Blake Treinen (2-19-24)

David Vassegh catches up with Dodger reliever Blake Treinen at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
David Vasse with you live from CamelbackRanch until eight o'clock right here on a
five to seventy LA Sports. Wehave phone lines open at eight six six
nine, eight seven two five seventy. Max Munsey came to camp in great
shape. He said he would notuse the cliche best shape of his life,

(00:21):
so we won't say that for him, but certainly the best shape I've
seen him come in to camp asa Dodger. So we'll see what that
translates into when the season starts.And like I said last week, all
of this stuff is part of theplayers and the coaches process. But at
the end of the day, forthis team, results is going to be

(00:44):
the only thing that matters. AndI hate to say that, but that
is the expectation this year is toat least get to the World Series and
if not win at all. There'snothing else short of that. And the
players know that it's been set fromthe organization down. So that's where things
stand with the Dodgers, and look, nobody shying away from that. All

(01:08):
these guys are embracing it, includingour guy Blake Trinan, who has roared
back this spring after missing the lastcouple of years, And here is our
conversation from earlier today, all theway from Walla Walla, Washington to calim
to camel Back Branch. How youdoing, Blake Tryning? Thanks for not

(01:29):
finishing the song, but yeah,I'm good, dude. Thanks for having
me. Man, it's a greatsight for everybody to see you pitching and
looking like the old Blake trining.Do you feel like yourself again? Yeah,
I'm definitely getting closer. You know, I think just the feedback I'm
getting from my teammates really encourages methat I'm in the right direction. Yeah,

(01:49):
there's still a lot of little thingsiron out, Like there's so much
feel involved with your delivery that Istill have a little bit of ways to
go, you know, to getexactly who I want to be. But
so far, so good, healthy, feel good, So I can't complain.
Yeah, it's been such a longroute for you to be here,

(02:10):
and being a guy that's not inthe rehab process, that's got to be
rewarding that your hard work and yourfaith paid off. Yeah. God brought
me on a journey. It's beena tough two years, you know,
trying to fight my way back andthen having the surgery, and you know,
watching the team pretty much compete fortwo years is not easy. Uh.

(02:30):
You know, we all take Iwas raised to take pride into work
you do. And if you're notworking and you know technically having a job
and being paid like it doesn't sitwell with you. So I'm excited to
have a chance to you know,out do my my contract with the Dodgers
and you know, perform beyond theirexpectations. That's really you know, first
and foremost want to give God allthe glory for the opportunity to still be

(02:53):
playing post surgery. And and thenalso just one of want to bless an
order oranization who's you know, paidafford to me and my family. But
Lake, when did you know thatmaybe you had turned the corner and you
were going to be able to beready for spring training and throw the ball
the way you're throwing it. Uh? You know, last year I was

(03:15):
doing my best to try to comeback, whether it felt you know,
one hundred percent, knowing that there'sgoing to be some aches and pains coming
back from surgery, breaking up tissueto get to where it needs to be.
But once I got to about thetwelve twelve month mark, things really
started free up my pt back home. Randy Castleman, he really helped free
me up, and right about likemid late November, things felt really really

(03:37):
good. And then it was justironing out details like teaching my body to
get to certain places again that Ihadn't been in in like two years.
Even throwing last year, there wasjust things my body wouldn't allow me to
get to because the tissue wasn't ready, the tolerance wasn't built out, the
range of motion wasn't quite there,and you know, because you focus so
much on just getting the shoulder rightand you trying to get stronger through the

(03:59):
process or throwing, just there's alot of things that go into like recovery.
And you know, I've been blessedto have good people hear into the
Dodgers' organization. Even my friend JakeMcFarlane had Adapt Sports in Kansas City.
He was a huge asset to meon the side. So there's just a
lot of brilliant minds out there thatGod's brought brought in my path to help

(04:19):
get me back. I'm very gratefulfor all of them. That's the voice
of Blake trying in and Blake Iremember when you came to the Dodgers.
You said they helped you kind ofrealign your body and get you clicking mechanically
physically. Do you feel like youhad to start over again like you did
when you first came here, ordo you feel like what you did when

(04:41):
you first arrived kind of fell backin place? You speaking mechanically, you
know, when I got here,it was more or less trying to hit
the same cues that made me successfulback in twenty twenty. Let's get back
to what works, sinker slider.I think there's a lot of things that
are easier for me to grasp now. A lot of times we do things
we don't really have the datata backup how to repeat it. We just
have done it for so long.It's natural. When I got here,

(05:02):
they gave me, you know,the analytics or the biomechanics of like why
certain things work for me. Somy mindset towards certain pitches and CUsing my
delivery is different. It's a moremature approach. I still have things that
I forget, and we have greatpeople here that help me. Hey,
this is what you're thinking back then, Really, how did I forget that?
Because it's been two years, andthere's a lot of things on your

(05:23):
mind to come back that you haveto do to become yourself again. So
I don't really have expectations to bewhat I was. I want to be
a new, better version of myself. I've tried to chase expectations and it
leads to disappointment or comparison kills joy. So I'm just trying to live in
the moment, be here, tobless my teammates, to bless the Lord,

(05:44):
and really just be a representation forChrist here with the Dodgers, and
you know, my family being apart of it, my kids watching me
go through it. There's a lotto be learned through these struggles and ups
and downs, and yeah, justhopefully there's a lot to look back on,
you know, ten years from nowthat I'm able to have blessed others

(06:05):
with Yeah. I remember checking inwith you a few different times, and
it's so impressive how you were ableto commit to your family, be a
great dad, but still be ableto try to compete to come back to
where you are right now. Whatwas that balance like for you to be
a father, a husband and stilltry to still be committed to being here,

(06:30):
you know, really, being ahusband and a dad is more important
than baseball. So as long asthat's in good shape and things are going
well, my family's happy, thenbaseball can be successful. So I have
to give a lot of credit andthanks to my beautiful wife Katie, because
she's the one who's stuck through itwith me, through my ups and downs.

(06:53):
Sometimes your mind just isn't in theright place and you're like, is
it worth it? You know,like it's hard being away from your wife
and kids, and she's just beensuch a such a rock and steady,
you know, demeanor through all ofit, and you know she's she's really
why I'm still like strong in standinghere, because you know there's time there's
times when you're weak, and youknow you lean on your faith, you

(07:15):
lean on your on your family,and I've been blessed in both areas.
And you know, this last yearhas been great through the rehab process because
I got to be a dad morefull time every single day versus ten days
on the road, ten days athome type of aspect. And it's fun.
It's such a I mean, aninjury sucks, don't get me wrong,
but being able to be around mywife and kids for most of the

(07:38):
summer was amazing. I called youone day and you were playing board games
with your kids, So which whichboard games are? Is Blake trying him
better at now than he was before? I don't. I don't know if
I'm any better, but my son'sgotten really good at checkers. My son
is like kind of shocks me.One time, I was like purposely trying
to stay out of like like adouble jump, and I thought I had

(08:01):
it perfect, and next thing youknow, He's like quadruple jumped me.
And I was like, oh mygosh. And I wanted to play it
off like I was just letting himwinning, but he actually beat me legit,
like two or three times. He'svery smart. And you know,
my daughter, she loves cards.They love it, you know, and
slapjack and yeah, they've we're startingto break into we love cards. In

(08:22):
my family, family get together,there's always cards in conversations, So trying
to break them into some basic cardgames is kind of fun. Family time,
I think is something that's overlooked alot, and I don't want to
lose loose sight of that being aroundthe table and you know, sharing your
day and sharing experiences. So Isaw you today in the clubhouse playing ping
pong. Who in the Trining familykept you sharp? No one, No,

(08:45):
nobody in my family really plays pingpong. My wife's actually pretty good.
She never plays, but when wedo play, she's just a naturally
like coordinated athlete. She'd never sad. She played basketball boys she stays so
she's got a really good knack forlike being athletic. But I didn't know
how her ping pong game would be. She's sneaky good. If she actually
cared about it, she'd be alot better. But she doesn't like to

(09:07):
play ping pong too much. BlakeTrying is our guest here on Dodger Talk
before I let you go. Whenyou come into the clubhouse and there's new
faces each and every year, whenyou came into the clubhouse for the first
time in spring training, did itfeel like a new team because of all
the new faces and the attention youguys are getting on just a live batting

(09:28):
practice situation. I'm sure for alot of people it was. For me,
I think I'm at a different pointin my career where when I show
up to spring I just want tosee who the new faces are and then
get to know them. I mean, life's about relationships and experiences, and
the people you're with shape your experience. I mean, you could have a
I'm not saying anybody should ever enjoya fifty win season, but if you

(09:52):
have good people around you, it'sI mean, you could have a lot
of memories from that year that arethat are meaningful. We have a great
group of people around us, andthis organization has done nothing but win since
I've been here. I've been blessedto be a part of team that's got
a lot of talent that wins,So I don't take that for granted.
But then when we add talent,it's like, well, what can you
pick from each person to maybe makeyourself better or what can you offer someone

(10:13):
to make them better? And Ithink that's just a cool thing. Everybody
here is so open and willing tolean in on each other and do us
best for the team. So yeah, I think it was just more or
less getting to know than you guys, kind of see how they work,
what's different about their routines, andyeah, just kind of like watch them
go about their business. Yeah,this bullpen's pretty nasty. And with Blake

(10:33):
Tryning becoming Blake trining again, evennastier. I mean, come on,
this is a nasty bullpen with youpart of it. We've got a lot
of really good arms. Evan Phillipsobviously first our Grouderol had amazing years last
year. Vessia has been such alike like I got I don't know how
to explain it, but like justwatching him grow over the last few years,

(10:54):
and each year has just gotten betterand better, and there's a drive
in him they don't really see froma lot of people. He's very methodical
on how he goes about his meticulousI guess is what I'm thinking of,
and how he goes about his business. And and you know Joe Kelly and
the Ageless Wonder each jack in abox six percent body fat and throws a
hundred waking up out of bed.So uh, Brazier had an amazing year

(11:18):
last year. Wasn't asked set tohave back here. We just signed Justin
Wilson. So it's like, youknow, that guy's been doing it for
years too. At a at agreat clip Hudson. I mean, we
might have potentially the most thirty fiveand older guys in a bullpen in baseball
and in a time when young flamethrowersare a dime a dozen, it feels

(11:39):
like, you know, there's someviejos out there that are still sticking around,
you know, So, I uh, what an honor to have such
so many like guys who've had youknow, decorated careers and have been in
big games. You know, Joe'swon a couple of World Series. Huddi's
wont to closed out a World series, you know, like we've Brazier won
a World Series. So we gotall these guys that have been a part
of some pretty amazing accomplishments in thebullpen to help bless people. And you

(12:03):
know, we got to try toget some of those guys who haven't had
one a ring this year, andthat would that would be really cool.
You ever take for granted the opportunitiesyou have, because there's so few and
it's very fleeting, and look backin five years and you might not have
that opportunity, you know, sotake advantage of all we have. And
we have some really good arms,like you said, So the bullpen will
be fun. It'll be a greatseason. Twenty twenty World Series Champion Blake

(12:26):
Trying without Blake he's there's no ringand it's great to see you back here
too, maname. It is ateam game, team game, team game.
Yeah, you're the best. Thankyou. Always great to see you
and it was great to see youback on the mound. Nasty as ever,
you're the best. I don't knowhow to talk to you right now.