Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Away from six. This is ESPNfifteen thirty on Loeger. The Reds are
in New York tonight, first ofthree against the Yankees. They will come
home on Friday, open up afirst half ending homestand with three games against
the Detroit Tigers. Reds will getthe Friday Night Baseball treatment on Apple TV
(00:20):
the Friday Night Baseball lineup. Theproduction of those games has been terrific.
The Reds have been on a fewtimes ever since Apple TV started covering Major
League Baseball. They partnered with MLBNetwork to produce the games. They look
great. It's a different perspective andalongside many many others, including our friend
(00:41):
Lauren Gardner is a former big leaguerwho actually got his first major league hit
at Great American Ballpark ten years ago. You'll see him on Friday Night Reds
and Tigers. Exavier Scruggs is withus. It is good to have you.
Thank you for joining us. Doyou remember your first hit at GABP?
First, and foremost, thank youfor having me. Of course,
(01:03):
I could never forget that first swingwhere the ball actually drops in. There
was a double off the right fieldwall. I remember round in first base
and not even feeling myself getting tosecond base and just feeling like that was
the time when I knew I wasultimately a big leaguer. It was all
the weight off my shoulders. I'mlike, man, I can actually do
this. I think I can.I think I belong here. So that
(01:26):
was pretty cool. U correct meif I'm wrong against JJ Hoover. Correct,
Yeah, that is correct. JJHoover, which is which is a
friend of mine too, So it'scool to do it. And you have
the ball. I have the ball. I gave it to my dad.
My dad has been, you know, a huge supporter of me, obviously
since when I was small, andhe kept asking me when I was going
(01:49):
to get my first major league hit. So I basically threw it in his
face and said, here, yougot it. Do you throw it in
JJ Hoover's face. No, Idon't throw it in his I never saw
it in his face. Very good. The Reds get the Apple TV treatment
on Friday, which means Ellie DelaCruz gets the Apple TV treatment, which
(02:10):
I think is a special treat forpeople around the country. Look, the
Reds, They're not having a greatyear win loss record wise, obviously,
lots of time to go. Thereare a few players in the sport as
talked about as Ellie, and thereare gonna be some folks who watch them
around the country on Friday who maybehaven't had a chance to watch them all
that much. You've seen him abunch, and I know you're a fan
when you watch them. What's thefirst thing that stands out? I mean,
(02:34):
just the electricity, right, likethe speed that comes off the bases,
the how hard he hits the baseball, the passion that he plays the
game with, a lot of timeswe hype these guys up and they don't
end up living up to expectations.But Ellie Dela Cruz has seemed to live
up to those expectations on almost everyaspect of the ball. And I think
(02:57):
it's very rare for us to seethat at such a young age age that
somebody possesses the tools that he hasbut knows how to harness it as a
player on a consistent basis. AndI think that's what's going to make him
dangerous, right, is maybe thebat isn't there one day, but he
could steal four bases. Right.Maybe maybe he's not feeling good from a
running standpoint, but he's gonna gomake a play in the hole and throw
(03:19):
you out with one hundred mile anhour velocity going over the first base.
There's so many ways that he canimpact the game, and I think that
that's rare in today's game and oneof the reasons why everybody loves watching Ellie
de la Cruz. Right now,I'm in CS the Key in Florida and
I walked past this kid and hewas wearing an Elie de la Cruz shirt.
I'm here in Florida and I said, I said, do you know
(03:43):
who that is? And he said, yeah, he's my favorite player.
I said, why is he's yourfavorite player? He says, because he's
the best young player in the game. And he may not and he may
not be lying about that. Hemight be the best young player we have
in the game. He must watch. And what I love most about watching
him is if you're if you're adefensive player, if you're in the outfield,
(04:04):
if you're in the infield, you'vegot to be on your toes right
and you can't you can't make amistake. You can't lollygag to a ball,
you can't throw a ball you know, you can't miss a cutoff guy.
You can't throw the ball off thebase, you can't overrun a ball.
What is it like as a defensiveplayer when there's a guy either at
(04:24):
played or on the bases? Whowho does that to you? Yeah?
I mean it's just it's what themanager of Ali de la Cruz wants in
David Bell. You want to putpressure on the opposing defense. We talk
about that a lot in our gameand how we can apply pressure instead of
receiving that pressure. And that's howyou do it is being able to take
(04:46):
an extra base right, being ableto make sure that if it's a stolen
based opportunity, I'm gonna look totake second, but I'm also gonna look
to take third, and then I'mgonna be able to sacrifice slide and go
home easy or I could see.So, if you can put pressure on
the posing defense, it makes thembe that much more alert, but also
it allows them to maybe make moremistakes. And that's what you're looking to
(05:10):
do as an offense is see whatyou can do to make the other team
make the mistakes and keep the pressureon them offensively. Exavier Scruggs is with
this Apple TV Friday Night Red's hostingthe Detroit Tigers. Another young guy,
and I kind of wish he wasthrowing on Friday. We've watched here in
a season that has often been frustrating, it feels like we have watched the
(05:31):
light bulb really come on for HunterGreen. To the extent that you've watched
him, what do you see?Yeah, I think we're starting to see
him develop really into a pitcher whounderstands his arsenal. I think we get
guys that come up that can throwhard and don't really understand how to use
it the best way, And Ithink that's what we've seen from him as
(05:54):
a recent is, Hey, howdo I use this one hundred mile an
hour fastball to tunnel it off myoff speed? How do I set guys
up to where I can use thisfastball up in the zone and also be
able to go deeper into some ballgames? Right? I think one of
the issues with him was giving upthe home run early on in the game,
and now he's kind of learned howto be able to navigate those situations
(06:17):
where if I'm giving up a homerun, it's going to be a solo
job. It's not going to bewhen guys are on base and I become
predictable as a pitcher. No,he's done a great job of being unpredictable,
which allows him to have a lotof success. I look at also
the split finger that's come into playin a major way for him too.
He's using a pitch to that thatcan kind of go away from lefties,
(06:38):
and I think he'll continue to usethat as he continues to develop that curveball
as well. So you see himdeveloping pitches. He's been unpredictable, his
arsenal looks better, and it's tougherfor hitters to adjust to his pitches.
Obviously, you weren't a pitcher,but it feels to me like it's it's
not that uncommon. You know,we've we've been following Hunter's career now for
(06:58):
a while, and we've often heardabout, well, he's he's learning a
splitter or he's learning a change up, and it's one thing to learn those
pitches. It's something else entirely totrust them, and it feels like he's
trusting them this season. Is acommonplace in your experience for a pitcher to
take a while to not develop thepitch, but once he has it trusted
and trust it at any point inthe count. Well, absolutely, I
(07:20):
mean you think about a pitcher likehim, who's let's remember he's still twenty
four years old, so he's learningand developing at the big league level as
well. His fastball has always blowneverybody away. Even at the big league
level. It still blows guys awayat times, but you're now facing major
league hitters who understand how to getto that pitch in certain counts. So
(07:42):
you have to learn how to useother pitches to be able to set that
pitch up. And I think he'slearning more so how to develop those mechanics
in which he can repeat as wellto where his command is on point with
those secondary pitches. To me,you could have the fastball velocity all you
want, you can have even greatsecondary stuff, but if you can't command
(08:03):
it, then hitters are always goingto be up in the count two to
h three one, and then theyknow that one hundred mile in our fastballs
coming and all major league hitters canhit it. Now, we were talking
about Elie de la Cruz and youreferenced David Bell. You spend time with
the Cardinals in fourteen and fifteen.David was on the coaching staff. As
a bench coach, what do youremember about being a part of the same
(08:26):
team as him. Yeah, Ijust remember him having a great mind and
a great understanding for the in gameanalysis, what's going on in between the
lines during the game, and understanding, hey, be ready in this situation
because this is probably going to happen. He saw the game innings ahead of
time, and as a bench coachthat that's a lot of what you're looking
(08:50):
for. Also, you're great atcommunication. Most of the bench guys are
great with communication with the players.That's another thing that really stuck out to
me is his ability to have conversationbut also relate because he's been there,
done that right. He did itfor a long time and he understands the
frustrations that players go through. Sowhen you have a coach that can relate
(09:11):
in those ways, a coach thatknows how to communicate, but a coach
that in game analysis is at thetop of the line. I mean,
he's got all the right tools andI'm hoping this team he has gets to
turn it around a little bit thisseason. Yeah, you and me both,
And look there's a lot of seasonin front of us. The Reds
don't have a great record, butthere are a lot of teams in the
(09:31):
National League that don't have a greatrecord that still harbor legitimate playoff hopes.
So if you look at that largepack of teams in the NL that has
maybe underwhelmed to this point but couldstill get to the postseason, how do
you handicap that race? Yeah,I think you have to look at the
Cincinnati Reds being in a position wherethey're four and a half games back,
(09:52):
right, and there's been a lotof inconsistency with the teams in front of
them. Think about the Mets thatstarted off so rough this season and now
they're starting to play better baseball andhave the best record since May thirtieth.
They didn't look very good in thebeginning. The same thing with the Cardinals,
right, we were like, where'sthis cardinal offense? And now of
a sudden they find themselves in awildcard position. The same exact thing can
(10:16):
happen for the Reds or sitting fourand a half back from a wildcard spot.
I think all they need to dois give that offense a little bit
more of a chance with some betterstarts, which we know they can do
because they have guys with some goodstuff and just continue to go out there
and play the offense. It willbe all right. If you can get
some good starts and good good boltpencorps as well to be able to keep
(10:39):
games close late and also lock themup. Then you're talking about a team
that can find a run here prettysoon. It's been fun to watch for
your post playing career grow. Wehave you on all the time here in
our studio when you're on MLB Network, and we'll be watching on Friday Night.
I appreciate the time. Man,thanks so much. Thanks for having
met Xavier Scruggs Friday night Apple TVReds and Tigers. He is a part
(11:05):
of that coverage. Also, MLBNetwork has done some work for ESPN as
well. They'll get mad at meif I don't also mention the game on
Fridays on seven hundred WLW. Sothere I covered my bases there. But
Xavier Scrugs good stuff from him firstBig League, his only only time he
played against the Reds. You gotto hit against him September twenty fourteen against
(11:26):
JJ Hoover. If I'm not mistaken, JJ Hoover gave up a lot of
hits to a lot of people thatyear. It is seventeen away from six.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati SportsStation. Hey, it's Maweger.
There's only one way to save momoney on your personal business and life insurance.
It's with my friends that united
Away from six. This is ESPNfifteen thirty on Loeger. The Reds are
in New York tonight, first ofthree against the Yankees. They will come
home on Friday, open up afirst half ending homestand with three games against
the Detroit Tigers. Reds will getthe Friday Night Baseball treatment on Apple TV
(00:20):
the Friday Night Baseball lineup. Theproduction of those games has been terrific.
The Reds have been on a fewtimes ever since Apple TV started covering Major
League Baseball. They partnered with MLBNetwork to produce the games. They look
great. It's a different perspective andalongside many many others, including our friend
(00:41):
Lauren Gardner is a former big leaguerwho actually got his first major league hit
at Great American Ballpark ten years ago. You'll see him on Friday Night Reds
and Tigers. Exavier Scruggs is withus. It is good to have you.
Thank you for joining us. Doyou remember your first hit at GABP?
First, and foremost, thank youfor having me. Of course,
(01:03):
I could never forget that first swingwhere the ball actually drops in. There
was a double off the right fieldwall. I remember round in first base
and not even feeling myself getting tosecond base and just feeling like that was
the time when I knew I wasultimately a big leaguer. It was all
the weight off my shoulders. I'mlike, man, I can actually do
this. I think I can.I think I belong here. So that
(01:26):
was pretty cool. U correct meif I'm wrong against JJ Hoover. Correct,
Yeah, that is correct. JJHoover, which is which is a
friend of mine too, So it'scool to do it. And you have
the ball. I have the ball. I gave it to my dad.
My dad has been, you know, a huge supporter of me, obviously
since when I was small, andhe kept asking me when I was going
(01:49):
to get my first major league hit. So I basically threw it in his
face and said, here, yougot it. Do you throw it in
JJ Hoover's face. No, Idon't throw it in his I never saw
it in his face. Very good. The Reds get the Apple TV treatment
on Friday, which means Ellie DelaCruz gets the Apple TV treatment, which
(02:10):
I think is a special treat forpeople around the country. Look, the
Reds, They're not having a greatyear win loss record wise, obviously,
lots of time to go. Thereare a few players in the sport as
talked about as Ellie, and thereare gonna be some folks who watch them
around the country on Friday who maybehaven't had a chance to watch them all
that much. You've seen him abunch, and I know you're a fan
when you watch them. What's thefirst thing that stands out? I mean,
(02:34):
just the electricity, right, likethe speed that comes off the bases,
the how hard he hits the baseball, the passion that he plays the
game with, a lot of timeswe hype these guys up and they don't
end up living up to expectations.But Ellie Dela Cruz has seemed to live
up to those expectations on almost everyaspect of the ball. And I think
(02:57):
it's very rare for us to seethat at such a young age age that
somebody possesses the tools that he hasbut knows how to harness it as a
player on a consistent basis. AndI think that's what's going to make him
dangerous, right, is maybe thebat isn't there one day, but he
could steal four bases. Right.Maybe maybe he's not feeling good from a
running standpoint, but he's gonna gomake a play in the hole and throw
(03:19):
you out with one hundred mile anhour velocity going over the first base.
There's so many ways that he canimpact the game, and I think that
that's rare in today's game and oneof the reasons why everybody loves watching Ellie
de la Cruz. Right now,I'm in CS the Key in Florida and
I walked past this kid and hewas wearing an Elie de la Cruz shirt.
I'm here in Florida and I said, I said, do you know
(03:43):
who that is? And he said, yeah, he's my favorite player.
I said, why is he's yourfavorite player? He says, because he's
the best young player in the game. And he may not and he may
not be lying about that. Hemight be the best young player we have
in the game. He must watch. And what I love most about watching
him is if you're if you're adefensive player, if you're in the outfield,
(04:04):
if you're in the infield, you'vegot to be on your toes right
and you can't you can't make amistake. You can't lollygag to a ball,
you can't throw a ball you know, you can't miss a cutoff guy.
You can't throw the ball off thebase, you can't overrun a ball.
What is it like as a defensiveplayer when there's a guy either at
(04:24):
played or on the bases? Whowho does that to you? Yeah?
I mean it's just it's what themanager of Ali de la Cruz wants in
David Bell. You want to putpressure on the opposing defense. We talk
about that a lot in our gameand how we can apply pressure instead of
receiving that pressure. And that's howyou do it is being able to take
(04:46):
an extra base right, being ableto make sure that if it's a stolen
based opportunity, I'm gonna look totake second, but I'm also gonna look
to take third, and then I'mgonna be able to sacrifice slide and go
home easy or I could see.So, if you can put pressure on
the posing defense, it makes thembe that much more alert, but also
it allows them to maybe make moremistakes. And that's what you're looking to
(05:10):
do as an offense is see whatyou can do to make the other team
make the mistakes and keep the pressureon them offensively. Exavier Scruggs is with
this Apple TV Friday Night Red's hostingthe Detroit Tigers. Another young guy,
and I kind of wish he wasthrowing on Friday. We've watched here in
a season that has often been frustrating, it feels like we have watched the
(05:31):
light bulb really come on for HunterGreen. To the extent that you've watched
him, what do you see?Yeah, I think we're starting to see
him develop really into a pitcher whounderstands his arsenal. I think we get
guys that come up that can throwhard and don't really understand how to use
it the best way, And Ithink that's what we've seen from him as
(05:54):
a recent is, Hey, howdo I use this one hundred mile an
hour fastball to tunnel it off myoff speed? How do I set guys
up to where I can use thisfastball up in the zone and also be
able to go deeper into some ballgames? Right? I think one of
the issues with him was giving upthe home run early on in the game,
and now he's kind of learned howto be able to navigate those situations
(06:17):
where if I'm giving up a homerun, it's going to be a solo
job. It's not going to bewhen guys are on base and I become
predictable as a pitcher. No,he's done a great job of being unpredictable,
which allows him to have a lotof success. I look at also
the split finger that's come into playin a major way for him too.
He's using a pitch to that thatcan kind of go away from lefties,
(06:38):
and I think he'll continue to usethat as he continues to develop that curveball
as well. So you see himdeveloping pitches. He's been unpredictable, his
arsenal looks better, and it's tougherfor hitters to adjust to his pitches.
Obviously, you weren't a pitcher,but it feels to me like it's it's
not that uncommon. You know,we've we've been following Hunter's career now for
(06:58):
a while, and we've often heardabout, well, he's he's learning a
splitter or he's learning a change up, and it's one thing to learn those
pitches. It's something else entirely totrust them, and it feels like he's
trusting them this season. Is acommonplace in your experience for a pitcher to
take a while to not develop thepitch, but once he has it trusted
and trust it at any point inthe count. Well, absolutely, I
(07:20):
mean you think about a pitcher likehim, who's let's remember he's still twenty
four years old, so he's learningand developing at the big league level as
well. His fastball has always blowneverybody away. Even at the big league
level. It still blows guys awayat times, but you're now facing major
league hitters who understand how to getto that pitch in certain counts. So
(07:42):
you have to learn how to useother pitches to be able to set that
pitch up. And I think he'slearning more so how to develop those mechanics
in which he can repeat as wellto where his command is on point with
those secondary pitches. To me,you could have the fastball velocity all you
want, you can have even greatsecondary stuff, but if you can't command
(08:03):
it, then hitters are always goingto be up in the count two to
h three one, and then theyknow that one hundred mile in our fastballs
coming and all major league hitters canhit it. Now, we were talking
about Elie de la Cruz and youreferenced David Bell. You spend time with
the Cardinals in fourteen and fifteen.David was on the coaching staff. As
a bench coach, what do youremember about being a part of the same
(08:26):
team as him. Yeah, Ijust remember him having a great mind and
a great understanding for the in gameanalysis, what's going on in between the
lines during the game, and understanding, hey, be ready in this situation
because this is probably going to happen. He saw the game innings ahead of
time, and as a bench coachthat that's a lot of what you're looking
(08:50):
for. Also, you're great atcommunication. Most of the bench guys are
great with communication with the players.That's another thing that really stuck out to
me is his ability to have conversationbut also relate because he's been there,
done that right. He did itfor a long time and he understands the
frustrations that players go through. Sowhen you have a coach that can relate
(09:11):
in those ways, a coach thatknows how to communicate, but a coach
that in game analysis is at thetop of the line. I mean,
he's got all the right tools andI'm hoping this team he has gets to
turn it around a little bit thisseason. Yeah, you and me both,
And look there's a lot of seasonin front of us. The Reds
don't have a great record, butthere are a lot of teams in the
(09:31):
National League that don't have a greatrecord that still harbor legitimate playoff hopes.
So if you look at that largepack of teams in the NL that has
maybe underwhelmed to this point but couldstill get to the postseason, how do
you handicap that race? Yeah,I think you have to look at the
Cincinnati Reds being in a position wherethey're four and a half games back,
(09:52):
right, and there's been a lotof inconsistency with the teams in front of
them. Think about the Mets thatstarted off so rough this season and now
they're starting to play better baseball andhave the best record since May thirtieth.
They didn't look very good in thebeginning. The same thing with the Cardinals,
right, we were like, where'sthis cardinal offense? And now of
a sudden they find themselves in awildcard position. The same exact thing can
(10:16):
happen for the Reds or sitting fourand a half back from a wildcard spot.
I think all they need to dois give that offense a little bit
more of a chance with some betterstarts, which we know they can do
because they have guys with some goodstuff and just continue to go out there
and play the offense. It willbe all right. If you can get
some good starts and good good boltpencorps as well to be able to keep
(10:39):
games close late and also lock themup. Then you're talking about a team
that can find a run here prettysoon. It's been fun to watch for
your post playing career grow. Wehave you on all the time here in
our studio when you're on MLB Network, and we'll be watching on Friday Night.
I appreciate the time. Man,thanks so much. Thanks for having
met Xavier Scruggs Friday night Apple TVReds and Tigers. He is a part
(11:05):
of that coverage. Also, MLBNetwork has done some work for ESPN as
well. They'll get mad at meif I don't also mention the game on
Fridays on seven hundred WLW. Sothere I covered my bases there. But
Xavier Scrugs good stuff from him firstBig League, his only only time he
played against the Reds. You gotto hit against him September twenty fourteen against
(11:26):
JJ Hoover. If I'm not mistaken, JJ Hoover gave up a lot of
hits to a lot of people thatyear. It is seventeen away from six.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati SportsStation. Hey, it's Maweger.
There's only one way to save momoney on your personal business and life insurance.
It's with my friends that united
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