
my body that make me feel better. I just I
want to play it as long as I.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Can, hey Man, and for me, it lasts two holes.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
John, that moment I'm we saw on Sunday with Roy McElroy,
it was literally from start to finish, every other hole
that moment and went away and it came back for
him to be able to do that and close it
out was phenomenal. Hall of Famer John Smoltz obviously the
lead analyst in game analyst for Fox and is one
of the great teachers. When you're watching a broadcast that
we have on television. All right, John, let me let
(04:14):
me get to baseball. How you know, with a long season,
overrated or underrated. When we talk about fast starts.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Overrated, thirty game barometer, it's more of a good indicator
of an oh or here we go, maybe even getting
to forty five. I know, I talked to some managers
and I find it hard to believe that they don't
look at the standings until the All Star break, which
good for them if they can do that, because we
(04:44):
are in a fast track world. I'm in or I'm
out on your team right and right now, there's been
some horrific starts to some teams that had high expectation.
And always I always talk about coming out of spring training,
you spend a lot of time working on something. I'm
not huge on the carry over effect of the year
(05:05):
before because it's such a long year. But you know
your warts. You know your strengths and your warts, and
I always say that when they when the warts get exposed,
that is the worst scenario to start for a team
that is concerned about that. Meaning let's say you're pitching
is an issue and you come out and just absolutely
(05:26):
don't pitch, Well, then that's going to be a topic
the rest of the year and or hitting. You know,
when you get exposed early, it's up to the other
aspects of your of your team to hide that until
you can fix whatever is getting exposed. And I definitely
have seen that with some teams already based on the roster,
(05:47):
are based on the slow starter or fast start.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Hey, John, we've had trouble here, you know, since yu
Ley left here in Houston, of trying to find a
bopper or somebody the productive, everyday guy at first base.
They go get Christian Walker and eighteen games in he's laboring,
you know, harsh. It's been harsh on him. Yet we've
seen him in Arizona. Good player, right, So when do
we what do you do with a guy like that?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
John?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Working on mechanics during the season, I mean, what do
you say to Christian Walker? And you mentioned man, you
see the wards of what's going on, and plus it's
heightened because it's at the beginning of a season for
a new guy. How does a guy get out of this?
And do you just let a veteran play through it?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yeah? I have a track record the baseball card, I know.
We don't go by that anymore. We're into so much
of the deep analytics and hard hit rate and all
those different things. And what I say is, anytime a
player who's been in an organization for more than six years,
it's always a transition bigger than people understand. So you
get a player new spot, and you have new hope,
(06:48):
and then that player presses or wants to impress their
team so much that you get out of the things
that make you who you are. Different stadium, although that
shouldn't be the issue because this is a pretty good
hitting stadium, and I think time is the best served
for a new player. We've seen it with some of
the high UH expectations of a Francisco lindor big time contracts.
(07:10):
Whenever you're replacing somebody and your your organization has a
transition and you lose some of that identifiable players, it's
difficult to figure out what is this team moving forward.
You know, you've seen no Bregman, no Tucker, You've seen
some some other guys go. And I think Houston has
a unique opportunity where they still know how to win.
(07:35):
And and I think once you once you let that
settle in last year, of course it got a horrible start.
They still went win the division, So I think you
got to give that player a little bit more time,
even if the team has had a historic run in
the last seven or eight years, as Houston has.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
John with the analytics you mentioned, this is a team
that's that's built. They've been doing it along one of
the one of the best at it. For you from
your from your vantage point, you've seen both because you
played in one. What was semi but it was feel
and now we've I don't want to say completely switched,
but people hinge on it and lean on.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Do you like looking at a card telling you what
you're supposed to do with the runner on second and
a guy at the plate? Are you big in the
analytics a mix or are you still a field guy?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, I'm a balanced guy. I wanted information right, I
didn't want information overkilled. I didn't want one bucket. I
needed to see with my eyes, learn on the job,
and get the information so that I can decipher what
works for me. I think the problem in this sport
and every time you you know, I talk about it,
people want to go kill me saying I'm anti analytics.
(08:46):
I'm an I'm a results guy right over one sixty two.
You can make some arguments there's there's some value in
the analytics department of what they've come up with, But
then I look at the outcome, what has become better
because of it, and we certainly aren't preventing injuries. It's
the highest rate of injury in the history of the game.
So analytics hasn't helped pitching stay healthy. They have certainly
(09:08):
helped pitchers be more dominant, but their careers are shut.
They're cutting half. Hitting has suffered dramatically because of it.
It's behind the eight ball. But the reward system is
what analytics is ultimately responsible for, right, So if you're
not if you can throw twenty five to thirty five
interceptions in a season and not get dinged for it,
(09:31):
then are you going to be worried about throwing the
ball away or you're going to try to fit it
in the tight space every time? Because analytics is we
want XYZ and so that's to me. The players are changing,
they're changing their reward system and they're chasing it. So
if you strike out two hundred times and run into
thirty five mistakes and hit thirty five homers, it's considered
kind of a good year even if you're hitting two
(09:52):
h five. So my biggest belief in the game and
how it's played is if it's balanced, then it's great.
But if you don't dev eight after a one to
sixty two schedule and apply your analytics to a best
of five, a best of seven, I believe you're at
a disadvantage. I think you're not playing the type of
game that allows you to win a championship. When you
(10:16):
have a runner on third, nobody out, and the amount
of times that I've watched baseball that a runner doesn't
even move and the ball is not even put in play,
that to me is not good baseball. But analytics and
the philosophy of teams says, I want you to hit
the ball in the air over the outfielders' heads. I
don't want you to hit a ball on the ground,
even if that'll score a run. So there's a lot
of things that I think we get out of whack,
(10:38):
and it's kind of what it is now. So as
an announcer, I have to adapt to the way a
team wants to play, even though I can still call
for what I think should happen, but I have to explain, well,
this team would prefer for this to happen. So I've
been doing this a long time. You do not win
a championship in the top ten in strikeouts, You just don't.
(11:02):
You don't win a top championship in the top five
strikeouts if your offense has too many strikeouts. I don't
care how many strikeouts your pitching staff has. You've got
to be able to put the ball in play to
win in baseball.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Lead Baseball analyst at Fox, John Smoltz, will, a Hall
of Famer, joins us for a few more minutes here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. All Right, John, when I
say from er Valdez, what's your answer if nobody's seen
a pitch with what's your first thing you say to somebody,
I drew.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I love watching them pitch. I think this is what
pitching is all about. I love his mechanics. I love
everything about what he does. I think you're going to
see him drift in and out of greatness. Maybe it
mainly because the mental locking in. Sometimes he might drift
we all I did that. I'm an advocate of listen.
(11:52):
Being honest, you know, it's it's hard to stay locked
in every single game. But when I watched him pitch.
That's what I would teach. Finishes in a great spot,
tremendous movement, doesn't have the max effort ninety eight ninety nine. Look,
he's not free of injury, but I would say of
all the pitchers I watch, he's less He's less capable
(12:15):
of being injured as we are teaching the other guys
throwing max effort. I think he is one of the
best pictures in the game. And if he can get
to a place where he could stay more locked in
emotionally and mentally, you're going to see a cy young
no doubt out of this young man. He pitches in
one of the tougher ballparks and still quiets the bats
(12:37):
at a rate that is what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And John, yeah, yea, and he eats innings.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
John, and you mentioned that part of it about the
question is that I know listening to you, just from
listening and watching you about the mental and emotional approach
to playing and pitching. So is he tough enough mentally
and emotionally in your mind?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
That did I guess those much?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
When he has him when he's like disconnected, can he
bring him back in good enough to be that guy
who you can rely on when it matters regularly and consistently.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
That's gonna be the big question. You never know when
a player clicks to the next level. It took me
a while to learn some things. In nineteen ninety six,
I went to the next level and I and I
thankfully never went back. I learned how to survive now.
It was a different rewards system. Thirty six starts is
different than twenty eight to thirty that are expected now.
(13:30):
And I learned. And I think that's gonna be either
his payday or is not going to be his payday.
There's gonna be a lot of talk around him on
when I think he's a free agent after this year.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Yeah, yes he is, And so that's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
That's gonna be either for some clubs that don't see
enough want to roll the dice for the current club
in Houston. You know, look, I know Jim Crane's very shrewd.
He makes great, really very big decisions, and he makes
them calculated and so so if he feels he's that player,
then he'll sign a ballplayer to a contract that's lucrative
(14:06):
and long term. But if he doesn't, then you know,
I think then then that's that's the rub right there.
You you got to understand as a player, everybody knows
everything about you, and your current club knows the most.
And when I see players, not every time, but when
I see certain players go other places and sign bigger
(14:26):
contracts and their club didn't make even close to it,
it tells you what you need to know about that
club feeling about that player, not one hundred percent, but
more than not. And so that's why you see a
lot of guys get rewarded for the one really good
year that happens later in their career, and they get rewarded,
(14:47):
and then you got to wonder, is that the player
you're getting or is it that one really really good
year that's an outlier? Right?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
You're my manager.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
We got an elimination game that gets us to the
World Series or wins the World Series. And I got
all my pitching staff healthy and Hunter Brown and fromber
my front two guys, and I got to win the game.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Who are you running out there? First?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Man, I'm a huge fan of Hunter Brown. I know
him from my home state and talk to him a
few times, and I'm telling you he's coming into his
own and he has arrived and he had to go
through the same thing. He had to shuffle the analytic
information what he's trying to do, and I think he's
become that pitcher. As much as I absolutely just laid
(15:35):
out how much I love Freimberg, I think you can't
make a bad decision, but matchup wise, it might make
that makes sense to go with one guy or the other.
Hunter Brown right now is the guy of the future
for the Houston Astros.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
He is.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
I think Justin Berlander did him well while he was there.
He's navigated who he wants to be. He's finding a
way to not strike out every single batter, which is
a problem for a lot of young pitchers because that's
the reward system. So I would not even think twice
about giving him the ball in a big game now,
(16:12):
And that's a good problem to have when you have
two guys you could go to at any point to
win a big game.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
And I'll leave you with this, John, talk me off
this ledge real quick. You and I are the same era, guys,
same around the same age, and I get I'm maybe
it's a little old school, but I think I can
be old school with this. Is healthy players that need
twenty five days off during the seasons that aren't this schedule,
that aren't part of that, you're not playing on that day?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Talk me off.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Am I crazy to think that the ball ain't heavy?
And if you're a DH or a first base or
a third baseman you should expect to play one hundred
and fifty plus games?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Or Am I wrong?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Now?
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Do we got to have that rest?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
No? We've got all information over kill. This is what's
hurt the game. In my opinion. We have too much knowledge,
too much technology, too much nutrition. Listen, I would be
going off on this information if guys were healthier. I'm
about playing the game the right way and being healthy.
I want guys to have twenty year careers. We're not
(17:11):
even close to having that. We've got so much information
on sleep, study and nutrition. Why are guys getting hurt them?
Why are we overtraining the muscles and the body for
a sport that is not meant for big muscle sport.
It's a fast twitch You want to talk about football.
We got more players that look like football players in
(17:31):
baseball than in the last twenty years. So when a
guy's ten for his last fourteen, but he's got a
scheduled day off because that's what the sleep study says.
Uncle with that right, I don't even come close to
realizing why that's even an issue. And so our players softer,
not necessarily, but they've become softer because the information has
(17:54):
allowed them to. In our sport, it was nothing to
play one hundred and fift two games. But if I
tell you every day at work you're gonna get sick,
you're gonna get sick, You're gonna start not only believing
you're gonna get sick, you're probably gonna get sick. And
there's so much to the game and the mentality that
(18:14):
used to be where you train for the longevity and
the long run. Now if you don't feel good, you
don't have to play. You don't even have to pitch,
and so that's the way the game is run. They
think that's better. I hope they're right, but it's no
evidence that has showed their right. If the injuries go
(18:35):
down mysteriously in the next two years, you'll hear me
say great, if pitchers stay healthy and not thirty eight
percent are incurring Tommy John, I would be going great.
I'm not anti information, I'm anti results. When the information
doesn't match the results, and that's what you hear nobody
(18:55):
talk about. They love the information, they've built an empire information,
but they will not talk to the health and well
being of a player because they know that's unsustainable in
the current model. So no, you're not wrong to think that,
but it is Again, if you're playing today, you're not
going to beat down the door of your manager and
(19:17):
say I'm playing today. You don't even have that choice,
so you welcome it. And it's the norm. And so
again I'm not blaming the player. The player is only
a byproduct of the system that they are playing in.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I hate the norm of the system the way it
is right now, John, great stuff, hit him straight. But
let's do this again and have a great baseball season
on the broadcast and any of your qualifications for all
these great events that you have. And we appreciate you
spending time with this as always, my men, my pleasure,
Thank you, thanks, appreciate it. That's the great Johnsmos. We'll
come back and discuss and be a quick segment because
guess what, we're clearing the decks for our next guy,
(19:54):
Dana Brown here at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
We'll come right back
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