Hunter Feduccia (3-2-25)

Hunter joins DV and talks about catching Shoehi Ohtani's bullpen. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the Dodgers in white Sox getting said for first
pitch here at camel Back Ranch, and we're joining right
now by a man that made his major league debut
last year for the Dodgers, and he's getting a lot
of opportunities early in spring, and that is Dodger catcher Hunter.
Fiducca Hunter. Thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Yeah, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Let's get one thing out of the way. When I
see you in the morning and I say, fiduc is
that inbounds or out of bounds?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's in bounds. You know, I've heard every variation of
my last name and a lot worse than that, So no,
it's it's all fair game.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Hey, I love this wall that you guys have here,
all the young guys, the guys that are trying to
make their name in Major League baseball. What's it like
for you to have a locker mate like Dalton rushing
to your left and a couple of lockers down another
catcher in Chris.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Ok, it's awesome. Two great guys, some of my favorite
teammates I've had. And yeah, it's good. You know, at
the end of the day, we all have the same goal,
and you know, helping each other out, and you know,
helping each other get better every single day is the
ultimate goal. So it's it's been good so far.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Is Oki like the grown up in the room between
you three? Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, I mean we all? I mean yeah, I guess
you could say that. You know, both Dalton and Rush
are great teammates, and you know we hold each other
accountable and you know, help each other each day get
better and you know, always bouncing ideas off each other
and you know, trying to you know, make it to
the end.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
What's the spring felt like for you? You're in big
league camp again, you major major league debut, you got
your first major league hit, you played for the world
champion Dodgers. How does Hunter Fiducca feel this spring? I
feel good?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
You know every spring I come in, you know there's
one goal and is you know, get better each day,
no matter what the scenario is. You know, it's awesome
that I'm getting these opportunities and you know, getting my
name out there and you know, getting able to catch
some of the new pitchers and getting familiar with their
game and pitches. And that's always good because you know,

(02:11):
you know, you never know what's gonna happen during the year,
and you know, you get caught up and you don't
want to be blindsided by all the new guys and
you know, not be too comfortable with all their pitches
and what they do and you know what makes them ticks.
So it's awesome opportunity getting able to catch these guys
and get them to know them.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Have you caught Roki Sazaki?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
I have, Yeah, I called him. I think it was
like his second or third bullpen. You know, he only
threw you know, fifteen pitches or so. But you know,
I got to catch Otani yesterday. That was my first song,
geting to catch him. So I checked everyone off the
list so far. So it's it's been good so far.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
I was watching that bullpen session the other day and
he was directing traffic, telling you where to set up.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Right, Yeah, so I don't. Everyone kind of has their
own like hand signals and you know, a way to
tell you what pitch is coming, and it's a little
different with uh, you know, Roki Otani and Yamamoto. So
that's another part of getting to learn the pictures and
their hand signals, and it's yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
What a great experience in a bullpen session to catch Otani.
What was it like? Was it better than what you
even heard about?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah? Uh, you know, at first he was kind of
easing into it and you know, getting to fill for everything,
and then later on in the bullpen he was kind
of letting it loose and it kind of caught me
by surprise. So yeah, it was an awesome experience, you know,
getting to see his different pitches, and yeah, it was.
It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
It seems like you're you're really getting to with Will
Smith's injury, You're getting an opportunity now to do things
that you may not have had an opportunity a year
ago at this time.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Right, Yeah, it was kind of the same scenario as
a two years ago in the World Baseball Classic with
Barnes and Will being out. You know, I got opportunity
to get in there, and you know, all you could
ask for is just make the best out of it
and do your thing.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, you're doing it. You got the you got the beard,
the grizzly beard to compliment that great looking stash of yours.
Hunter Fraducca, thanks a lot for the time and continued
success the rest of the way.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Thank you. So much,