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May 5, 2026 11 mins

Mariners catcher Mitch Garver joins Softy and Dick Fain to talk about the magnitude of the Braves series right now and last night’s win, early statistics and indicators that show the quality of baseball team’s, Logan Gilbert’s start last night, what he saw by Emerson Hancock in his 14 strikeout game, Eduard Bazardo’s season, and social media’s fans.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, joining us right now on the radio show.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
You're a backup catcher for the Mariners who's been catching
a lot lately because Cal Rowley's been banged up. Col's
back on the line up tonight, but he's dhing. Mitch
Garver is joining us right now from T Mobile Park.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Mitch, how you doing, man, I'm well, guys, thanks for
having me.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, we appreciate you doing this, man, thanks for coming on.
So tell us about last night. First of all, Man,
I mean, this is a game and a series where
people like us in media, right we say things like, oh,
there's a chance for the EMS to prove themselves and
show what they can do against one of the better
teams in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Do you guys feel like that that you have.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
These series that every now and then they come up
and it's a bit of a kind of a little
bit of a litmus test for how good or how
not good the baseball team is at any point in
time of the year. Or does that just sound like
ridiculous nonsense that idiots and sports talk radio like us
like to bring up.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm gonna go a little bit more with the ladder.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Good for you, It's dumb.

Speaker 5 (01:02):
Listen, we play one hundred and sixty games a year.
We play a ton of baseball, and at any given time,
a very bad team can beat a very good team.
And so like the whole idea of a litmus test
or you know, trying to prove ourselves in the league
is so just out of the question. We're trying to
go ahead and put our best foot forward every night

(01:22):
regardless of.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Who we're playing. Right, we could be playing the worst
team in the league.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
At any given point, and you know, we hope that
we play our best baseball on that night. Obviously, we're
going against the Braves, very good team, probably one of
the best records in baseball, probably one of the best
offenses in baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
So just trying to just trying to hold that.

Speaker 5 (01:42):
Offense down a little bit is the key for us
and be able to get our offense going.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Well, first of all, I love that about you. It's
why we always love having you on. And then second
of all, when your career is over, there's a job
in sports talk radio waiting for you, pal, if you
want it. But let me ask you, I mean, how
long how long do you personally played this game?

Speaker 1 (02:00):
A long time?

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Right, how long do you need to go minche Like
if you were sitting in the in these shoes that
Dick and I are in right now doing a radio
show every day, how long do you need to go
into a season before you, as a player have a
pretty good feel for what your team is all about.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, it's a good question.

Speaker 5 (02:21):
I think regardless of record, Like, you can look at
some of the underlying metrics. I go off run differential
a lot, and you know, our pitching is one of
the best in baseball, and I don't think they have
pitched to quite their performance what they're capable of. And
our offense is just one click away from really exploding.
So underlying metrics are big for me. I think run

(02:42):
differential is big, you know. I think how do you
play at home versus how you play on the road.
All those things are good indicators for how the season
is going to turn out. And you really can't win.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
A division in the first month. I don't believe you
can lose it either.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
I think the last five months of the season, they'll
happen quickly, and uh, you'll have You'll have a pretty
good idea. Who's gonna separate themselves around July.

Speaker 6 (03:07):
Well, getting that offense healthy back is gonna gonna help
as well. Talking about Logan last night, there was some
a lot of hard contact early.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
What'd you see from Logan?

Speaker 6 (03:15):
What types of conversations did you have on the mound
with him?

Speaker 3 (03:20):
You know, our whole idea was to try to suppress
that offense.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
It's very strong, they're very good at hitting fastballs, and
and they showed us early that they're they're just a
pretty complete offense overall. And uh, you know, I think
it was the fourth or fifth inning when you gave
up a couple of solo home runs to put us
down for nothing. I went out there and the first
thing I said to him was, you're throwing the ball
really great.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Solo home runs are not gonna beat us.

Speaker 5 (03:43):
You know, get us off the field in this inning,
we're gonna have a chance. Our offense is gonna come through.
And sure enough, you know, we had a couple couple
of leadoff walks there and then we had a three
yearn homer from from Raley. So that's the that's the
kickstart we needed at that time, and Logan kept us
in the game. You know, I think through the ball, well,
we use all his pitches and and we're expanding his

(04:04):
repertoire a little bit, making sure that he stays aggressive
in the zone. And I think he was able to
do that.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Okay, Well, some of the greatest, the best interviews, Mitch
and again Mitch Garber with us are the ones where
the interviewee dictates the questions. Because you just gave us
a little nugget there. You said you're looking to expand
Logan Gilbert's repertoire. Talk to us about that. What do
you mean by expanding his repertoire.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
Well, I mean you guys have seen, you know, the
change up come to relevance for Logan this year. Obviously
you don't see too many guys have a splitter and
a change up at the same time. But we're we're
working hard to try to differentiate the two and find
different ways.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
To use them.

Speaker 5 (04:45):
And then obviously the curveball. I think we all know
that Logan has an eighty grade slider when he's on,
and then getting that curveball also in there and using
it as much as we can. It's it's a different spin,
it's unique, it's something the hitters aren't necessarily looking for
and be able to continue to develop that pitch and
get him in the zone and get him below the

(05:06):
zone when we have two strikes.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
Love to get your take as a catcher about the ABS.

Speaker 6 (05:12):
Is it helping the pitcher because they're giving you the
strike when one eighth of a millimeter actually hits the
box but the or is it helping the hitter because
it's taken away your framing ability as a catcher.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
I'm a little bit indifferent about ABS so far. I
don't quite know what it looks like offensively or defensively.
I mean, I think it helps me as a catcher
because you know, I know the strike zone well enough
to know that if I catch a pitch poorly, or
if a pitcher misses across my body and I have
to reach over and catch it, that there's a good
chance that was a strike technically, Like it's in the box,

(05:52):
so it's technically a strike where you know, five ten
years ago, if the pitcher didn't hit their target, it
wasn't going to be a strike anyways. So I'm still
a little indifferent on the whole idea. I do think
it brings a unique competitive advantage to the game. It
makes things a little bit more interesting when you see
somebody tap their helmet, you know, everybody perks up and

(06:12):
it's kind of like a little friendly competition.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, Mitch Garver again, Mariner Ketcher back in the land
and tonight with cal back, He's going to d h tonight.
So Mitch is back behind the dish and Mitch Dick
asked about Logan last night. I got to ask you
about catching Emerson Hancock on Saturday. Man, how sore was
your hand after receiving fourteen punchouts from Emerson Hancock on

(06:36):
Saturday night? And what did you see from your vantage point?

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Man?

Speaker 5 (06:40):
That was a special night for him. I was really
happy to be a part of it. I think that
was probably his best performance of his career. And you're
able to throw the pitches where.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
He wanted to.

Speaker 5 (06:51):
He was really aggressive with the four seam and his
sweeper and slider have come a long way over the
past couple of years here, So that was a good
thing for him to see, and it's something you can
build on and get some momentum going forward.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
But just a huge night for the kid.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
You were able to catch a bizarda last night.

Speaker 6 (07:08):
I mean, just talk a little bit about what he's
been able to do this year coming off a tough
end of the season. Nobody likes to end the season
the way he ended the season last year, but he's
been absolutely nails this season. What's the difference that you've
seen between last year's Bizardo and this year's Bizardo.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
I would I would beg to argue that there is
no difference.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
When you talk about a guy having complete class and character,
he's our guy. He comes into the clubhouse every day
with the same auntitude. He's got a ton of energy,
he's always positive, he always works hard, and he's that
that staple in the bullpen for us. Obviously had a
great year last year, probably one of the top ten
relievers in baseball, but he bounced back this year and

(07:51):
he's he's he's really just stepped right into the same
stride here.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
He's throwing strikes.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
He comes in when we need him to clean up
some gar Bridge on the bases, and yeah, you know
he can lock down the eighth inning for us.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well, Mitch Garver with us and mitched.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Before you go, I want to ask you about something
you talked about a couple of years ago. I think
it was late twenty twenty four where you were pretty
open about the crap you were taking from people, right,
I mean, you talk with the media, you talk with
us about what you were going through a couple of
years ago, and for lack of a better question, I
guess how have you responded to all of that and

(08:28):
do you still face and see some of the nonsense
online that you referenced and mentioned a couple of years ago.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
I think everybody deals a little bit with some crappy
fans throughout their career, and it's just part of the game,
you know. I've moved forward past all that. I've decided
that doesn't really matter what people say, whether it's good, bad,
or ugly. The only opinions are the ones I listened to,
or my family and my teammates. And I think that's
important for everybody to learn a lesson from that. You know,

(08:59):
life's too short to really care about what certain people
think about you. So I've I've learned that in my career,
and I continue to learn things about myself throughout my
baseball journey, and that's just something that I believe in.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, Yeah, Well, everything we say about is positive, by
the way, you.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
All right, We've never we've been. We've never criticized you
at all.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Ever, I'm sure I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Hey, Mitch, listen, great stuff. Man, appreciate you doing this,
and we'll talk down the road.

Speaker 5 (09:30):
Man.

Speaker 2 (09:31):
All right, guys, you bet Mitch Garver with us on
the radio show. Yeah, he was pretty open, right. I
remember a couple of years ago about death threats and
all that stuff he took on social media. And I mean, look,
it's easy for us, and it's hard, I think for
people to say things like, well, just go out and
ignore it, which is hard to do. Like if you're
an athlete, I mean, heck, if you're a talk radio
person whatever, you're in this business and you know that

(09:52):
somebody is talking about you, I think naturally you're going
to be drawn to ask yourself.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, what are they saying?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
And it's hard some times, it's hard to not acknowledge
all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
But I think you get to a point where you
just kind of have to.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
It's like, I know that people laugh sometimes and they
criticize people that like turn off their replies or turn
off their mentions. You never know why that person did that, right, right,
They may be doing that because they're just sick and
tired of hearing from people that don't have the guts
or the balls to go online and use their real name.
So I absolutely understand what Mitch Garver's talking about from
a couple of years ago. But I do think that

(10:27):
time and winning heals all wounds. So I hope that
he was able to at least enjoy and hear some
of the positivity that came his way.

Speaker 6 (10:34):
Yeah, that was much less last year, just because they
were playing such great bass.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
I would hope so the LCS. But you know, it
can be done.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
I mean, my life has gotten a lot less stressful
since I've really stopped checking a lot of them mentioned
I don't even look at the text line.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Dude, I look at the text line at all.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
I hammer you every day, So that's fine. I mean,
probably just miss all that.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
But it's cool about at least you hammered me to
my face and.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
You use your real name online. I got I got Burner,
I'm coming after you.

Speaker 6 (11:05):
I gotcha. So but you know, it can be done,
but it's very difficult. And like I said, I mean,
when did Twitter start, like eight seventeen eighteen years ago?
It took me like twelve thirteen of those years to
figure it out.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, I get it man, all right.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
A little fun with audio coming up on a busy
Tuesday line from Jimmyzon ninety three three KJRFM
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