Alex Vesia (4-14-25)

Alex shares his excitement for Baby Vesia and fatherhood. He also talks about being a leader in the bullpen. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're joined right now by mister October of the bullpen,
or one of them, one of the dogs of that
Dodger bullpen, and that is the lefty himself, Alex Vessia.
Thanks a lot for the time. Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I mean, mister October, I don't.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I mean, I've seen you pitch in October Vessia.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
That's a heck of a intro.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Thank you as to what that's what I believe. If
I didn't believe it, I wouldn't say it.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
All right, all right, I appreciate that. What questions do
you have in store for us today?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Well, let's start out with your personal life. You've been
on social media announcing that you and your wife are
expecting a brand new Vessia, your first Vessia addition to
the family. How exciting is that?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, super exciting. We've had a secret for a
little while and uh a few teammates have known and
then helped me my best friend and whatnot. And then
we announced it to my parents and case parents on
opening day, and man, I was just super special, you know,
for for myself and for k it's both, you know,

(00:59):
the first grand baby of our family. So that that
was very very special. And yeah, man, it's been very,
very exciting. And we will know gender and everything like
that on the twenty fourth, so basically like ten ish
days and then yeah, after that, we just well we'll
keep knocking off days and this baby's gonna gonna grow,

(01:19):
so it's gonna be fun. Man, I'm very excited.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
How does that just change your perspective on what you
do in baseball?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I think that, you know, and I you know,
obviously providing for my family and whatnot is is a huge,
you know, objective goal however you want to explain it.
But now you have you know, you have one more
thing to play for, you know, And I think that that,
you know, when I get to hold him or her
and you know, my for the first time, it's gonna
be very special. And yeah, it's definitely I got a
lot to play for.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Alex Vesia is our guest. We're off and running in
twenty twenty five. Alex and the Dodger bullpen again has
been a big part of what the Dodgers are doing
right now. What's the vibe down there with this new
group of guys.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I mean our new additions have been picking us
up big time lately, it's it's been nice, you know,
having been and Jack and even Garcia, Right, we just
them three alone and have done really great. And you
know they they learn and adapt every day, and you know,
I try my best to make sure it's loose and
fun down there. And yeah, we've we've been having a

(02:17):
good time. It's nice to be back in La have
some nice weather. The road trip was was kind of tough,
but yeah, you know it's at the end of the day, Yeah,
we're ready to go.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
When people ask about what's wrong with the Dodgers and
you look at your record, it's pretty good. Do you
feel like you guys have set the bars so high
for yourselves that to a certain extent people are spoiled.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
I mean, I'm not too sure. Obviously, that's a that's
a tough question. But at the end of the day,
our job is to go out there and do the
best we can and to win that day. Right, And
it's one hundred and sixty two games. We're not gonna
win them all, yeah, but we want to win every
single game. You know that that's at stake, So taking
it one day at a time, right, and you know,

(03:02):
it's it's very early in the year, and you know,
we're gonna have ups and downs. We're gonna you know,
even when you look back to last year. Last year,
a lot of people have had a lot of opinions,
and our season turned out pretty darn good, right, So
you know, take it one day at a time, right,
and not to to not get too far ahead of ourselves.
And you know, we we do have a really good
group of guys here with you know, our our leaders

(03:24):
and the guys that are out in front. You know,
we have full faith in them. They have full faith
in us, right, And that's what I think makes this
team so special.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
You're not a young buck anymore, ves, Yeah, you've been
here for a while. Do you feel like you're starting
to evolve into that leadership role to go along with
what you've learned from past veterans and current veterans like
Blake Trining?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's every year there's new challenges, right,
There's there's different you know, not every year is the same.
I think, you know, the adversity that I've faced over
the last five years, it's you know, it's definitely helped me, right,
and it's also helped me teach guys like Ben and
Jack you know, just how to how to be a
big leaguer and you know, and what might work for

(04:05):
me might not work for them, right, But we do
have a very good communication down there to where we're
able to bounce ideas and topics just anything off of
each other. And you know, with with that open and honesty,
knowing that like everything that I say is is in
good spirits, you know, and I think that that's that
goes a long way. And yeah, man, you know, every

(04:26):
every year it's you know, it's a new opportunity to uh,
to go out there win World Series.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
I hate to bring it back to last year, but
when you when the Cubs were in town, you guys
went over to give Ryan Brazier his rink as a bullpen.
What was that like? What was that moment like to
see his reaction?

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, very special. We wanted to do that, you know,
because he was a very big part of our bullpen
and you know, we we do miss him. Man. He
was a great, great addition to our bullpen and you know,
he he deserved all the recognition and whatnot, so it
was great to present that to him. I don't I
don't really I didn't really know if he knew that
that's what we were gonna do, but you know, to

(05:04):
we did play a little prank on him where we
had a calf sleeve in the ring box so when
he opened it, he was expecting a ring and there
was a calf sleeve in there, and then Blake had
the ring in his pocket. So you know, it's all fun, man.
I mean, we we have such a good culture here
and you know it's for Brazier, I know it's very
special for him.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Hey, you're part of that culture of Vesia. You've been
part of this for the last five years and certainly
a big part of the Dodger bullpen. Always great to
catch up with you, and congratulations on the upcoming addition
to your family, and we'll catch up with you soon.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you. I appreciate it. And let's go
get one today.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Let's get one today.