January 22, 2025 • 16 mins
Chris Valaika is the Reds' new Director of Hitting/Hitting Coach. He joined us on ESPN1530.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twenty on ESPN fifteen thirty lm Oegger, It's Red's Winter
Caravan Week. There is a big event tonight at the
Roberts Center in Wilmington that is free and open to
the public starting at six point thirty. The season is
getting closer and closer. In fact, the first Cactus League
game there are two is a month from today. Reds
(00:20):
and Guardians, Reds and Brewers cannot wait. And a lot
of excitement for Terry Francona, a lot of excitement I
think for the coaching staff. The new director of hitting
in Major League hitting coach as a guy that if
you're a longtime Reds fan, you know this name. He
came up with the Reds through their system, made his
big League debut for the Reds in twenty ten, and
(00:43):
has joined Terry Francona's coaching staff in Cincinnati. Worked with
him in Cleveland and is going to be the Major
League hitting instructor and director of hitting for the Reds.
Chris Valaka kind enough to join us this afternoon. Chris,
It's good to have you. Welcome back to the Cincinnati Reds.
Good afternoon, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm doing great, man, Thanks for having me. I'm really
excited to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I'm excited to talk to you. Let's let's talk about
the process. When you get the job and you got
the off season to prepare and you're going to be
working with new hitters, many of whom you're going to
be working with for the first time and introducing yourself
to for the first time. Kind of take me through
the off season process of getting to know the guys
you're going to be working with.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah that you know, first years are always tough like that,
you know, with hiring season being at the end of
you know, the season. Then you jump into the off
season where you don't get a ton of FaceTime with
with these guys. So, you know, the biggest thing for me,
especially in year one, is building relationships, building trust, you know,
not trying to come in and overhaul everything. So a
(01:44):
lot of a lot of us behind the scenes homework,
you know, watching a ton of video, looking through a
lot of the information on these guys and trying to
put my plans together and you know, subtly nudge guys
towards certain things. But you know, I think it's tough
without having the relationship to come in and tell them
they're doing something wrong or or we need to change something,
you know, egregiously with without being in the trenches with them.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yet, do you do you have conversations? Do you reach out,
do you call, do you go visit? Or do you
wait for that to happen in goodyear?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
No? No, no, I've been in contact since since the
day I got hired. So the day after I you know,
the ink wasn't even dry yet, I was calling all
the players and introducing myself, giving a little background on myself,
and then went into the hiring process from my two assistants,
but tried to touch base with with every guy. You know,
told them that, you know, enjoy the holidays. I'm not
(02:35):
going to hound you, but you know, be in touch
every couple of weeks. So kept that same cadence. You know,
a couple of guys playing winter ball, and you know
other guys ramping up at different times. So you know,
it's been a it's been a full off season with that,
you know, I'm really looking forward to, you know, being
done with the pleasantries and getting in the cage and
and and getting to work with these guys.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Obviously, every hitter is different, and what every hitter wants
to or needs to work on is different. But is
there sort of an overarching goal for this team's hitters
as you go into spring training?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, you know, there's there's there's always been the elephant
in the room with with some of the strikeouts and
the swing and miss. So, you know, I don't I'm
not concerned as much with with strike three as I
am with how we're getting to strike three, you know.
So I think the big things that we're going to
focus on in spring training is is how we're getting
to that point. So do we need to be more
aggressive early? Do we need to limit some of the
(03:26):
chase early? You know? Just how how can we pay
attention to the game a little bit, you know, a
little bit more intelligently, So we're hunting the pitches we
want to do damage on, We're picking up on trends,
and then and then overall just getting back to more
of the fundamentals of baseball. You know. Fortunately, then with
with Tito for a couple of years and and know
what he wants and know what he expects that you know,
(03:47):
I think it's not just going to be something we
talk about once in spring training, but situational hitting, hitting
with runners in scoring position, doing the little things. I think,
you know, with how dynamic this offense is, we can
create a lot of pressure and a lot of chaos.
So I think we just really need to lean into
the weapons that we have.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I have felt watching this team and so many young players,
and this this isn't about any one individual hitter, but
there are there have been times watching just as a
fan where I thought to myself, Man, I wish some
of these guys were better with two strikes. And I've
I've always heard the key to being a great hitter
is you got to be able to hit with two strikes.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
What's the key to being able to do that?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, I think you can't be scared, you know, hitting
with two strikes. You know, there's definitely that fear factor.
And you know, I think it's haven't hadn't been a hitter.
I think it's again going back to what I mentioned earlier,
it's about how you got there. You know, did you
did you take that that pitch early that you probably
should have put forward or you know, put into play,
or did you chase early? Now that thoughts in your
(04:41):
head where you know, those negative, negative thoughts are creeping in,
like no don't chase, don't do that again, or you
know you're thinking of all the weapons where you know,
I think the more we can simplify, and you know,
I think what is batting average You probably know better
than I do. Batting average with two strikes, you know,
one eighty or something like that, you know, and I
know batting average and a great indicator, but still, you
(05:01):
know that's that's real Guys like hits. So you know,
I think the more we can focus on, you know,
early in the count, and and and and hunting our
pitches and then again being okay, you know, some strikeouts
are going to be okay. You know, nobody's on base
or runner on first. We don't want to be ending
ending innings, you know, hitting into double plays. But we
get traffic, you know, we might have to open up
our strike zone a little bit to to create that chaos.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Is there something about you know, I mean, you know,
great American Ballpark. It's a hitter friendly park, right, And
so I got to think, especially for a young guy,
I'm moving into a hitter friendly park, maybe maybe I'm
a little bit more prone to try to hit the
ball out of the ballpark. Do you have conversations with
players specific to the ballpark they're going to be playing
their home games in.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yes and no. You know, I think that that's kind
of the thing having having been a Red and then
you know, kind of coming back to a Red. You know,
I played and played played for two different teams and
then coach as well. Now that, like, you know, the
mottos don't leave Cincinnati without a home run. I don't
want that. I don't want that to be a limitter
to us. You know, we're going to play, you know,
(06:04):
eighty one games on the road as well. We're gonna
play in some big ballparks. So it's not that you know,
we're gonna play one style of baseball and we're at home,
and we're gona play another style of baseball on the road. So,
you know, I like the home run just as much
as anybody, but I think we need to focus on,
you know, being being a more dynamic offense and not
just relying on the pre run home run. It's how
can we put up runs consistently regardless of where we're playing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Chris Hlake is the Reds director of hitting and major
league hitting coach, that the job title is different. Derek
Johnson's had this on the pitching side of things now
for a while. So there's the major league hitting coach
part of this, where you're working with players day in
and day out. What does being the director of hitting involved.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know, there's you know, the priority is the major
league team. Obviously for me, I'm going to be in
the trenches. I'm be in the dougout with them. You know,
I think the title comes with more just creating alignment,
you know, putting the processes together, you know, being involved
with the minor leagues, but also trusting the people that
you have there. You know, we've we've done a good
job developing, you know, internally with with the staff that
(07:07):
we have. So I think it's just there to be
a support for these guys, but mainly just you know,
bringing the things that I value and how do we
how do we scale that through the minor league. So
we're looking at things the same way, and we're we're
developing players that you know, I want to coach. And
then Tito trusts.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You talk about hiring a staff, you have two assistant
hitting coaches. These are roles that are still I think
relatively new. You know, I'm old enough to remember when
there was a hitting coach and and that was it.
So give us an idea of what the people who
work directly for you are going to be doing.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah. So two two guys. I have Alex Pliaz. He's
been in the organization. He did play in the big
leagues for a little bit with with San Diego. He's
been the Triple A hitting coach the last couple of years.
Really excited. You know, when I was a player here,
I knew him. Never got to play for him, but
but you know, knew him in the organization, and you know,
(08:00):
he's bilingual. He's somebody that that knows the ins and
outs with all these guys, and somebody that's really going
to be, you know, a champion for me in the
dugout with building these relationships and being being aligned to
be in the voice. You know that that is going
to continue to push these messages forward. And then my
other assistant is Will Remillard. I worked with him with
the Cubs. I actually coached him in the minor leagues
(08:23):
there and then worked with him during the COVID season
out at the Alternate site. He was the assistant director
of hitting with the Chicago Cubs. So got him away
from there and brought him on board. He's super smart
with he was a catcher in the minor league, super
smart with the analytical side, grindy type guy. So he's
(08:44):
really going to be somebody that's going to help push,
you know, the processes forward, create the environments in the
cage for me while by Alex and I are in
the dugout.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Your your boss is obviously somebody who has such is
held in such high regard in and around the sport.
He's going to be a Hall of Fame manager one day.
What's the best part about working for Terry Francona.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I think it's the trust, you know, for me being
a first year hitting coach. You know, I was an
assistant in Chicago before I got hired by Tito in Cleveland, So,
you know, just for someone to trust me number one,
being a first year guy in the big leagues to
just you know, let me do my job. Communicate with him,
just how he keeps it loose in the relationships that
(09:26):
he builds not only with the staff but the players,
you know. And then I think just watching him, just
how loose he keeps it. And then you see around
that fifth inning time when the bulleten starts, me starting
to get cranked up, the switch flips for him and
he's already thought through all these moves. He's two innings ahead,
and it's like, you know, he's just he's the puppet
master in there. So it's been awesome to watch, you know,
(09:47):
just sitting behind him in the dugouts. I'm super excited
what he's going to bring to Cincinnati and ready to
get going here.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
For those of us who remember your time as a player,
you got into coaching, I think, not a immediately after
you finished as a player, but but walk us through
the journey from deciding all right, I've done my time
as a player, reached the big leagues, played for a
number of seasons, then and then I'm going to get
into coaching. What was that journey like?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, to be honest, I thought when when my tour
was over, I was I was done. So played, played,
played ten ten years, and then went back to school
at you See Santa Barbara to finish my degree coached
as a volunteer at you See Santa Barbara. Just I
think mainly to ease my my transition away from the game,
(10:35):
or I thought away from the game we we actually
went to the World Series that year, so it was
a It was a great experience for me there and
then that was it for coaching, and I went to
work at a sports science company up in the Bay
Area in San Francisco, learned learned about biomechanics, learned about
force play, but wasn't really satisfied being in an office,
(10:56):
so went to spring training actually on behalf of the
company was meeting with a couple of different teams, and
the Cubs offered me a minor league hitting coach position,
so jumped into that, went to a short season, you know,
the puppy League, and went went went there to Eugene,
Oregon coach there. Following year, got jumped up to Triple A,
(11:20):
and then the two years following that got promoted to
be the minor league hitting coordinator. So did that for
two years and then two thousand and twenty twenty one,
was the major league assistant with the Cubs, twenty two
to twenty four major league head with Cleveland, and then
(11:41):
with Tito coming back back back in Cincinnati. So kind
of full circle with my whole career in coaching development there.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's a cool journey. You mentioned some of the sports
science stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And you know, there was a day and age, maybe
even when you were coming up where you know, a
hitting instructor would say, we'll get in the cage and
I'll watch her swing. And now there's there's so much
more info, there's so much more data. How how do
you plan on integrating some of the more modern methods
of teaching and evaluating with some of the more old
school stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, you know, that's a good question, you know, I
I think it's one of those things where me personally,
I think experience matters. You know, there's guys that have
been doing this job a lot longer than I have
that can see things. You know. Now now it's just
validating right now, they have names for things, or they
can attach numbers to things. So, you know, I think
it's a balance of both. You know, you're going to
(12:32):
see something with your eyes, You're going to see something
with your gut, You're gonna you're gonna have a feel,
you're gonna have a pulse because you're with these guys.
But then to be able to validate or look under
the hood, I think is super important. You know, knowing
the player and this is why you know when I
get the question about what's my hitting philosophy, I say
it's to not have one. I'm going to coach the
player to what the player needs. So if somebody wants
(12:54):
to talk in you know, quote unquoquote old school and
we can use those terms, I can coach you that.
If we want to talk about analytics and we want
to talk about biomechanics, I can talk to you that way.
So you know, I think that's something. And fortunately, when
I got into coaching, I think this was kind of
just happened naturally. But I was in that kind of
transition time as I was cycling out of baseball and
(13:17):
then going into my coaching career was like I had
to learn all these technologies. So, you know, fortunately had
the playing background, but also first in these things that
you know, I feel like I can speak multiple languages
depending on you know, who am I I'm addressing.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
All Right, You've been awesome with your time. I've got
to bring this up, and I know you know this
is coming. So I have in my basement. One of
my prize possessions is a Reds jersey. And in twenty ten,
which was the year you got called up, the Reds
played in the Civil Rights Game, and the uniforms were cool,
and I have one of the jerseys. I have one
(13:52):
of the jerseys they made in the event. And somebody
got called up at the last minute, and it's everybody
that comes to my house season and they ask about it.
And so the story attached to it was you hit
your first big league homer. I believe, if I'm not mistaken,
in your first big league start, you'd been up, had
gotten a couple of games, your first big league start.
Friday night in late August against the Cubs, you hit
your first big league homer. Now, I would love to
(14:14):
say that I caught it. The reality is my wife
at the time got up to get a snow cone
and it hit her chair and I just happened to
pick it up. And you know, we're in left field
and a guy comes up to me and says, Hey,
that's chrispah Lake's first big league homer. Can I have
the ball? And I said, yeah, sure, here it is,
take it and no big deal. And then I didn't
you know, they said do you want anything? And I'm like, no,
(14:37):
can just leave me alone? Just give him his ball? Awesome, Great,
I'm gonna lose that thing, right, So they gave me
some word filtered down to the clubhouse and somebody said, well,
here send him this, and so I have the jersey.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
So what I want to know is how's our ball doing.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
The ball's great. It's not my parents house in their
like room with all of mine, my siblings, you know,
memorabilia and stuff like that. So that's great to hear
you have my goody, because I think that's probably one
of two of people that actually have my bery.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
I do have it and it hangs proudly in my basement,
and it was very, very nice. But when I followed
your career since then, and you know, I mean you
you didn't hit a thousand home runs or anything like that,
so I always thought like, well, you know, if he
doesn't hit a lot of home runs, then then I
will have had one of just a few. But you
had a good big league career, a good coaching career.
You're back in Cincinnati and your name comes up all
(15:33):
the time because people see that jersey and they're like, well,
where'd you get that? How how'd you get it? And
it's always your your first big league homer, So it's cool.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
To get a chance I can read it.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, thank you for giving me or allowing me to
have that ball back. I appreciate it, and I know
my mom appreciates it, So thank you again for doing that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I just wanted to many years ago, fifteen years I
just wanted to make sure like you didn't take it
and lose it or something.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Then I would have felt, you know, kind of bad.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
All right, very good, No, no, not at all. It's
it's displayed. There wasn't that many of them, so you
know it's up there.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Awesome. Well, congratulations on the job. Enjoy the rest of
what's left of the off season, and look forward to
catching up during the season.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Thanks so much, Chris, look forward to it. Thanks again,
you got it.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Chris fahlake that that was good. It's we're way late,
twenty four, way from four o'clock. By the way, the
Reds Caravan continues tonight at the Roberts Center in Wilmington.
Free event, open to the public starting at six thirty.
So go check that out if you're in the greater
Wilmington area, or even if you're not. Sports headlines and
(16:39):
Rick browing in like eight minutes, I bless blue past
the break tear in my apologies. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati sports station,
Twenty on ESPN fifteen thirty lm Oegger, It's Red's Winter
Caravan Week. There is a big event tonight at the
Roberts Center in Wilmington that is free and open to
the public starting at six point thirty. The season is
getting closer and closer. In fact, the first Cactus League
game there are two is a month from today. Reds
(00:20):
and Guardians, Reds and Brewers cannot wait. And a lot
of excitement for Terry Francona, a lot of excitement I
think for the coaching staff. The new director of hitting
in Major League hitting coach as a guy that if
you're a longtime Reds fan, you know this name. He
came up with the Reds through their system, made his
big League debut for the Reds in twenty ten, and
(00:43):
has joined Terry Francona's coaching staff in Cincinnati. Worked with
him in Cleveland and is going to be the Major
League hitting instructor and director of hitting for the Reds.
Chris Valaka kind enough to join us this afternoon. Chris,
It's good to have you. Welcome back to the Cincinnati Reds.
Good afternoon, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm doing great, man, Thanks for having me. I'm really
excited to be back.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
I'm excited to talk to you. Let's let's talk about
the process. When you get the job and you got
the off season to prepare and you're going to be
working with new hitters, many of whom you're going to
be working with for the first time and introducing yourself
to for the first time. Kind of take me through
the off season process of getting to know the guys
you're going to be working with.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah that you know, first years are always tough like that,
you know, with hiring season being at the end of
you know, the season. Then you jump into the off
season where you don't get a ton of FaceTime with
with these guys. So, you know, the biggest thing for me,
especially in year one, is building relationships, building trust, you know,
not trying to come in and overhaul everything. So a
(01:44):
lot of a lot of us behind the scenes homework,
you know, watching a ton of video, looking through a
lot of the information on these guys and trying to
put my plans together and you know, subtly nudge guys
towards certain things. But you know, I think it's tough
without having the relationship to come in and tell them
they're doing something wrong or or we need to change something,
you know, egregiously with without being in the trenches with them.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yet, do you do you have conversations? Do you reach out,
do you call, do you go visit? Or do you
wait for that to happen in goodyear?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
No? No, no, I've been in contact since since the
day I got hired. So the day after I you know,
the ink wasn't even dry yet, I was calling all
the players and introducing myself, giving a little background on myself,
and then went into the hiring process from my two assistants,
but tried to touch base with with every guy. You know,
told them that, you know, enjoy the holidays. I'm not
(02:35):
going to hound you, but you know, be in touch
every couple of weeks. So kept that same cadence. You know,
a couple of guys playing winter ball, and you know
other guys ramping up at different times. So you know,
it's been a it's been a full off season with that,
you know, I'm really looking forward to, you know, being
done with the pleasantries and getting in the cage and
and and getting to work with these guys.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Obviously, every hitter is different, and what every hitter wants
to or needs to work on is different. But is
there sort of an overarching goal for this team's hitters
as you go into spring training?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, you know, there's there's there's always been the elephant
in the room with with some of the strikeouts and
the swing and miss. So, you know, I don't I'm
not concerned as much with with strike three as I
am with how we're getting to strike three, you know.
So I think the big things that we're going to
focus on in spring training is is how we're getting
to that point. So do we need to be more
aggressive early? Do we need to limit some of the
(03:26):
chase early? You know? Just how how can we pay
attention to the game a little bit, you know, a
little bit more intelligently, So we're hunting the pitches we
want to do damage on, We're picking up on trends,
and then and then overall just getting back to more
of the fundamentals of baseball. You know. Fortunately, then with
with Tito for a couple of years and and know
what he wants and know what he expects that you know,
(03:47):
I think it's not just going to be something we
talk about once in spring training, but situational hitting, hitting
with runners in scoring position, doing the little things. I think,
you know, with how dynamic this offense is, we can
create a lot of pressure and a lot of chaos.
So I think we just really need to lean into
the weapons that we have.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I have felt watching this team and so many young players,
and this this isn't about any one individual hitter, but
there are there have been times watching just as a
fan where I thought to myself, Man, I wish some
of these guys were better with two strikes. And I've
I've always heard the key to being a great hitter
is you got to be able to hit with two strikes.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
What's the key to being able to do that?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, I think you can't be scared, you know, hitting
with two strikes. You know, there's definitely that fear factor.
And you know, I think it's haven't hadn't been a hitter.
I think it's again going back to what I mentioned earlier,
it's about how you got there. You know, did you
did you take that that pitch early that you probably
should have put forward or you know, put into play,
or did you chase early? Now that thoughts in your
(04:41):
head where you know, those negative, negative thoughts are creeping in,
like no don't chase, don't do that again, or you
know you're thinking of all the weapons where you know,
I think the more we can simplify, and you know,
I think what is batting average You probably know better
than I do. Batting average with two strikes, you know,
one eighty or something like that, you know, and I
know batting average and a great indicator, but still, you
(05:01):
know that's that's real Guys like hits. So you know,
I think the more we can focus on, you know,
early in the count, and and and and hunting our
pitches and then again being okay, you know, some strikeouts
are going to be okay. You know, nobody's on base
or runner on first. We don't want to be ending
ending innings, you know, hitting into double plays. But we
get traffic, you know, we might have to open up
our strike zone a little bit to to create that chaos.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Is there something about you know, I mean, you know,
great American Ballpark. It's a hitter friendly park, right, And
so I got to think, especially for a young guy,
I'm moving into a hitter friendly park, maybe maybe I'm
a little bit more prone to try to hit the
ball out of the ballpark. Do you have conversations with
players specific to the ballpark they're going to be playing
their home games in.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yes and no. You know, I think that that's kind
of the thing having having been a Red and then
you know, kind of coming back to a Red. You know,
I played and played played for two different teams and
then coach as well. Now that, like, you know, the
mottos don't leave Cincinnati without a home run. I don't
want that. I don't want that to be a limitter
to us. You know, we're going to play, you know,
(06:04):
eighty one games on the road as well. We're gonna
play in some big ballparks. So it's not that you know,
we're gonna play one style of baseball and we're at home,
and we're gona play another style of baseball on the road. So,
you know, I like the home run just as much
as anybody, but I think we need to focus on,
you know, being being a more dynamic offense and not
just relying on the pre run home run. It's how
can we put up runs consistently regardless of where we're playing.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Chris Hlake is the Reds director of hitting and major
league hitting coach, that the job title is different. Derek
Johnson's had this on the pitching side of things now
for a while. So there's the major league hitting coach
part of this, where you're working with players day in
and day out. What does being the director of hitting involved.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know, there's you know, the priority is the major
league team. Obviously for me, I'm going to be in
the trenches. I'm be in the dougout with them. You know,
I think the title comes with more just creating alignment,
you know, putting the processes together, you know, being involved
with the minor leagues, but also trusting the people that
you have there. You know, we've we've done a good
job developing, you know, internally with with the staff that
(07:07):
we have. So I think it's just there to be
a support for these guys, but mainly just you know,
bringing the things that I value and how do we
how do we scale that through the minor league. So
we're looking at things the same way, and we're we're
developing players that you know, I want to coach. And
then Tito trusts.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
You talk about hiring a staff, you have two assistant
hitting coaches. These are roles that are still I think
relatively new. You know, I'm old enough to remember when
there was a hitting coach and and that was it.
So give us an idea of what the people who
work directly for you are going to be doing.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah. So two two guys. I have Alex Pliaz. He's
been in the organization. He did play in the big
leagues for a little bit with with San Diego. He's
been the Triple A hitting coach the last couple of years.
Really excited. You know, when I was a player here,
I knew him. Never got to play for him, but
but you know, knew him in the organization, and you know,
(08:00):
he's bilingual. He's somebody that that knows the ins and
outs with all these guys, and somebody that's really going
to be, you know, a champion for me in the
dugout with building these relationships and being being aligned to
be in the voice. You know that that is going
to continue to push these messages forward. And then my
other assistant is Will Remillard. I worked with him with
the Cubs. I actually coached him in the minor leagues
(08:23):
there and then worked with him during the COVID season
out at the Alternate site. He was the assistant director
of hitting with the Chicago Cubs. So got him away
from there and brought him on board. He's super smart
with he was a catcher in the minor league, super
smart with the analytical side, grindy type guy. So he's
(08:44):
really going to be somebody that's going to help push,
you know, the processes forward, create the environments in the
cage for me while by Alex and I are in
the dugout.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Your your boss is obviously somebody who has such is
held in such high regard in and around the sport.
He's going to be a Hall of Fame manager one day.
What's the best part about working for Terry Francona.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I think it's the trust, you know, for me being
a first year hitting coach. You know, I was an
assistant in Chicago before I got hired by Tito in Cleveland, So,
you know, just for someone to trust me number one,
being a first year guy in the big leagues to
just you know, let me do my job. Communicate with him,
just how he keeps it loose in the relationships that
(09:26):
he builds not only with the staff but the players,
you know. And then I think just watching him, just
how loose he keeps it. And then you see around
that fifth inning time when the bulleten starts, me starting
to get cranked up, the switch flips for him and
he's already thought through all these moves. He's two innings ahead,
and it's like, you know, he's just he's the puppet
master in there. So it's been awesome to watch, you know,
(09:47):
just sitting behind him in the dugouts. I'm super excited
what he's going to bring to Cincinnati and ready to
get going here.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
For those of us who remember your time as a player,
you got into coaching, I think, not a immediately after
you finished as a player, but but walk us through
the journey from deciding all right, I've done my time
as a player, reached the big leagues, played for a
number of seasons, then and then I'm going to get
into coaching. What was that journey like?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, to be honest, I thought when when my tour
was over, I was I was done. So played, played,
played ten ten years, and then went back to school
at you See Santa Barbara to finish my degree coached
as a volunteer at you See Santa Barbara. Just I
think mainly to ease my my transition away from the game,
(10:35):
or I thought away from the game we we actually
went to the World Series that year, so it was
a It was a great experience for me there and
then that was it for coaching, and I went to
work at a sports science company up in the Bay
Area in San Francisco, learned learned about biomechanics, learned about
force play, but wasn't really satisfied being in an office,
(10:56):
so went to spring training actually on behalf of the
company was meeting with a couple of different teams, and
the Cubs offered me a minor league hitting coach position,
so jumped into that, went to a short season, you know,
the puppy League, and went went went there to Eugene,
Oregon coach there. Following year, got jumped up to Triple A,
(11:20):
and then the two years following that got promoted to
be the minor league hitting coordinator. So did that for
two years and then two thousand and twenty twenty one,
was the major league assistant with the Cubs, twenty two
to twenty four major league head with Cleveland, and then
(11:41):
with Tito coming back back back in Cincinnati. So kind
of full circle with my whole career in coaching development there.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's a cool journey. You mentioned some of the sports
science stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And you know, there was a day and age, maybe
even when you were coming up where you know, a
hitting instructor would say, we'll get in the cage and
I'll watch her swing. And now there's there's so much
more info, there's so much more data. How how do
you plan on integrating some of the more modern methods
of teaching and evaluating with some of the more old
school stuff.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah, you know, that's a good question, you know, I
I think it's one of those things where me personally,
I think experience matters. You know, there's guys that have
been doing this job a lot longer than I have
that can see things. You know. Now now it's just
validating right now, they have names for things, or they
can attach numbers to things. So, you know, I think
it's a balance of both. You know, you're going to
(12:32):
see something with your eyes, You're going to see something
with your gut, You're gonna you're gonna have a feel,
you're gonna have a pulse because you're with these guys.
But then to be able to validate or look under
the hood, I think is super important. You know, knowing
the player and this is why you know when I
get the question about what's my hitting philosophy, I say
it's to not have one. I'm going to coach the
player to what the player needs. So if somebody wants
(12:54):
to talk in you know, quote unquoquote old school and
we can use those terms, I can coach you that.
If we want to talk about analytics and we want
to talk about biomechanics, I can talk to you that way.
So you know, I think that's something. And fortunately, when
I got into coaching, I think this was kind of
just happened naturally. But I was in that kind of
transition time as I was cycling out of baseball and
(13:17):
then going into my coaching career was like I had
to learn all these technologies. So, you know, fortunately had
the playing background, but also first in these things that
you know, I feel like I can speak multiple languages
depending on you know, who am I I'm addressing.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
All Right, You've been awesome with your time. I've got
to bring this up, and I know you know this
is coming. So I have in my basement. One of
my prize possessions is a Reds jersey. And in twenty ten,
which was the year you got called up, the Reds
played in the Civil Rights Game, and the uniforms were cool,
and I have one of the jerseys. I have one
(13:52):
of the jerseys they made in the event. And somebody
got called up at the last minute, and it's everybody
that comes to my house season and they ask about it.
And so the story attached to it was you hit
your first big league homer. I believe, if I'm not mistaken,
in your first big league start, you'd been up, had
gotten a couple of games, your first big league start.
Friday night in late August against the Cubs, you hit
your first big league homer. Now, I would love to
(14:14):
say that I caught it. The reality is my wife
at the time got up to get a snow cone
and it hit her chair and I just happened to
pick it up. And you know, we're in left field
and a guy comes up to me and says, Hey,
that's chrispah Lake's first big league homer. Can I have
the ball? And I said, yeah, sure, here it is,
take it and no big deal. And then I didn't
you know, they said do you want anything? And I'm like, no,
(14:37):
can just leave me alone? Just give him his ball? Awesome, Great,
I'm gonna lose that thing, right, So they gave me
some word filtered down to the clubhouse and somebody said, well,
here send him this, and so I have the jersey.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
So what I want to know is how's our ball doing.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
The ball's great. It's not my parents house in their
like room with all of mine, my siblings, you know,
memorabilia and stuff like that. So that's great to hear
you have my goody, because I think that's probably one
of two of people that actually have my bery.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
I do have it and it hangs proudly in my basement,
and it was very, very nice. But when I followed
your career since then, and you know, I mean you
you didn't hit a thousand home runs or anything like that,
so I always thought like, well, you know, if he
doesn't hit a lot of home runs, then then I
will have had one of just a few. But you
had a good big league career, a good coaching career.
You're back in Cincinnati and your name comes up all
(15:33):
the time because people see that jersey and they're like, well,
where'd you get that? How how'd you get it? And
it's always your your first big league homer, So it's cool.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
To get a chance I can read it.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, thank you for giving me or allowing me to
have that ball back. I appreciate it, and I know
my mom appreciates it, So thank you again for doing that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I just wanted to many years ago, fifteen years I
just wanted to make sure like you didn't take it
and lose it or something.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Then I would have felt, you know, kind of bad.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
All right, very good, No, no, not at all. It's
it's displayed. There wasn't that many of them, so you
know it's up there.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Awesome. Well, congratulations on the job. Enjoy the rest of
what's left of the off season, and look forward to
catching up during the season.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Thanks so much, Chris, look forward to it. Thanks again,
you got it.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Chris fahlake that that was good. It's we're way late,
twenty four, way from four o'clock. By the way, the
Reds Caravan continues tonight at the Roberts Center in Wilmington.
Free event, open to the public starting at six thirty.
So go check that out if you're in the greater
Wilmington area, or even if you're not. Sports headlines and
(16:39):
Rick browing in like eight minutes, I bless blue past
the break tear in my apologies. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati sports station,
Mo Egger News
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