March 17, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of Bat-Flips and Nerds, host Russell Eason interviews Liam Carroll, the manager of the High A Greenville Drive and a prominent figure in British baseball. They discuss Liam's journey from British baseball to coaching in the minor leagues, the impact of data and analytics on coaching, and the cultural differences between coaching at the national team level and in minor leagues. Liam shares insights on player development, the importance of individualized training, and the exciting changes in the Red Sox system. The conversation also touches on the new rules in baseball, the significance of the pitch clock, and Liam's aspirations for the future as he transitions to a new role with the Greenville Drive.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hello and welcome to Batflips and Nerds, the Baseball podcast
with a British twist.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I am your host this evening.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Russell lieson and if we have another interview for you
today and another one with some Slate Red Sox connection,
but somebody who also has a massive connection to this podcast,
someone who has been a guest. I think we're now
on episodsumber five times that they've joined us on this podcast.
Definitely a record as the set records all around baseball
(00:40):
with what they're doing right now. Delighted to be with
Liam Carroll, who is now the manager of Hi a
Greenville Drive, who has obviously also been part of the
Salem Red Sox in the past couple of seasons as
well as the gb national coach, as well as many
of things in British baseball with the London Mets or
Bracknell or Bournemouth and many of other places in between.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Liam, Welcome, it's a pleasure to have you once again.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thanks us.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Well, it's crazy to be back. It's been too long,
so we really looking forward to the chat.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, so for our long time listeners, most of you
will know Liam, but I think it is kind of
worthwhile doing a whistle to stop tour of since we've
probably last had you up to two thousand and four.
So Liam, like you were, obviously he'll have an American dad,
a British mum brought up in like the UK, but
baseball was still something like that you wanted to do
(01:31):
even though you had very little access to it.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, no doubt, just incredibly fortunate with there being enough
British baseball where I was, and also my dad getting
involved in various British baseball circles.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I mean really cutting to the.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Chase, it was the British baseball giants, the likes of
Kevin Marshall, Alex Malahoudis and Nick Carter who inspired me
to want to go and play in the States. Went
Delta Community College, where Nick and Gavin went. Realized soon
into my coaching all my playing career that I wasn't
cut out to be very good at playing, so by
(02:10):
the end of my college career had begun to coach effectively,
and rather than finishing my collegiate eligibility as a player,
took an opportunity to join the coaching staff at UNLB
spent in all five seasons there that ended in twenty ten.
There's national team involvement throughout this part of my career
(02:32):
twenty ten to the last until COVID basically national team,
BSUK Academy, High Performance Academy, some London Mets as you mentioned,
and then just incredibly fortunate, largely through relationships built to
have had the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
To join the Red Sox.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
This is now my third season after two in Salem.
Excited this year as you mentioned, to move up to
Hi A and join the Greenville Drive.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So yeah, obviously let's start with Salem then, like that
is this something that you obviously we know I took
to you personally. It is something you were very much
aiming for as a possibility. You wanted to push as
far as you could in this coaching and this managerial
world within baseball. But for how long did you think
it was a realistic target to be like, to get
(03:21):
into like my league baseball.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Really only the two or three seasons proceeding getting hired.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It was something I never thought.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Was possible, as the walls of professional baseball were pretty solid,
and if you hadn't had a professional playing career, it
was rare that a coach got a look in and
that certainly changed dramatically in the last decade or so.
Andrew Wright is our director or our field coordinator. I
met Andrew at the ABCA convention a few years back
(03:54):
while he was still a college coach. Then he got
in with the Yankees invited to apply there, so for
the next two or three years applied but.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It never really went anywhere. So, okay, this is cool.
It's nice to have a conversation and interview. And then
suddenly he moved.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
To the Red Sox and I ended up with a job.
But was really only despite always having the professional baseball dream,
it was really only something that became a legitimate goal
within the last few years.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I think as the national.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Team has success, especially since the advent of the World
Baseball Classic and British baseball being under a microscope a
little bit more, I think it always seemed inevitable that
national teamers would get the opportunity with so many caliber people,
and so no surprise really that more recently Drew has
(04:51):
ended up in professional baseball as well, and I expect
and hope that there will be more in the future.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, it's amazing to see this kind of like can
continue to through and because for everybody it's almost in
all regards, it's like if you can see someone do something,
it becomes a possibility for like, this is something that
I can attaint to. We have players who want to
be players in Major League Baseball, but for some people
who are thinking that like oh my my time is up,
(05:19):
like there's no chance of being involved in this, there's
still opportunities for people to continue to grow and develop,
and it's amazing to see that. With you kind of
coming into like that situation in a ball it was
probably quite different to what you've been doing for the
last few years with British baseball, where you're effectively chasing
(05:42):
I don't know, you know, probably chasing and calling like
two hundred guys to be like, please come play at
this baseball tournament and then actually spending like a week
with some guys, maybe two weeks with some guys and
getting to get to work out what do I do
with these people? How do I get them to play
the best baseball in like two weeks to being like,
oh now I've got like a year to look develop
(06:06):
sort of players. How did that like mentality for you
change and how did that style of actually having coaching
impact you in that first year in Salem, you know, it.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Was a lot of similarities, but definitely the differences. And
one of the things that is fantastic is just a
caliber of the player, the depth of talent, and that
myself nor any of our other uniform staff need to
spend any time worrying about the players where they come from.
(06:38):
The scouts that we have are absolutely incredible, and the
caliber of players remarkable. That's obviously true across all thirty organizations.
Sort of show up every day and have these elite athletes,
elite baseball players, really is a privilege. The similarities, I mean,
there are still people and and ultimately, while the baseball
(07:02):
specifics are fun and of course they're critical, you're building
relationships with people from different backgrounds, from different countries, with
different likes and dislikes, different interests and disinterests.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So that hasn't changed.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That's just the same as running an academy session in Coventry.
So I've enjoyed it thoroughly, and I think while the
difference of doing it every single day is the biggest difference,
planning an academy practice for one hundred and twenty kids
(07:39):
in Coventry or in Milton Keynes and figuring out how
it works and working with others, because it takes a village,
working with others to figure out how to solve that
problem so that the kids in Coventry or Milton Keynes
have a great experience that's very similar. And as a
minor league manager, while I do have various hats I
need to wear, arguably the biggest one is making sure
(07:59):
that this sedule works every day so that our coaching
staff can do their job, so that our players can
do theirs.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
And I think about like some of the conversations that
we had between the two of us sat in maybe
like pass Yanks or Homer and house where we were,
we were coming up with ways for you to analyze
the baseball that dB could play with the limited amount
of data that we have to work out, like the
if we do everything small right, then we should win
(08:27):
more games than like we lose, or we were looking
for all of these small statistics. I imagine now some
of that still is the same, but you have such
a plethora of information at your at your fingertips. Now,
how how do you kind of work together with that transition?
How do you start to think about, well, what's important
(08:47):
and what's not important, even because you now have potentially
too much data.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Think one of the things that we as an organization
do very well is bridge the gap between what's available
and what we can crunch, if you will, to making
that useful for the player and useful for the code.
As you've referenced, like anything imaginable technology wise, data wise,
analytics wise isn't there or being built or at least
(09:14):
is an idea. And it was quite intimidating at first
having some insight into the new wave of how baseball works,
but never having any hands on experience. A little bit intimidating,
thrown in at the deep end. But again, we have
a great education within the organization, great people that help
(09:35):
bridge the gap. And each year we've got a little
bit better and that's enabled me to be a little
bit better ensuring that I can leverage the technology, leverage
the data. And we're also we're very clear on what
we think is required in terms of being successful as
(09:56):
a big league team, being successful as a big league player. Uh.
And because we have that understanding, we can be very specific,
very directed, very intentional about how we try and improve
those things at the minor league level.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, and I think the Red Sox as a whole
has had not necessarily like an organizational shift, but with
their changing at the top and then they're bringing in
of people like Kyle Body, it feels that like this
and was it just a Wilford and a few others
to kind of actually bring this ethos across like the
whole entire organization of like this is what we're aiming
(10:33):
for and how we're going to do it together. We
had Kyle on here a few weeks back, and he
really talked about culture being almost like the most important
side of that. How have you've seen the culture of
analytics or the culture of kind of like within professional
baseball like be different to like that maybe that's like
culture of coaching at the national team level.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Like the biggest difference from my perspective is while, of
course every game we have for play, we want to
win it, and we will play to win, but we're
not going to do certain things at the expense of
player development. At the end of the day, it's a
bonus if in Salem we win. I don't think I
(11:18):
lose my job if we have a losing season. Then
my first season we did we had a losing season.
My second season we won more than we lost. Every
time that you play a national team game tournament, you're
trying to win, and that it is a significant difference
now where.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
There's so many layers to that was.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
It's it's been great how the national team's success has evolved,
and one of the one of the reasons for that,
I think is having depth at the national team level.
Looking at the most recent World Baseball Classic team, you
did have options off the bench. You could play matchups
a little bit based on the information that you have,
and I never really had that privilege. I guess that
(12:01):
depth when I was managing the national team and again
peeling back another layer. While there is all of those
benefits in terms of depth at the national team level,
now you don't necessarily have the data because while.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
There is more money in the program, there's not.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
As much money as Boston Redtucks have. Hopefully, with the
injection from the UK's four ahead of the LA Olympic cycle,
true In his team can really start to leverage technology
a little bit more to create those margins because it's
difficult to win an international baseball game, let alone one
(12:35):
against Timmy USA or the Dominican Republic or Japan.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I think it's really interesting that you talk about the
culture of not winning not being important, because I imagine
that's also foreign to all of the players that you get,
because you've got guys that have been coming out of
college where they want to get to that college World Series.
They want to they want to get that kind of
like that feather in their cap because it'll probably help
their draft capital. But then you get them and it's like, Okay,
(13:00):
this is not as important anymore. Is that a difficult
discussion to have? Are there some people that potentially struggle
with the fact that, like, winning isn't the beal and
end all anymore?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yeah? I think I think everyone gets it. I think
there's certain situations that become frustrating. I think a key
a key a keynote to address It's not the winning
is not important, it's that it's not as important as
is something else. A great example, an easy example would
(13:32):
be it's let's say it's a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday game
middle of the week, which is when you're more likely
to give a top prospected day off, and it's a
close game, and you know that they're the best bat
you have on the bench, and maybe if they pinch
hit in the ninth your chances of winning the game.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Improve that priority player.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
That prospect is not going to pinch hit in that situation,
certainly not in the lower levels of the mind. We
have to respect the off day rest is critical to
their development. Likewise, if a prospect was going through a
slump and there might be a better option on the
bench because someone else is hot, I'm not taking the
prospect out of the game. So while in the moment
(14:18):
there might be some frustrations in some corners about not
pushing those button, Certainly you hear it from the fans,
why are you not doing this? From the armchair quarterbacks,
everyone in the room, while there might be some frustration
in the moment, really does get it. And I think
ultimately we have a strong belief that all of the
(14:40):
things that we believe are important, whether it's driven by data,
whether it's a more traditional baseball thing, what we preach
to our players, what we encourage our players to buy into,
the reasons we draft and develop different players. Winning will
take care of itself.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Oh yeah, that sounds like a really important thing to
get through everybody.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
The thing that jumps in my mind sometimes is what
things that you have to do manage that other people
don't have to do.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Is you have to take people on injury assignments.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Potentially they're coming down from like higher levels or even
the highest level that they'll drop down to do that
because of the proximity or just the right day to
get somebody to play.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Did you get.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Anybody like major in either of your couple of years
at Salem.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
We actually had Zach Kelly on a rehab assignment two
years ago and it was very cool.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
It typically wouldn't happen.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think it's it's very rare that a major league
rehab assignment happens in low Way. But Nack is from
Rowan Oak, which is next door to Salem, and.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
He specifically requested it. And what an experience that.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Was for our players to rub shoulders, which they have
some opportunity to do that during spring training, but to
spend a week in the fire in the dog days
of August rubbing shoulders with a big leaguer and the
chance for the players to pick the brainer, that's incredibly powerful.
And while we do have phenomenal coaches with very different backgrounds,
(16:12):
some of which to include professional and big league backgrounds.
I think it's a little bit different when a younger
player gets to talk to an older player. Incredibly powerful
and while of course the primary reason for Zach being
in Salem for a series was his own rehabilitation, it
was massively impactful for players too.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
And everybody surely expects a nice lunch on Zach as well, yeah,
or nice dinner.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah there was. There was The post game spread was
taken care of.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
And I guess that's something.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Obviously, you've only been part of major league baseball and
minor league baseball since a lot of the improvements have
had been had on the minor league side, but you
probably know you've talked to players, you've worked with players
who have been in want It's like horror stories of
the past, but like single be I mean, it must
be a completely different world to what it used to
be five years ago, let alone ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
No doubt, and the changes were needed, they were arguably
over to you and incredibly important. And as you said,
my frame of reference is non existent other than what
you've heard, but it's safe to say that the players
are looked after pretty well now, and that makes perfect
sense given we want these players to become big leaguers.
(17:27):
The hotels are pretty good, about as good as you
can expect in the sort of towns that you're staying in.
They get fed well, and of course all those things
add into increasing the chances that.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
They can reach their potential.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So well, I'm sure there could be some things improved,
and everyone continues to look for an edge. The sleeping
and the eating arrangements are pretty good right.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Now, Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I think one of the questions I have around about
to say how your career is, but rest is, like
all the things that you're like coaching, is I feel
quite unique in certain scenarios. But also then you're doing
the same things again and again and again in other scenarios.
Like what are you what are you taking from the
times that you were running like training sessions in like
the David Beckham Academy, like in London, and now how
(18:18):
you're running those sessions in in Salem or in the
spring training as you are are in Florida right now.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I think it's it's we we are given a license
to be creative. We know what we believe, we have.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Certain method method methodological Did they say that right? I
don't know certain principles that we're going to adhere to
because we believe that that is the best way to
acquire skills and get better at baseball. But within that framework,
we're given flexibility. We're given, as I said, license to
be creative, which I think is the perfect place to be.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
If you were.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Coaching in Great Britain, and all of us who've done
that have needed to be creative because of the space,
because of the equipment, because of the the ratio of
floor space to people. And then when you apply that
creativity where the resources aren't necessarily unlimited, but they're they're plentiful,
(19:18):
that's that becomes a lot of fun. Whether that's now,
how can we how can we make sure that we're
investigating all avenues to develop a player, whether we're just
trying to because we're one hundred games in keep it fresh,
or when it is when the rain hits and we
have to be forced into the cages or spend less
(19:40):
time outside. It's been beneficial for me to have that
background and British Spaseball, where I would argue that creativity
is a prerequisite for being a successful.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Coach in Great Britain. And then that also the Tops
push the envelope. We like, I think this is an
emerging team.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
We believe what we believe to be true in terms
of player development and producing winning big leaguers and winning
big league teams.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But that doesn't mean that we're going to be complacent
with where we're at.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
We're always going to try and push the envelope and
find out even better ways to do what we need
to do.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Without divulging any secrets here, like how bespoke would you think,
like the average person's like weekly training is is it
kind of they're all eighty percent, like all of the
second basement are doing the same thing, but then they've
got like twenty percent of their time doing something that's for.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That individual or some sort of other ratio.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
It's it's it's bespoke as we can possibly make it.
And I think if you were, if you were to
watch from the stands, you might not be cognizant. You
might think, well, they're all doing the same thing, but
the subtle variation that is driven by the combination of
the data tell us this, you need to work on this.
(21:00):
And then what we as coaches see with their eyes
and the conversations we have with different departments, the strength
coaches input, for example, it becomes pretty nuanced. So it
often looks like they're all doing the same thing, but
the way that we set up their routines and their
work on the field is very very individualized. The thing
(21:23):
that kind of adds a layer to it, especially during
spring training where you have so many players, is things
will emerge where certain players can be bucketed together. And
if you've got a critical massive players that you can
group together because they're all working on the same thing,
then that becomes makes it a lot easier to run
a baseball session, and especially so during spring training.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, so how much you be seen like that's of
impact players that come through with you like to maximize
the potential to go for maybe talking about some Red
Souff examples, things like Campbell, things like just many Garcia
and Andike Blake way up, they've all come through and
I think as pop kind of like prospects and they're
(22:09):
seemingly right now they're still on to be like everything
that we thought they like they would be or even more.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, I mean, first of all, great people with strong
work ethic, very clear about their vision and understanding of
the work that needs to go in Obviously, then incredibly
talented players. If you perform based on what the expectation
(22:36):
or what the understanding is of what is required to
be successful.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
At the next level, then you're going to move up.
I don't think that's a secret.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I think that will be true for all organizations and
from all organizations level to level. Combine that with their
individual goals, which they'll have in all of the key
areas of their performance. Pitching obviously a little bit more
straightforward hitters, but then we'll have to add and the
defensive uh and based running aspect as well. But they
(23:04):
had goals set based on what they needed to do
from what we believe to be important.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
They hit their goals, they moved.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Up, and that is one of the most rewarding parts
of the job when you when you get to have
the conversation after the game to tell the player that
they're moving up. That really is one of the coolest,
coolest things that I've got to do thus far in
my career in pro ball.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, and we'll stick with a couple more Red Sox
specific questions to make John and a few of us happy.
Like the system that the Red Sox have right now
is widely regarded as one of the best systems in
baseball by all of the by even by MLB prospect
Analysis and by fangrapts and by other things. How does
having like Anthony and Campbell and Mayer and even someone
(23:50):
like Cassis who's are in the majors or already having
these young players, how does that impact the people further
down like the chain to be like, hey, like I'm
in the same system with like these guys or the
these are the people that like I'm aiming to be
better than.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah, I think it's really cool and there is a
tremendous balance within our organization of while that's pretty cool
I get to be on Roman's team with the competitive
aspect that they're all they're all really good. That there's
so much focus on the big three, rightfully so, but
(24:25):
there are so many good players and it's really cool
to see the depth and it's there on the pitching
side too, and.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
It really is just exciting.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
I'm excited for the breakout game this week, fortunate to
be involved in that just as a great opportunity for
these young men to showcase their abilities. Obviously, we've had
the Big three in big League camp and they've been
playing in big League games throughout spring training. But not
everyone's got to do that. So for the other ones,
especially to be to be playing under the lights on
(24:55):
national TV is pretty exciting.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
It really is.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
I do occasionally just I see an item of the
Red Sox secure that we're given and just kind of
start laughing, Like I worked for the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
We're really good.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
We have some amazing players, and today I get to
go and help them Frank get better.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, and obviously with the with the Salem Red Sox
being the Red Sox as well, it's kind of you
have that a blazoned all the time to give you
that that that reminder. Obviously, now you're going up to
to the Drive, you're gonna get a whole new set
of uniforms to to put that through. Say you have
you built yourself a nice closet of of a baseball
(25:35):
uniforms over the last couple of years.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, Well, I think one of the biggest differences. I
didn't coach third base in Salem, so I almost never
wore the jersey I coached. Our third base coach Jossie Javez,
who's the new manager in Salem.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Absolute rock story.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
He wasn't with us for a few days, so I
had to coach third base, so I had to wear
the jersey. Otherwise is give me my Red Sox hootie.
So this year I will be coaching third day, so
I will have to wear the jerseys. Greenville has a
phenomenal uh set of uniforms, so.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
That's the bright set of it.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Well, I'll at least look pretty good thanks to other
people's design skills this season.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
But we are we are the Red Sox top to bottom.
Uh so Uh.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
It's it's the Red Sox that that pay my bills,
not the Greenville drive And and all of the Red
Sox gear we're given every spring training will be worn
loudly and proudly throughout the season in Greenville.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, I imagine you've got a Red Sox big kind
of like douffle bag that you probably carry around as
much as you used to carry around those the the
WBC ones that we you got back in the day.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Exactly right, and it's it's one of the coolest things there.
The ORG is incredibly generous with with what we're given
and and it's spring training is always cool just showing
up for so the first day of school, so to speak,
and seeing your friends, seeing the players.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
But it is always a pinch fitty moment.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
When you see a locker for the first time in
February full of new gear.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
And one thing that you.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Have as a manager in a low AID or a
low division in the minors is that you get to
get sampled some new rules in baseball. How does it
feel too kind of it's wrong to say guinea pigs
because of like, but you are sampling sometimes a lot
of the rules that are thinking about kind of like
going into the majors. How have you had any thoughts
(27:39):
on kind of having to do challenges yourself? Obviously that's
existed for a while, but like the ABS system, have
you felt being involved with.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah, we don't. We don't have it in low A.
I don't think we have.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
It in high eight either. The biggest one for us
has been the pitch clock.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Always interesting.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
They don't have the pitch clock in the complex leagues,
so it's off than a player's first experience when they
get to low A, So that can be interesting. I thought,
as a kind of quasi baseball traditionalist that I would
not like the pitch clock, that whole day baseball doesn't
have a clock.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
But I love it.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It's absolutely fantastic, especially when you factor in that in
Lowe you're gonna have some very very young players. You're
gonna make more mistakes players in the big leagues who
are just trade up better than they are in Lowa.
That's not a surprise. We're gonna make mistakes, We're gonna
have days where we can't throw a strike, but at
(28:36):
least we have the pitch clock to keep things in order.
And I think it's better for the fans too, So
I am a huge fan of the pitch clock. I
watch as much international baseball as they can so watching
European tournaments last year when I could, it was like,
your WBSC needs the pitch clock. European baseball needs the
(28:59):
pitch clock. It makes such a difference, UH and keeps
fans engaged, and ultimately, we do need fans to come
and watch games.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
So go pitch clock.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I'll tell you the single A, double A, triple A
and NBL baseball in the UK needs to pitch block.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Let's do it. Let's find a way. Even if you
got someone on a stop.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Watch on the side, just shouting at people.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Obviously in that first year, was there any standout moments
of kind of like obviously that first time that you
you are managing like a game, what was it kind
of like the pinchby moment that happened to you, kind
of like in that game.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Well, it's casting my mind back.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
I was definitely nervous, probably the most nervous I'd been,
uh in a baseball uniform since the World Baseball Classic
qualifier in Brooklyn. I can't I can't point to any
specific moment. I just there's thing things that stand out
from that that first half and or first half of
(30:04):
my first season. And I mean seeing Roman Antony as
a very young player with very little experience in the
grand scheme of things, be so good and move so fast,
and now he's in big league camp and the Stones
throw away from his big league big league debut.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
It's just how cool is that? Ah?
Speaker 4 (30:31):
And just generally speaking, just these players are so good
and I got to just remember, I get to do
this again to tomorrow you have a w b C
talking about Brooklyn again. And that was a good team
we had in a team of good a tournament of
good teams, whether that was on other side having basing
Jason marquee Ah twice or on our side, gaes Chisholm
(30:56):
was our shortstop. But it lasted lasted a week, not
even a week. So just that that feeling of I
get to do this again tomorrow is really cool and
really special and and continues to to be inspiring.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Will rum and be probably the first player that you
like actively coached that might make that major league or
is there somebody already up there?
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Nobody already up there, but we had Zach Kelly for
five days, doesn't that doesn't count. Ryan's Fernandez came through
on a rehab assignment as well, and is was rule
fived two years ago. I think it wasn't been in
the big leagues. It doesn't count. So as in, when
(31:46):
the first true Salem red'st makes the big leagues, it's
going to be pretty cool. And I wouldn't want to
put money on who that was. For one, that would
not be allowed, so I'd never do that.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
But there's an.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Exciting crew, and I mean Justins and Garcia the password
another one that spent significant time with who's now on
the forty man Luis Paralas another one that has come through,
certain another forty man player.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
It starts to get a little bit more real.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
I remember our mental performance coordinator Jake Chaplin at the
end of our season, it might have actually been after
our last game of the twenty four season, commented, next
year is going to be different, and it's starting to
sink in. Why he told me that because we're getting
close to the point where the players you spend significant
(32:39):
time with breakthrough and get their big league debuts. So
looking forward to that and hopefully the game times work
out where we can watch it in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, and so talking about play it progression, your progression,
you had two seasons down in Hey and now you're
up to Higgay. How is the how is that disc
How was that call for you? The call from the
manager's office. He probably was during the holiday, so it
wasn't a walk into the office the same way you
would have done with your players.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, really really cool. I was.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Ready to go back to Salem and would have been
perfectly perfectly happy to do.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
So.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
It was a great experience and we had a really
great season in terms of how things are supposed to work,
in terms of I referenced earlier the daily schedule big
part of my job.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
It just worked. And the staff in Salem this year
wouldn't have been identical.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
But would have been pretty similar. So would never say
I would be comfortable, but certainly confident in going back
into Salem and it's gonna work again and we can
get even better. So it does feel a little bit
like the first day of school again, going into a
new environment where it's a new coaching staff, it's a
(34:00):
new stadium, it's a new front office.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
How's this going to work.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
One of the most exciting things is, well, there will
be players that I haven't yet got to be teammates with.
There will be a lot of players that we've had
in say them, these last two seasons, and we've had
some tremendous players come through, some really cool people come through.
So that continuity is really exciting. And I don't necessarily
(34:25):
view it as a promotion. I think if you have
a job in professional baseball, it's awesome. And the work
that goes on in the Dominican Academy is phenomenal and
is critical. The work goes on here in Florida during
extended spring training and then the Complex League season and
the Bridge season is critical, and some of our best
(34:48):
people are in those levels. But I guess it is
a promotion of sports and that's cool too. And people
just rave about Greenville. I got to spend about three
days there in January. It lives up to the hype.
The stadium is amazing, the town's amazing, So so looking
forward to those aspects as well.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Yeah, I think what you say is perfectly right that
in a lot of these institutions there are so many players,
players and coaches in the certain areas that make the
difference that you've never even heard the name of. Because
kind of that's not where the fan focus kind of
like is directly aim towards. But it would be remiss
of me if I didn't ask you personally. Is like,
(35:28):
is has the dream shifted? Like it's not the dream
of being in professional baseball? Now is the dream of
being a major league coach or manager?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yeah? I haven't quite.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
Decided, but there are absolutely his the pull of the
big leagues.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
It would be pretty cool. Huh.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yeah, I'd be on all.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Yeah, I just know I need to decide. I don't
think I need to decide today. I remember vividly. The
first year that the High Performance Academy existed. Will Lintern,
whose spear headed that program, did a great job with
the leadoff event, which was more of a classroom and
testing day, and there was a session about goal setting
(36:20):
and the players were a little bit nervous to speak
up on their goals, and Gavin spoke. He was there,
and Gavin is a phenomenal goal setter and has achieved
many of his goals. But I remember saying, just really
to try and spirit the conversation a little bit, I
(36:40):
will manage Great Britain baseball in a World Baseball Classic.
If we count the qualifiers, then that happened, and really
not that long later. So I think I need to
decide whether I want to work at the big league level,
knowing that if I decide to do it, then I
probably will yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Will I will echo that sentimentally, and everything that you
have put your mind towards, I've seen you strive towards
and actually achieve, So I personally I would love to
see you dream to go that far, because then not unprofessionally,
we can ride on your Tokyo coattails for even longer.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Sponsorle free tickets, saying, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
It's a little bit easier to get to Boston than
it is to Sailorm or Greenville.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
But but let's talk about Grooveville.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
You're you say it is a historical town with with
some major significance when it comes to kind of like
the motor industry. But obviously the stadium that they have
there pretty much a Fenway replica. Like, how did that feel?
Kind of you had a look at the stadium yet
to kind of to get a feel of what that's
going to be like to be like, oh, actually, this
is the point now where we start to care really
(37:49):
about that defense and get your players used to having
to deal with that monster.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, I think we're in a privileged situation in.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
The org where Portland also has a monster, Greenville has
a monster. So the players do they hopefully are more
prepared when they do get to Fenway having had that experience.
It's an amazing facility. This year, the Greenville Drive celebrate
twenty years. I think the stadium has been around for
(38:18):
nineteen of those. You couldn't tell it is pristine. The
front office group, the ownership group, mister Brown and his team,
they do a phenomenal job. It's interesting. We actually had
a meeting just a couple of days ago with our
big league based coaches, Hoddy and Flow Houdi at third,
(38:43):
Flow at first, and one of the things we were
talking about is as a third base coach, navigating not
necessarily the Monster, but that the left field line is
hidden from view from the third base coach's box, and
just how do you navigate that in Boston? Is I'm
going to have to navigate that in Greenville? And as
(39:04):
something for fans to look out for this year, I
guess is be prepared for your runners as they round
third base to actually be outside of you, as you
might be on the baseline or even spend a little
bit of time in fair territory.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
So as long as the players know that.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
They should expect sometimes to be running around you rather
than inside you, it's the smart way to do things.
And it's it's going to be one of those nuances
of not just coaching third base for the first time
regularly in a little while, but doing it where this
these nooks and crannies make it more challenging.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
So it's exciting, it's different.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
And I guess, wrapping up that thought, not that it
was the primary crux of this segment. It's really cool
that we're getting to spend that time with our big
league coaching staff. It's one of the benefits of a
spring training site where major and minor league role on
the same footprint, which isn't all way the case. If
if if some didn't know that, for example, the Blue
(40:03):
Jays and the Yankees have spring training sites with the
minor leaguers and big leaguers or in different places. So
we're we're in the same place here in Fort Myers
and just yesterday got to spend about thirty minutes picking
the brains of our big league coaching staff, which was great.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Oh that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
I feel like if I would personally with you, one
of the pinch me moments that I would be having
is just looking at how pristine all of those fields
are to be when I was when I was lucky
enough to at Arizona and Miami during the WBC last
year to just go and look at like a professional
field and just be like.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Oh, this is this is what baseball.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Could be, and not the turnip fields that we've we've
played on where you can be like, oh, that ball
is going to bounce and it's gonna come up to
basically just a batter my chest tight or not see
a ball that bounce is immediately over you or scuts
right between your legs. It's that would be the pinchery
moment for me.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
No, that well, we'll come to Fort Myers sometime and then,
I mean, I know that you've been searching for a
new groundskeeper forever. Hopefully they find one, because I think
I think Forum Park could be as good as our
backfields are.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
As long as as long as the money it's being spent.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
It sounds like it is going to be spent, But
as long as the standards are in the right place,
then there's no reason for a field not not surely
to be the same caliber as Funway Park, but to
be as good as.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
It can possibly be.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, and I do have to say that, Yeah, the
fields of Funham Are are beautiful. Obviously, we're used to
kind of the second fields that we get here there
and everywhere where. We've got football pitches to deal with,
and we've.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Got the occasional.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Dog mouthfeasance to have to worry about something that you
don't have to worry about. As as managed going forward,
hopefully not so now you're obviously you're in spring training.
As you've said a couple of times, what's the difference
between like for you coaching now compared to when it
(42:09):
comes to the season.
Speaker 4 (42:11):
A hand so the first, but I've been over three weeks.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Very little so far to do with managing.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
I've been an infield and outfield coach and a base
running coach for the last three weeks. We have players
cycle through days of different intensity, so they'll have a
high day where they're really getting after it.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
They'll have a low day which.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
They'll still work, but it'll be lighter in duration, fewer reps,
a recovery day, and then a moderate day in between.
So we're preparing and delivering activities suited to those intensity levels,
and some of our other coaches responsible for assigning each
coach to each group on each day, so we all
(42:59):
get to work with the players regardless of We're not
only working with infielders on high days. We're working with
infielders and all of their days. We're working with outfielders
and all of the days, so that's been the primary
part of the job. Minor league spring training actually only
officially began last week so three weeks here, but Minor
(43:20):
league spring training began a week ago. More focus on
base running now, more focus on team defense.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
So lots of construction.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
Pease, that's well, PFPS. I've not worked with a picture yet.
They tend to do their own thing. I interact with
the pictures when we get to live BPS towards the
end of the day, and we just continue to add layers.
Next up we will begin playing games. March twelfth is
the day that we start playing other teams, so the
(43:50):
managerial side starts to enter the fray. And that's really
just in lineup construction. We're not pushing buttons into training.
We're just creating lineups so the players know where they're
supposed to be and when they're supposed to be there.
But soon enough we'll be finishing STROM training and have
a better center for a team.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
We'll want to make sure that the.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
First week or so of the season is pretty much
dialed before it starts. So the managing layers of that
onion is starting to rear their head.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
And do the coaches take some secret BP hacks themselves
when everybody else has disappeared?
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Some Do I think the way we have so many leaderboards.
Speaker 4 (44:34):
There is a leaderboards for coaches exit Velow. I'm not
on it, but I've not taken a swine. Maybe I
would be if I took a swine.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Yeah, you gotta have that.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Or you've got like arm speed on then off the mound,
or from third to first or something like that.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
Yeah, if you can think of a leader board for anything,
we've probably got it.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
That's brilliant because I we have few things over here
where we have Tom all the time saying that, like
he thinks that he can beat people from home to
first based on some of the statistics that we have nowadays,
and I'm like, you don't realize how fast some of
those guys actually are.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Even if you think that there's.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
Luck, no doubt. Although I'd like to see Tom try,
I think there should be video.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
We'll have to work on magic for the for the
next London series in next year's time, to see if
we can get him on the field and time him
after taking some hacks.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
I think it would be I would think about making
the trip back if I could. For that.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
You'd be like, oh, can I have like two weeks
two days off in the middle of the season just
to watch some English important things. Yeah, it's a it's
a personal issue that I that I need to return
to it just to be laughing as Brigle falls over
as he tries to run to first base as fast.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
As he can.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
William, it's it's been an absolute pleasure to have a
chat with you, obviously, kind of like this season is
going to be hopefully amazing for you and for all
of your players. This is the time normally where we
would be invite our guests to say where they can
find them online and stuff like that, but that's not
quite the your forte.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
We should be watching Greenville.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Drive with.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Renewed or new new eyes to basically see how they're doing.
I feel a lot of British fans watched seahows saw
how Salem was doing, even though it wasn't necessarily the
team that we supported as a whole, And now we
will switch to Greenville to be our next team to support.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Very kind, very kind.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
So yes, as always, listeners, you can find more from
us on Batflips, Underscore Nerds on Twitter and batflops and
nerds dot com. And if you were listening to this,
you do now know that you can watch these videos
on YouTube, so if you wanted to see me and
my resplendent GB jersey from the twenty sixteen World Baseball
(46:58):
Classic then or you can you can do so. I
imagine Liam's one is probably kept somewhere very safe.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt, treasured cool.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Cheers Liam, Thank you very much for your time and listeners.
I hope you have enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
Thanks Russell
Hello and welcome to Batflips and Nerds, the Baseball podcast
with a British twist.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I am your host this evening.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Russell lieson and if we have another interview for you
today and another one with some Slate Red Sox connection,
but somebody who also has a massive connection to this podcast,
someone who has been a guest. I think we're now
on episodsumber five times that they've joined us on this podcast.
Definitely a record as the set records all around baseball
(00:40):
with what they're doing right now. Delighted to be with
Liam Carroll, who is now the manager of Hi a
Greenville Drive, who has obviously also been part of the
Salem Red Sox in the past couple of seasons as
well as the gb national coach, as well as many
of things in British baseball with the London Mets or
Bracknell or Bournemouth and many of other places in between.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Liam, Welcome, it's a pleasure to have you once again.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Thanks us.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Well, it's crazy to be back. It's been too long,
so we really looking forward to the chat.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, so for our long time listeners, most of you
will know Liam, but I think it is kind of
worthwhile doing a whistle to stop tour of since we've
probably last had you up to two thousand and four.
So Liam, like you were, obviously he'll have an American dad,
a British mum brought up in like the UK, but
baseball was still something like that you wanted to do
(01:31):
even though you had very little access to it.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah, no doubt, just incredibly fortunate with there being enough
British baseball where I was, and also my dad getting
involved in various British baseball circles.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I mean really cutting to the.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Chase, it was the British baseball giants, the likes of
Kevin Marshall, Alex Malahoudis and Nick Carter who inspired me
to want to go and play in the States. Went
Delta Community College, where Nick and Gavin went. Realized soon
into my coaching all my playing career that I wasn't
cut out to be very good at playing, so by
(02:10):
the end of my college career had begun to coach effectively,
and rather than finishing my collegiate eligibility as a player,
took an opportunity to join the coaching staff at UNLB
spent in all five seasons there that ended in twenty ten.
There's national team involvement throughout this part of my career
(02:32):
twenty ten to the last until COVID basically national team,
BSUK Academy, High Performance Academy, some London Mets as you mentioned,
and then just incredibly fortunate, largely through relationships built to
have had the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
To join the Red Sox.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
This is now my third season after two in Salem.
Excited this year as you mentioned, to move up to
Hi A and join the Greenville Drive.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So yeah, obviously let's start with Salem then, like that
is this something that you obviously we know I took
to you personally. It is something you were very much
aiming for as a possibility. You wanted to push as
far as you could in this coaching and this managerial
world within baseball. But for how long did you think
it was a realistic target to be like, to get
(03:21):
into like my league baseball.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Really only the two or three seasons proceeding getting hired.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
It was something I never thought.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Was possible, as the walls of professional baseball were pretty solid,
and if you hadn't had a professional playing career, it
was rare that a coach got a look in and
that certainly changed dramatically in the last decade or so.
Andrew Wright is our director or our field coordinator. I
met Andrew at the ABCA convention a few years back
(03:54):
while he was still a college coach. Then he got
in with the Yankees invited to apply there, so for
the next two or three years applied but.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
It never really went anywhere. So, okay, this is cool.
It's nice to have a conversation and interview. And then
suddenly he moved.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
To the Red Sox and I ended up with a job.
But was really only despite always having the professional baseball dream,
it was really only something that became a legitimate goal
within the last few years.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
And I think as the national.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Team has success, especially since the advent of the World
Baseball Classic and British baseball being under a microscope a
little bit more, I think it always seemed inevitable that
national teamers would get the opportunity with so many caliber people,
and so no surprise really that more recently Drew has
(04:51):
ended up in professional baseball as well, and I expect
and hope that there will be more in the future.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, it's amazing to see this kind of like can
continue to through and because for everybody it's almost in
all regards, it's like if you can see someone do something,
it becomes a possibility for like, this is something that
I can attaint to. We have players who want to
be players in Major League Baseball, but for some people
who are thinking that like oh my my time is up,
(05:19):
like there's no chance of being involved in this, there's
still opportunities for people to continue to grow and develop,
and it's amazing to see that. With you kind of
coming into like that situation in a ball it was
probably quite different to what you've been doing for the
last few years with British baseball, where you're effectively chasing
(05:42):
I don't know, you know, probably chasing and calling like
two hundred guys to be like, please come play at
this baseball tournament and then actually spending like a week
with some guys, maybe two weeks with some guys and
getting to get to work out what do I do
with these people? How do I get them to play
the best baseball in like two weeks to being like,
oh now I've got like a year to look develop
(06:06):
sort of players. How did that like mentality for you
change and how did that style of actually having coaching
impact you in that first year in Salem, you know, it.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Was a lot of similarities, but definitely the differences. And
one of the things that is fantastic is just a
caliber of the player, the depth of talent, and that
myself nor any of our other uniform staff need to
spend any time worrying about the players where they come from.
(06:38):
The scouts that we have are absolutely incredible, and the
caliber of players remarkable. That's obviously true across all thirty organizations.
Sort of show up every day and have these elite athletes,
elite baseball players, really is a privilege. The similarities, I mean,
there are still people and and ultimately, while the baseball
(07:02):
specifics are fun and of course they're critical, you're building
relationships with people from different backgrounds, from different countries, with
different likes and dislikes, different interests and disinterests.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So that hasn't changed.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
That's just the same as running an academy session in Coventry.
So I've enjoyed it thoroughly, and I think while the
difference of doing it every single day is the biggest difference,
planning an academy practice for one hundred and twenty kids
(07:39):
in Coventry or in Milton Keynes and figuring out how
it works and working with others, because it takes a village,
working with others to figure out how to solve that
problem so that the kids in Coventry or Milton Keynes
have a great experience that's very similar. And as a
minor league manager, while I do have various hats I
need to wear, arguably the biggest one is making sure
(07:59):
that this sedule works every day so that our coaching
staff can do their job, so that our players can
do theirs.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
And I think about like some of the conversations that
we had between the two of us sat in maybe
like pass Yanks or Homer and house where we were,
we were coming up with ways for you to analyze
the baseball that dB could play with the limited amount
of data that we have to work out, like the
if we do everything small right, then we should win
(08:27):
more games than like we lose, or we were looking
for all of these small statistics. I imagine now some
of that still is the same, but you have such
a plethora of information at your at your fingertips. Now,
how how do you kind of work together with that transition?
How do you start to think about, well, what's important
(08:47):
and what's not important, even because you now have potentially
too much data.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, and I.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Think one of the things that we as an organization
do very well is bridge the gap between what's available
and what we can crunch, if you will, to making
that useful for the player and useful for the code.
As you've referenced, like anything imaginable technology wise, data wise,
analytics wise isn't there or being built or at least
(09:14):
is an idea. And it was quite intimidating at first
having some insight into the new wave of how baseball works,
but never having any hands on experience. A little bit intimidating,
thrown in at the deep end. But again, we have
a great education within the organization, great people that help
(09:35):
bridge the gap. And each year we've got a little
bit better and that's enabled me to be a little
bit better ensuring that I can leverage the technology, leverage
the data. And we're also we're very clear on what
we think is required in terms of being successful as
(09:56):
a big league team, being successful as a big league player. Uh.
And because we have that understanding, we can be very specific,
very directed, very intentional about how we try and improve
those things at the minor league level.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, and I think the Red Sox as a whole
has had not necessarily like an organizational shift, but with
their changing at the top and then they're bringing in
of people like Kyle Body, it feels that like this
and was it just a Wilford and a few others
to kind of actually bring this ethos across like the
whole entire organization of like this is what we're aiming
(10:33):
for and how we're going to do it together. We
had Kyle on here a few weeks back, and he
really talked about culture being almost like the most important
side of that. How have you've seen the culture of
analytics or the culture of kind of like within professional
baseball like be different to like that maybe that's like
culture of coaching at the national team level.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Like the biggest difference from my perspective is while, of
course every game we have for play, we want to
win it, and we will play to win, but we're
not going to do certain things at the expense of
player development. At the end of the day, it's a
bonus if in Salem we win. I don't think I
(11:18):
lose my job if we have a losing season. Then
my first season we did we had a losing season.
My second season we won more than we lost. Every
time that you play a national team game tournament, you're
trying to win, and that it is a significant difference
now where.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
There's so many layers to that was.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
It's it's been great how the national team's success has evolved,
and one of the one of the reasons for that,
I think is having depth at the national team level.
Looking at the most recent World Baseball Classic team, you
did have options off the bench. You could play matchups
a little bit based on the information that you have,
and I never really had that privilege. I guess that
(12:01):
depth when I was managing the national team and again
peeling back another layer. While there is all of those
benefits in terms of depth at the national team level,
now you don't necessarily have the data because while.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
There is more money in the program, there's not.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
As much money as Boston Redtucks have. Hopefully, with the
injection from the UK's four ahead of the LA Olympic cycle,
true In his team can really start to leverage technology
a little bit more to create those margins because it's
difficult to win an international baseball game, let alone one
(12:35):
against Timmy USA or the Dominican Republic or Japan.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I think it's really interesting that you talk about the
culture of not winning not being important, because I imagine
that's also foreign to all of the players that you get,
because you've got guys that have been coming out of
college where they want to get to that college World Series.
They want to they want to get that kind of
like that feather in their cap because it'll probably help
their draft capital. But then you get them and it's like, Okay,
(13:00):
this is not as important anymore. Is that a difficult
discussion to have? Are there some people that potentially struggle
with the fact that, like, winning isn't the beal and
end all anymore?
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yeah? I think I think everyone gets it. I think
there's certain situations that become frustrating. I think a key
a key a keynote to address It's not the winning
is not important, it's that it's not as important as
is something else. A great example, an easy example would
(13:32):
be it's let's say it's a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday game
middle of the week, which is when you're more likely
to give a top prospected day off, and it's a
close game, and you know that they're the best bat
you have on the bench, and maybe if they pinch
hit in the ninth your chances of winning the game.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Improve that priority player.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
That prospect is not going to pinch hit in that situation,
certainly not in the lower levels of the mind. We
have to respect the off day rest is critical to
their development. Likewise, if a prospect was going through a
slump and there might be a better option on the
bench because someone else is hot, I'm not taking the
prospect out of the game. So while in the moment
(14:18):
there might be some frustrations in some corners about not
pushing those button, Certainly you hear it from the fans,
why are you not doing this? From the armchair quarterbacks,
everyone in the room, while there might be some frustration
in the moment, really does get it. And I think
ultimately we have a strong belief that all of the
(14:40):
things that we believe are important, whether it's driven by data,
whether it's a more traditional baseball thing, what we preach
to our players, what we encourage our players to buy into,
the reasons we draft and develop different players. Winning will
take care of itself.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Oh yeah, that sounds like a really important thing to
get through everybody.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
The thing that jumps in my mind sometimes is what
things that you have to do manage that other people
don't have to do.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Is you have to take people on injury assignments.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Potentially they're coming down from like higher levels or even
the highest level that they'll drop down to do that
because of the proximity or just the right day to
get somebody to play.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Did you get.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Anybody like major in either of your couple of years
at Salem.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
We actually had Zach Kelly on a rehab assignment two
years ago and it was very cool.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
It typically wouldn't happen.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think it's it's very rare that a major league
rehab assignment happens in low Way. But Nack is from
Rowan Oak, which is next door to Salem, and.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
He specifically requested it. And what an experience that.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Was for our players to rub shoulders, which they have
some opportunity to do that during spring training, but to
spend a week in the fire in the dog days
of August rubbing shoulders with a big leaguer and the
chance for the players to pick the brainer, that's incredibly powerful.
And while we do have phenomenal coaches with very different backgrounds,
(16:12):
some of which to include professional and big league backgrounds.
I think it's a little bit different when a younger
player gets to talk to an older player. Incredibly powerful
and while of course the primary reason for Zach being
in Salem for a series was his own rehabilitation, it
was massively impactful for players too.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
And everybody surely expects a nice lunch on Zach as well, yeah,
or nice dinner.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Yeah there was. There was The post game spread was
taken care of.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
And I guess that's something.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Obviously, you've only been part of major league baseball and
minor league baseball since a lot of the improvements have
had been had on the minor league side, but you
probably know you've talked to players, you've worked with players
who have been in want It's like horror stories of
the past, but like single be I mean, it must
be a completely different world to what it used to
be five years ago, let alone ten years ago.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
No doubt, and the changes were needed, they were arguably
over to you and incredibly important. And as you said,
my frame of reference is non existent other than what
you've heard, but it's safe to say that the players
are looked after pretty well now, and that makes perfect
sense given we want these players to become big leaguers.
(17:27):
The hotels are pretty good, about as good as you
can expect in the sort of towns that you're staying in.
They get fed well, and of course all those things
add into increasing the chances that.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
They can reach their potential.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So well, I'm sure there could be some things improved,
and everyone continues to look for an edge. The sleeping
and the eating arrangements are pretty good right.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Now, Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I think one of the questions I have around about
to say how your career is, but rest is, like
all the things that you're like coaching, is I feel
quite unique in certain scenarios. But also then you're doing
the same things again and again and again in other scenarios.
Like what are you what are you taking from the
times that you were running like training sessions in like
the David Beckham Academy, like in London, and now how
(18:18):
you're running those sessions in in Salem or in the
spring training as you are are in Florida right now.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I think it's it's we we are given a license
to be creative. We know what we believe, we have.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Certain method method methodological Did they say that right? I
don't know certain principles that we're going to adhere to
because we believe that that is the best way to
acquire skills and get better at baseball. But within that framework,
we're given flexibility. We're given, as I said, license to
be creative, which I think is the perfect place to be.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
If you were.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Coaching in Great Britain, and all of us who've done
that have needed to be creative because of the space,
because of the equipment, because of the the ratio of
floor space to people. And then when you apply that
creativity where the resources aren't necessarily unlimited, but they're they're plentiful,
(19:18):
that's that becomes a lot of fun. Whether that's now,
how can we how can we make sure that we're
investigating all avenues to develop a player, whether we're just
trying to because we're one hundred games in keep it fresh,
or when it is when the rain hits and we
have to be forced into the cages or spend less
(19:40):
time outside. It's been beneficial for me to have that
background and British Spaseball, where I would argue that creativity
is a prerequisite for being a successful.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Coach in Great Britain. And then that also the Tops
push the envelope. We like, I think this is an
emerging team.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
We believe what we believe to be true in terms
of player development and producing winning big leaguers and winning
big league teams.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But that doesn't mean that we're going to be complacent
with where we're at.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
We're always going to try and push the envelope and
find out even better ways to do what we need
to do.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Without divulging any secrets here, like how bespoke would you think,
like the average person's like weekly training is is it
kind of they're all eighty percent, like all of the
second basement are doing the same thing, but then they've
got like twenty percent of their time doing something that's for.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That individual or some sort of other ratio.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
It's it's it's bespoke as we can possibly make it.
And I think if you were, if you were to
watch from the stands, you might not be cognizant. You
might think, well, they're all doing the same thing, but
the subtle variation that is driven by the combination of
the data tell us this, you need to work on this.
(21:00):
And then what we as coaches see with their eyes
and the conversations we have with different departments, the strength
coaches input, for example, it becomes pretty nuanced. So it
often looks like they're all doing the same thing, but
the way that we set up their routines and their
work on the field is very very individualized. The thing
(21:23):
that kind of adds a layer to it, especially during
spring training where you have so many players, is things
will emerge where certain players can be bucketed together. And
if you've got a critical massive players that you can
group together because they're all working on the same thing,
then that becomes makes it a lot easier to run
a baseball session, and especially so during spring training.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, so how much you be seen like that's of
impact players that come through with you like to maximize
the potential to go for maybe talking about some Red
Souff examples, things like Campbell, things like just many Garcia
and Andike Blake way up, they've all come through and
I think as pop kind of like prospects and they're
(22:09):
seemingly right now they're still on to be like everything
that we thought they like they would be or even more.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, I mean, first of all, great people with strong
work ethic, very clear about their vision and understanding of
the work that needs to go in Obviously, then incredibly
talented players. If you perform based on what the expectation
(22:36):
or what the understanding is of what is required to
be successful.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
At the next level, then you're going to move up.
I don't think that's a secret.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I think that will be true for all organizations and
from all organizations level to level. Combine that with their
individual goals, which they'll have in all of the key
areas of their performance. Pitching obviously a little bit more
straightforward hitters, but then we'll have to add and the
defensive uh and based running aspect as well. But they
(23:04):
had goals set based on what they needed to do
from what we believe to be important.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
They hit their goals, they moved.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Up, and that is one of the most rewarding parts
of the job when you when you get to have
the conversation after the game to tell the player that
they're moving up. That really is one of the coolest,
coolest things that I've got to do thus far in
my career in pro ball.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, and we'll stick with a couple more Red Sox
specific questions to make John and a few of us happy.
Like the system that the Red Sox have right now
is widely regarded as one of the best systems in
baseball by all of the by even by MLB prospect
Analysis and by fangrapts and by other things. How does
having like Anthony and Campbell and Mayer and even someone
(23:50):
like Cassis who's are in the majors or already having
these young players, how does that impact the people further
down like the chain to be like, hey, like I'm
in the same system with like these guys or the
these are the people that like I'm aiming to be
better than.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah, I think it's really cool and there is a
tremendous balance within our organization of while that's pretty cool
I get to be on Roman's team with the competitive
aspect that they're all they're all really good. That there's
so much focus on the big three, rightfully so, but
(24:25):
there are so many good players and it's really cool
to see the depth and it's there on the pitching
side too, and.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
It really is just exciting.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
I'm excited for the breakout game this week, fortunate to
be involved in that just as a great opportunity for
these young men to showcase their abilities. Obviously, we've had
the Big three in big League camp and they've been
playing in big League games throughout spring training. But not
everyone's got to do that. So for the other ones,
especially to be to be playing under the lights on
(24:55):
national TV is pretty exciting.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
It really is.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
I do occasionally just I see an item of the
Red Sox secure that we're given and just kind of
start laughing, Like I worked for the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
We're really good.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
We have some amazing players, and today I get to
go and help them Frank get better.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Yeah, and obviously with the with the Salem Red Sox
being the Red Sox as well, it's kind of you
have that a blazoned all the time to give you
that that that reminder. Obviously, now you're going up to
to the Drive, you're gonna get a whole new set
of uniforms to to put that through. Say you have
you built yourself a nice closet of of a baseball
(25:35):
uniforms over the last couple of years.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
Yeah, Well, I think one of the biggest differences. I
didn't coach third base in Salem, so I almost never
wore the jersey I coached. Our third base coach Jossie Javez,
who's the new manager in Salem.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Absolute rock story.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
He wasn't with us for a few days, so I
had to coach third base, so I had to wear
the jersey. Otherwise is give me my Red Sox hootie.
So this year I will be coaching third day, so
I will have to wear the jerseys. Greenville has a
phenomenal uh set of uniforms, so.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
That's the bright set of it.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Well, I'll at least look pretty good thanks to other
people's design skills this season.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
But we are we are the Red Sox top to bottom.
Uh so Uh.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
It's it's the Red Sox that that pay my bills,
not the Greenville drive And and all of the Red
Sox gear we're given every spring training will be worn
loudly and proudly throughout the season in Greenville.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, I imagine you've got a Red Sox big kind
of like douffle bag that you probably carry around as
much as you used to carry around those the the
WBC ones that we you got back in the day.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Exactly right, and it's it's one of the coolest things there.
The ORG is incredibly generous with with what we're given
and and it's spring training is always cool just showing
up for so the first day of school, so to speak,
and seeing your friends, seeing the players.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
But it is always a pinch fitty moment.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
When you see a locker for the first time in
February full of new gear.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
And one thing that you.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Have as a manager in a low AID or a
low division in the minors is that you get to
get sampled some new rules in baseball. How does it
feel too kind of it's wrong to say guinea pigs
because of like, but you are sampling sometimes a lot
of the rules that are thinking about kind of like
going into the majors. How have you had any thoughts
(27:39):
on kind of having to do challenges yourself? Obviously that's
existed for a while, but like the ABS system, have
you felt being involved with.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah, we don't. We don't have it in low A.
I don't think we have.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
It in high eight either. The biggest one for us
has been the pitch clock.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Always interesting.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
They don't have the pitch clock in the complex leagues,
so it's off than a player's first experience when they
get to low A, So that can be interesting. I thought,
as a kind of quasi baseball traditionalist that I would
not like the pitch clock, that whole day baseball doesn't
have a clock.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
But I love it.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It's absolutely fantastic, especially when you factor in that in
Lowe you're gonna have some very very young players. You're
gonna make more mistakes players in the big leagues who
are just trade up better than they are in Lowa.
That's not a surprise. We're gonna make mistakes, We're gonna
have days where we can't throw a strike, but at
(28:36):
least we have the pitch clock to keep things in order.
And I think it's better for the fans too, So
I am a huge fan of the pitch clock. I
watch as much international baseball as they can so watching
European tournaments last year when I could, it was like,
your WBSC needs the pitch clock. European baseball needs the
(28:59):
pitch clock. It makes such a difference, UH and keeps
fans engaged, and ultimately, we do need fans to come
and watch games.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
So go pitch clock.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I'll tell you the single A, double A, triple A
and NBL baseball in the UK needs to pitch block.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Let's do it. Let's find a way. Even if you
got someone on a stop.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Watch on the side, just shouting at people.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Obviously in that first year, was there any standout moments
of kind of like obviously that first time that you
you are managing like a game, what was it kind
of like the pinchby moment that happened to you, kind
of like in that game.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Well, it's casting my mind back.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
I was definitely nervous, probably the most nervous I'd been,
uh in a baseball uniform since the World Baseball Classic
qualifier in Brooklyn. I can't I can't point to any
specific moment. I just there's thing things that stand out
from that that first half and or first half of
(30:04):
my first season. And I mean seeing Roman Antony as
a very young player with very little experience in the
grand scheme of things, be so good and move so fast,
and now he's in big league camp and the Stones
throw away from his big league big league debut.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
It's just how cool is that? Ah?
Speaker 4 (30:31):
And just generally speaking, just these players are so good
and I got to just remember, I get to do
this again to tomorrow you have a w b C
talking about Brooklyn again. And that was a good team
we had in a team of good a tournament of
good teams, whether that was on other side having basing
Jason marquee Ah twice or on our side, gaes Chisholm
(30:56):
was our shortstop. But it lasted lasted a week, not
even a week. So just that that feeling of I
get to do this again tomorrow is really cool and
really special and and continues to to be inspiring.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Will rum and be probably the first player that you
like actively coached that might make that major league or
is there somebody already up there?
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Nobody already up there, but we had Zach Kelly for
five days, doesn't that doesn't count. Ryan's Fernandez came through
on a rehab assignment as well, and is was rule
fived two years ago. I think it wasn't been in
the big leagues. It doesn't count. So as in, when
(31:46):
the first true Salem red'st makes the big leagues, it's
going to be pretty cool. And I wouldn't want to
put money on who that was. For one, that would
not be allowed, so I'd never do that.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
But there's an.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Exciting crew, and I mean Justins and Garcia the password
another one that spent significant time with who's now on
the forty man Luis Paralas another one that has come through,
certain another forty man player.
Speaker 3 (32:16):
It starts to get a little bit more real.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
I remember our mental performance coordinator Jake Chaplin at the
end of our season, it might have actually been after
our last game of the twenty four season, commented, next
year is going to be different, and it's starting to
sink in. Why he told me that because we're getting
close to the point where the players you spend significant
(32:39):
time with breakthrough and get their big league debuts. So
looking forward to that and hopefully the game times work
out where we can watch it in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, and so talking about play it progression, your progression,
you had two seasons down in Hey and now you're
up to Higgay. How is the how is that disc
How was that call for you? The call from the
manager's office. He probably was during the holiday, so it
wasn't a walk into the office the same way you
would have done with your players.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, really really cool. I was.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Ready to go back to Salem and would have been
perfectly perfectly happy to do.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
So.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
It was a great experience and we had a really
great season in terms of how things are supposed to work,
in terms of I referenced earlier the daily schedule big
part of my job.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
It just worked. And the staff in Salem this year
wouldn't have been identical.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
But would have been pretty similar. So would never say
I would be comfortable, but certainly confident in going back
into Salem and it's gonna work again and we can
get even better. So it does feel a little bit
like the first day of school again, going into a
new environment where it's a new coaching staff, it's a
(34:00):
new stadium, it's a new front office.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
How's this going to work.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
One of the most exciting things is, well, there will
be players that I haven't yet got to be teammates with.
There will be a lot of players that we've had
in say them, these last two seasons, and we've had
some tremendous players come through, some really cool people come through.
So that continuity is really exciting. And I don't necessarily
(34:25):
view it as a promotion. I think if you have
a job in professional baseball, it's awesome. And the work
that goes on in the Dominican Academy is phenomenal and
is critical. The work goes on here in Florida during
extended spring training and then the Complex League season and
the Bridge season is critical, and some of our best
(34:48):
people are in those levels. But I guess it is
a promotion of sports and that's cool too. And people
just rave about Greenville. I got to spend about three
days there in January. It lives up to the hype.
The stadium is amazing, the town's amazing, So so looking
forward to those aspects as well.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Yeah, I think what you say is perfectly right that
in a lot of these institutions there are so many players,
players and coaches in the certain areas that make the
difference that you've never even heard the name of. Because
kind of that's not where the fan focus kind of
like is directly aim towards. But it would be remiss
of me if I didn't ask you personally. Is like,
(35:28):
is has the dream shifted? Like it's not the dream
of being in professional baseball? Now is the dream of
being a major league coach or manager?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Yeah? I haven't quite.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
Decided, but there are absolutely his the pull of the
big leagues.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
It would be pretty cool. Huh.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yeah, I'd be on all.
Speaker 4 (35:55):
Yeah, I just know I need to decide. I don't
think I need to decide today. I remember vividly. The
first year that the High Performance Academy existed. Will Lintern,
whose spear headed that program, did a great job with
the leadoff event, which was more of a classroom and
testing day, and there was a session about goal setting
(36:20):
and the players were a little bit nervous to speak
up on their goals, and Gavin spoke. He was there,
and Gavin is a phenomenal goal setter and has achieved
many of his goals. But I remember saying, just really
to try and spirit the conversation a little bit, I
(36:40):
will manage Great Britain baseball in a World Baseball Classic.
If we count the qualifiers, then that happened, and really
not that long later. So I think I need to
decide whether I want to work at the big league level,
knowing that if I decide to do it, then I
probably will yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Will I will echo that sentimentally, and everything that you
have put your mind towards, I've seen you strive towards
and actually achieve, So I personally I would love to
see you dream to go that far, because then not unprofessionally,
we can ride on your Tokyo coattails for even longer.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
Sponsorle free tickets, saying, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
It's a little bit easier to get to Boston than
it is to Sailorm or Greenville.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
But but let's talk about Grooveville.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
You're you say it is a historical town with with
some major significance when it comes to kind of like
the motor industry. But obviously the stadium that they have
there pretty much a Fenway replica. Like, how did that feel?
Kind of you had a look at the stadium yet
to kind of to get a feel of what that's
going to be like to be like, oh, actually, this
is the point now where we start to care really
(37:49):
about that defense and get your players used to having
to deal with that monster.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, I think we're in a privileged situation in.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
The org where Portland also has a monster, Greenville has
a monster. So the players do they hopefully are more
prepared when they do get to Fenway having had that experience.
It's an amazing facility. This year, the Greenville Drive celebrate
twenty years. I think the stadium has been around for
(38:18):
nineteen of those. You couldn't tell it is pristine. The
front office group, the ownership group, mister Brown and his team,
they do a phenomenal job. It's interesting. We actually had
a meeting just a couple of days ago with our
big league based coaches, Hoddy and Flow Houdi at third,
(38:43):
Flow at first, and one of the things we were
talking about is as a third base coach, navigating not
necessarily the Monster, but that the left field line is
hidden from view from the third base coach's box, and
just how do you navigate that in Boston? Is I'm
going to have to navigate that in Greenville? And as
(39:04):
something for fans to look out for this year, I
guess is be prepared for your runners as they round
third base to actually be outside of you, as you
might be on the baseline or even spend a little
bit of time in fair territory.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
So as long as the players know that.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
They should expect sometimes to be running around you rather
than inside you, it's the smart way to do things.
And it's it's going to be one of those nuances
of not just coaching third base for the first time
regularly in a little while, but doing it where this
these nooks and crannies make it more challenging.
Speaker 3 (39:38):
So it's exciting, it's different.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
And I guess, wrapping up that thought, not that it
was the primary crux of this segment. It's really cool
that we're getting to spend that time with our big
league coaching staff. It's one of the benefits of a
spring training site where major and minor league role on
the same footprint, which isn't all way the case. If
if if some didn't know that, for example, the Blue
(40:03):
Jays and the Yankees have spring training sites with the
minor leaguers and big leaguers or in different places. So
we're we're in the same place here in Fort Myers
and just yesterday got to spend about thirty minutes picking
the brains of our big league coaching staff, which was great.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Oh that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
I feel like if I would personally with you, one
of the pinch me moments that I would be having
is just looking at how pristine all of those fields
are to be when I was when I was lucky
enough to at Arizona and Miami during the WBC last
year to just go and look at like a professional
field and just be like.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Oh, this is this is what baseball.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Could be, and not the turnip fields that we've we've
played on where you can be like, oh, that ball
is going to bounce and it's gonna come up to
basically just a batter my chest tight or not see
a ball that bounce is immediately over you or scuts
right between your legs. It's that would be the pinchery
moment for me.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
No, that well, we'll come to Fort Myers sometime and then,
I mean, I know that you've been searching for a
new groundskeeper forever. Hopefully they find one, because I think
I think Forum Park could be as good as our
backfields are.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
As long as as long as the money it's being spent.
Speaker 4 (41:19):
It sounds like it is going to be spent, But
as long as the standards are in the right place,
then there's no reason for a field not not surely
to be the same caliber as Funway Park, but to
be as good as.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
It can possibly be.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, and I do have to say that, Yeah, the
fields of Funham Are are beautiful. Obviously, we're used to
kind of the second fields that we get here there
and everywhere where. We've got football pitches to deal with,
and we've.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Got the occasional.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Dog mouthfeasance to have to worry about something that you
don't have to worry about. As as managed going forward,
hopefully not so now you're obviously you're in spring training.
As you've said a couple of times, what's the difference
between like for you coaching now compared to when it
(42:09):
comes to the season.
Speaker 4 (42:11):
A hand so the first, but I've been over three weeks.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Very little so far to do with managing.
Speaker 4 (42:22):
I've been an infield and outfield coach and a base
running coach for the last three weeks. We have players
cycle through days of different intensity, so they'll have a
high day where they're really getting after it.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
They'll have a low day which.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
They'll still work, but it'll be lighter in duration, fewer reps,
a recovery day, and then a moderate day in between.
So we're preparing and delivering activities suited to those intensity levels,
and some of our other coaches responsible for assigning each
coach to each group on each day, so we all
(42:59):
get to work with the players regardless of We're not
only working with infielders on high days. We're working with
infielders and all of their days. We're working with outfielders
and all of the days, so that's been the primary
part of the job. Minor league spring training actually only
officially began last week so three weeks here, but Minor
(43:20):
league spring training began a week ago. More focus on
base running now, more focus on team defense.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
So lots of construction.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
Pease, that's well, PFPS. I've not worked with a picture yet.
They tend to do their own thing. I interact with
the pictures when we get to live BPS towards the
end of the day, and we just continue to add layers.
Next up we will begin playing games. March twelfth is
the day that we start playing other teams, so the
(43:50):
managerial side starts to enter the fray. And that's really
just in lineup construction. We're not pushing buttons into training.
We're just creating lineups so the players know where they're
supposed to be and when they're supposed to be there.
But soon enough we'll be finishing STROM training and have
a better center for a team.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
We'll want to make sure that the.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
First week or so of the season is pretty much
dialed before it starts. So the managing layers of that
onion is starting to rear their head.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
And do the coaches take some secret BP hacks themselves
when everybody else has disappeared?
Speaker 3 (44:31):
Some Do I think the way we have so many leaderboards.
Speaker 4 (44:34):
There is a leaderboards for coaches exit Velow. I'm not
on it, but I've not taken a swine. Maybe I
would be if I took a swine.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Yeah, you gotta have that.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Or you've got like arm speed on then off the mound,
or from third to first or something like that.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
Yeah, if you can think of a leader board for anything,
we've probably got it.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
That's brilliant because I we have few things over here
where we have Tom all the time saying that, like
he thinks that he can beat people from home to
first based on some of the statistics that we have nowadays,
and I'm like, you don't realize how fast some of
those guys actually are.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Even if you think that there's.
Speaker 3 (45:13):
Luck, no doubt. Although I'd like to see Tom try,
I think there should be video.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
We'll have to work on magic for the for the
next London series in next year's time, to see if
we can get him on the field and time him
after taking some hacks.
Speaker 3 (45:30):
I think it would be I would think about making
the trip back if I could. For that.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
You'd be like, oh, can I have like two weeks
two days off in the middle of the season just
to watch some English important things. Yeah, it's a it's
a personal issue that I that I need to return
to it just to be laughing as Brigle falls over
as he tries to run to first base as fast.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
As he can.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
William, it's it's been an absolute pleasure to have a
chat with you, obviously, kind of like this season is
going to be hopefully amazing for you and for all
of your players. This is the time normally where we
would be invite our guests to say where they can
find them online and stuff like that, but that's not
quite the your forte.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
We should be watching Greenville.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
Drive with.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Renewed or new new eyes to basically see how they're doing.
I feel a lot of British fans watched seahows saw
how Salem was doing, even though it wasn't necessarily the
team that we supported as a whole, And now we
will switch to Greenville to be our next team to support.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Very kind, very kind.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
So yes, as always, listeners, you can find more from
us on Batflips, Underscore Nerds on Twitter and batflops and
nerds dot com. And if you were listening to this,
you do now know that you can watch these videos
on YouTube, so if you wanted to see me and
my resplendent GB jersey from the twenty sixteen World Baseball
(46:58):
Classic then or you can you can do so. I
imagine Liam's one is probably kept somewhere very safe.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt, treasured cool.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Cheers Liam, Thank you very much for your time and listeners.
I hope you have enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
Thanks Russell
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