Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello and welcome to Batlips and Nerds, the baseball podcast
with a British twist. I am your host this evening
for Russell Easam and I am in person with the
amazing Ben Carter.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Ben.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
How are we doing? I'm very good us.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
This is a bit weird for us to be sat
here chatting in person and not over a video screen,
but it's very exciting first event of the year to
come watch baseball fellow fans, so no looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yes, and as Ben semi alluded to there, the reason
why we are here in person is because we are
down at Moonshoot, which is in the Westfields in London,
to have the first MLB clubhouse event of the year.
The event being put on by Europe and Week Clubhouse
and ourselves to try and get people to come down
and watch baseball together and build that community of people
(01:04):
who know that other people of baseball in this country.
Because if it wasn't for things like this, I wouldn't
have known the Backflipsky Nerds existed.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, it's the main place that we've met everyone basically,
isn't It's always funny of these relationships started.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
What all of them did for me anyway.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Online you know, you write stuff or hop on the
podcast and meet people, but it's nice to actually have
a chance to see them in real life, have a beer,
watch a game, banter about whatever's going on in the world.
So yeah, no, it's nice to be be all back
together for Opening weekend and get a chance to catch up.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So we've had three days of baseball when I don't
know where your attention has been. Has it been a
side that now plays in a short porch that isn't
Yankee Stadium. Have you been watching a broad, broader set
of games beyond just what happens at the Steinbrenner Arena.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I've not been watching a ton of the games.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Actually, we went together on Opening Day, so I watched
them of the baseball there with you, which was that
was good fun, some really interesting, exciting games at nights,
and some closes looking a little bit shake as we discussed,
that was fun. I didn't watch much Friday or Saturday.
I saw the highlights of the Ray's Rockies game. We
were discussing a little bit earlier. Last night's game was
was really funny because the Rockies gave up. I think
(02:11):
it was like twelve hits, five walks, an Tenia Sindetela
had one of the strangest pitching lines you'll ever see,
and yet the Rockies managed to win two to one
on the back of some amazing defense, which is worth
looking up. But that was my first taste of seeing
some action from Steinbrenner Field, which is a bit.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Still it doesn't feel like a Major League park when
you see it on TV. But no, I've been trying
to keep across all the games that are taking place,
watching the highlights, keeping up with it. It has been
a real over day of baseball, but you know, missed
it after the long winter, I believe.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Obviously we watched those games on Friday. I watched a
little bit more on Friday night, and then last night
I was with my partner and her housemates and know,
they permitted me to put on the baseball while we
were chatting and having a good evening. So we put
on the first game, which was the Brewers Yankees match,
and yeah, suffice to say, two or three of them
(03:00):
were really questioning what's normal about baseball because it was
like home run, home run, home run, and they were like,
is this normal? And me and my Barner Brenan were
just like, yeah, no, that's not really normal. I think
I don't think anybody would have said that would have happened.
I think having the different lead of hitters going like
back to back going hitting home runs, I will hold
(03:23):
my head up and I think, like quite a few people,
I was lively and probably loudly questioning Austin Wills as
a lead off hitter just as he smacked that home
run on Thursday night.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, that was a great moment Russell berating the Yankees
putting Austin Well's leadoff just to watch him then smash
one over the fence. And yeah, last night's Yankees game, Yeah,
first time in history, right that it was back to
back to back home runs in the first three pitchers
of the game. I think we're going to get onto
the other talking point from that from that game or
from the bats a little bit later on. But yeah,
poorn Ester Cortez, that was not a nice reintroduction to
(03:56):
the stadium in his first start as a brewer.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
That was that was brutal to watch. So yeah, good
to have baseball back.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
I think we're gonna we're gonna grab George maybe now
of MLBUK Clubhouse. Maybe talk to him a little bit
about what we're doing here and what those guys have
got planned for the rest of the season.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I'm going to cleverly tilt our GoPro and introduce him.
He's live, George.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Thank you for I'm going to give you this mic
and then maybe we'll wen chare it a little bit.
But I guess we've just been mentioned that we're here
first event of the year. Nicely everyone in person again,
how are you doing? What does it mean to be
back with people watching baseball again?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Firstly, thanks for having me on here and it's it's
brilliant to be back.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
I think we will miss baseball Junior off season as always,
and the chance to enjoy it in public and with
these fans that we've known and grown to love over
the years, and this whole experience as a shared community
is wonderful and I think we're just looking to grow
that year on the year, and I'm excited about the
whole revamp. Obviously we've got the NIBUK Clubhouse and I'll
(04:52):
side you guys with the revamp backflips and under the
europe Fan Network. I think the future is very exciting.
I really can't wait to see the future holds this year.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Brilliant.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Yeah, I feel people have seen on Socialist the rebrand obviously,
we also now have shining new logos and colors and everything,
which is very exciting. As you say, what what does
it mean for you guys as far as what's like
changing in terms of your approach this year, What are
you going to be doing differently? What can fans come
to expect from the new you know, MLBUK Clubhouse.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
I think it's just more about understanding that there are
you know, there's a very wide kind of fan base
out there, and we're trying to appeal to everyone in
a way which makes sense.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Everyone's difficult because you've got existing.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Fans who don't want to be pandered to, like is
if they've never watched the game before, and you've got
new fans who really are coming absolutely fresh to the sport,
and we you know, we can't stress us enough. We've
always been looking to get these people on board and
get them into this community and show how welcoming it is.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
So I think in terms of the.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Rebrand, it's just it just sounds cliched and a bit
business jogony, but it's just be more approachable and to
be more clear in terms of like who we are
what we are, uh And I think that's going to
become more and more apparent over the course of this season.
Our goal, as we've always stress this, is to have
events not just in London but around the whole of
the UK because it's it's MLB UK clubhouse for a reason.
(06:06):
It's it really is a movement and the more we
can get people to understand that and buy into it,
the more everyone everyone knows gonna benefit from it. Because
it's a wonderful sport. We're always at pains to stress
that it will. We welcome fans of all thirty teams
or fans of no teams. You know, if you just
like the sport but you don't actually even have a team,
you're more absolutely welcome to come. It's not it's not
a close It's never ever been a closed shop, and
(06:26):
that's exactly what we want to try and emphasize with
the with the rebrand and the kind of freshness with it.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, I think there's a brilliant sentiment to go with
It's something that I have found coming into baseball in
playing either the sport or being kind of that fandom
is that it's been generally been a great like open
environment where pretty much anybody you come in you can
be like there's there's no gatekeeping here, there's no we're
not one of that. Like we all want you to
love the sport that we love, so please do if
you find the opportunity in the future to come down
(06:52):
to one of these events. Maybe jumping the gun slightly,
but I think kind of there has been another location
outside of London kind of decided as what we'll try
and do with what I think are going to be
attempts at kind of like monthly events now throughout the
rest of the year.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
George definitely, I think, I mean that's for us is
really the priority.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
I think we I don't want to let the cat
out the bag too much, but I think in terms
of from em and m or b UK clubhouse side
of things, we're looking to actually get a couple of
other people.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Involved on board with with our group.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
So if you're listening and think that that's something which
would be an attractive option to you in terms of
you know, helping us do what we do on social media,
staying active on there and kind of being in touch
with the community of baseball, of MLB fans in the UK.
You know, by it means drop us a DM on
any any social media platform that we're on. We're going
to look to expand to other platforms like Blue Sky,
(07:44):
et cetera as well this year, So don't feel like
you're limited to Twitter or Instagram or any whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
We're going to be out there. We're going to be
active and we're going to look to expand.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
So I think working with you guys for us is
very very important as well, because we cover kind of
like different sides of the same coin.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
We deal with the sort of community side of it
as we always have.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
And then you've got bat Flips who are very much
involved with like grassroots baseball with the statistical and numerical
side of baseball, and I think it marries up really
well because everyone enjoys baseball in their own different ways
and we kind of have that perfect blend.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
So I'm really really excited for what this year's got
in store for us.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Likewise, I mean, it's funny we obviously have been We've
known you guys for so long now that these defens
that have happened in the past, and yeah, I mean
we met on quite a few occasions obviously going back
I think maybe pre London Series twenty nineteen even you know,
when these events are taking place on a smaller scale,
but it's cool for us and I'll be a little
bit close together in terms of how we're a bit more.
We're doing forward and trying to connect with fans. So yeah,
(08:39):
I would definitely encourage people for just com to check
these events out and get involved as much as they
can do. I guess for anyone who hasn't been down
to an event before thinking about coming along, what can
they expect when they come down to someone like Moonshot
and want to see a game of some fans?
Speaker 5 (08:52):
I think, firstly, as I said before, a welcoming atmosphere,
we always myself and Nick, who you hopefully will know
from online if you're listening to this also runs the
Early Angels UK and what we focus on every time
at these events is to make sure that we're approaching
people who we can tell are new at the events
that we've never seen before. Get to know them, get
(09:12):
to speak to them, see what their connection is with baseball,
what they enjoy and try and you know, really understand
how this community works, because I think it's safe to
say that fans in the UK frame will be are
slightly different from fans that perhaps in America. Obviously you're
gonna get a lot of expats here, but if you're
talking about specifically British fans, everyone enjoys the game in
a slightly different way. And that's the same if you're
(09:32):
going to the Far East, you looking at Japan and Career.
Everyone's got their own kind of fan character and the
fact and the way that they enjoy it. So it's
it's very very important to us to try and reach
out to everyone and make sure that we understand what
those nuances are.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Brilliant. Yeah, I mean it was funny when we got here.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
It was myself obviously in my Rocky jersey, the people
watching can see and a Raised fan came in next
so literally as all thirty teams represented here and we
were able to get Raised Rockies straight onto the TV
to watch first up. So look, they'll be fans from
every team here. There'll be games on all the TVs.
It is good fun, nice chat baseball through with with
fellow nerds and fellow backflip enthusiasts, so so No, definitely
(10:07):
recommend it for the Kambia Shane get you want to
not talk a little bit about the Astros, George, How
are you feeling about the season upcoming?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
How is Astros fans uk going?
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Tell us a little bit about twenty twenty five in
the Astros world.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, a lot of change once again for the Astros.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Obviously having traded Kyle Tucker away before he would hit
free agency at the end of this year, and having
lost Alex Bregman in free agency, a very different feel
to the Astros. But honestly, and I know I am
guilty of being slightly over positive at times in general
when it comes to the Astros, but I genuinely have
just a bit but I do have. I do have
(10:43):
a genuine level of optimism for this team. I don't
know how far they can go, but in terms of
the actual makeup of this team, I think having Eas
at Parade's third base is is looking like a really
good acquisition, even though he doors because he's taking a
lot of pictures. One of the worst things for us
last season was that we became obsessed with this ultra
aggressive mindset of the plate, and there's so many, so
many games where we'd be you know, five to seven pitchers,
(11:06):
eight pitchers, three up, three down and putting the pilot
of the pressure back onto our pitchers. And it was
a miracle last season that we were able to even
win the division considering the volume of pitching injuries that
we had and the makeshift kind of rotation that we
put together. Was it was actually an incredible job we
did after a disastrous first six weeks. In terms of
this year, very excited about the team. I think having
won that first series against the Mets was very important
(11:26):
for us.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Struggles at home.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Still not quite hitting yet, but obviously it's very very
early doors in the season.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I think there's that that will come.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
But yeah, good to see how two V not bothered
by the switch to left field in terms of his
actual hitting.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Lady got five hits in that first series.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Yeah, I'm just I'm just very very optimistic about the
fact that this team is going to grow together.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
There's reasons to be confident that.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Naturally, every team is guided and you know, dictated to
by the health of the players.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
If we have two or three key injuries, we could
be in big problems.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
But I think that's the same form almost any team
that's not the Dodgers or the Mets pretty much because
it's they've kind of have unlimited pockets.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
But it is what it is in terms of Astros fans. K.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Yeah, my content this season, yeah, really expanding it got
my my next Day recaps, which I've just revamped in
terms of according it the extra innings Next Day recap.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
So I checked that out.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
If you're an Astros fan listening, I'm also on YouTube now,
so give the YouTube channel a check. So yeah, pretty
much all platforms, whether it's Twitter, slash x, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
All of them really, you know, YouTube.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
So I'm very very excited to really push it, try
and grow this Astros fan base, which is what I'm
what I'm very passionate about in the UK and across
the world, and indeed with the fans back in America's well.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I'm hoping to get out to use to myself later
this season and looking forward to just interacting with everyone.
Heah no, that's all for George.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, Like the from our perspective, I think both the
BTM and the E team both had the Astros of
like eighty eight or eighty nine wins.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I think.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
So it's like I think they have a system that
we all trust that like the same people that are
still in place, like behind the scenes, the same place
is still in place kind of at those key levels
that you're like, you know what, you've aren't the trust
the same way that you kind of have with the
Rays where it's like you don't quite know how it's
going to fit all together exactly right now, but they've
aren't that trust. You have players like Framburg going who
(13:17):
going into his free agency, somebody who could could be
maybe looking at like a one hundred and like one
hundred and fifty two hundred million dollar contract out there
from what he's doing like through seven innings on opening day,
which is only like the one of two guys who
actually did that massive like innings before, where I think, like,
once again, like who knows, you could even see Lance
mccullors throw a pitch, which would which would be a
(13:38):
dream as someone.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, absolutely he's actually pitching today, I think for the
Space Cowboys in a rehab start. So yeah, I'm just
I feel for him so much. He's had such an
injury nightmare. I really really hope that this is the
year where he can actually finally get back out that
he hasn't pitched for us since that ward tier is
in twenty twenty two where he got actually destroyed by
the Phillies in game three.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
So yeah, we'll we'll see.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
But it's I agree with you that the thing for
us at the Astros is that, like I said, the
process and that and the whole kind of the pitching
lab and and all that is is I don't know
what they do, like the ins and outs of it,
but it's incredible and it is tried and tested, and
our overseas, you know, our international acquisitions are arguably second
to none. It's certainly in the top two or three
and made in MLB, and you know it, just when
(14:22):
you think, oh, the Astros are gonna that they've lost
another key piece, suddenly we've got someone coming from like
Dominican Republican Venezuela's like throwing ninety eight ninety nine, and
you're thinking, wow, okay, this is just another piece to
add to the puzzle. So I think, you know, it's
it's going to be an exciting division. I think that
the Rangers feel like they are prime to have a
bigger year than obviously what was very poor for them
last year. I've got to be honest with you, I'm
(14:44):
never gonna believe in the Mariners ever. I'm never ever
going to believe in them. They've got I think that
they are. That they're pitching is still even even with injuries,
it's still very, very, very good. And I I love
watching I love watching their pictures do what they do.
But their offense is just not there and I don't
I don't think that's going to change the season. And
then also the mindset. I think for them, it's a
(15:05):
bit like they've got a mental block which they can't
get over. And I mean, and then look at the
Angels again, I think the Angels have got so much
to prove in terms of to actually be taken seriously.
That's that's the key stumbling block for them, is that
I think they actually had quite a good offseason in
terms of picking up players that look like on paper
they should be fairly dependable and not they're not going
to be world beaters, but the ones that should actually
(15:26):
just get them through a season.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, but that's been the Angels of maybe in the
last five years, you've kind of thought the one year
deals have been The one year deals have never been
the problem. It's the how seemingly no prospect has come
through that system, and there's been good since Mike Trout.
I'll give Shanuel a bit of an opportunity, and it
doesn't help, like, I know, run down and gets a
lot of stick and and potentially like deservedly so, but
like it doesn't really help the like the guy that
(15:49):
you put bank on to be like that corner of
if I it's just like, yeah, you know what, Like
I kind of don't really like baseball and I'm injured.
Oh and I'm in it again. I'm injured again. Like no,
no aspersions against the man's character or whatever earlier and
stuff like that. But like there's a reason why the
(16:11):
like national fans will still love Strasbourg even though he
basically played for like I don't know, five innings after
that contract. Even then Rendona's done the same.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
I think we're I think we're the Angels, and it's
obviously it's old ground, but I think if I was
an Angles fan, I'd still be pulling my hair out
of the fact that they didn't cash in on a
tiny when they had the chance, because they could have
had such an incredible haul. They could have completely revamped
the farm and even the major league team if they
if they traded in before that deadline, before he got injured.
So yeah, I mean, I think for them it's a
(16:39):
case of like that was a slightly indoors moment. It's
going to take them years to to to properly get
to a point where they can actually build something. I
don't think this is I don't think this is the
year for them. I'll see what the a's I quite
I think that they might surprise a few this year.
They've got some good players there. Butler, he was smashing
us around last season, So yeah, I think that's uh.
And obviously watch it, you know, brentin see it's again
(17:01):
it's a he's gonna do damage. So I think that
they I don't know what their pitching is like this.
See I'll be honest with you, I haven't looked.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Into well it obviously that's where the question does come from.
But they picked up Severino through six clean, good innings
on that first experience, so we're really kind of just
wondering what's gonna happen in that stadium, kind of how
how that plays out. It generally plays as a pretty
aggressive stadium when it comes to stats in the Triple
A stands, So we've got to wait and see that,
(17:27):
Like are they are they right to concentrate maybe on
the hitting side so they can actually just hit it
out of that park, especially when it gets more, when
it gets warmer and warmer and warmer.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Think it's a final point for me in terms of
the Ale West one opportunity for whoever wins it to
try and do damage on the AL side because it's
so open, like it's the NL is A is a
war zone. There's there's so many great teams there, Whereas
on the Ale side, I think anyone could make it
to the World Series. You see of the teams that
are going to be sort of contending for the division typles,
I don't I really think that it's.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Gonna be anyone's game. Obviously not gonna prognosticate anything in.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
March, but I think I just think it's it's that's
going to be fascinating when when it comes to the crunch.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
But yeah, Astros wise, very positive.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Great to hear. We'll look, we'll we'll let you go.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I know you've got other things to be to be
doing here, but thank you for joining us. And yeah,
for everyone who obviously is listening to George, make sure
you follow not just ashos fans UK but MLBUK Clubhousese
guys are doing great work setting up events like this
making it all happen.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Good luck to the shows this year, George.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Hope people have you on a little bit later in
the season and we can see see how those prognostications
are getting on.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But yeah, we'll catch up with you later.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
So I guess other than the Astros and the opening weekend,
there are a few other talking points who are going
to get to about what's going on in the world
of baseball. And I feel like the big talking point,
especially after the offensive barrage last night and the Yankees game,
were were those funny shape bats. And as you were
sitting here, I saw it come up on the on
the screen about the like newly designed bats and what's
going on here. I guess for anyone that's missed it,
it came out on the broadcast last night that a
(18:53):
few of the Yankees players, based on some research time
by their analytics department, have now got bats that have
got a barrel much closer to a larger barrel, much
closer to their hands than towards the end of the bats.
So it makes it look a little bit funny where
it kind of goes out and then back in towards
the bottom of the bat. But well, their early results
are that those bats seem to work well, because yeah,
they hit a team record nine home runs last night.
(19:13):
I think it's Volpi and Chisholm with the two that
had the most pronounced differences, and how their bats looked
like both those guys went deep. Russell has been a
bit of outcry about should it be allowed? Is it
within the rules? The answer to that is yes. But
you know, is this good? Is this good for baseball?
Is this bad for baseball? We're going to see every
team starting to use these bats? Is it all much
(19:34):
about nothing? What do you think about the new bats?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, it's it's a weird one because it's like I
find that baseball in a lot of regards is very
analytically driven and it's very future forward. It's really kind
of like working and what it does. But on some
base things they do almost nothing like we think of
all the analytics we've had in baseball. It took basically
until like the naudies of people to actually seed like
(19:57):
he you know, we're just going to stand in like
the same even defensive positions all the time, where you're
like cricket and it's obviously they've never maybe had set
fielding positions, but you move them literally like all the
time when you do that. And I don't want to
pull the comparison once again to cricket, but like so
many guys have different bats bat shapes in cricket, and
I know it from the from the baseball side, generally
(20:19):
we have you have sizes, you have ones that are
kind of like a little bit loaded more to the end,
a little bit more of like an even stuff. This
the kind of like the the point is that we're
seeing is this pronounced kind of tapering out and then
back in, which is what people haven't seen. But it's
like it's one of those weird ones where it's sure
to me sometimes I'm like, surely somebody thought about this.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Seems remarkably simple that no one would have thought to
do this earlier, Right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Think it's one of those things where like in my
head I equate it to something like the seam shifted wake,
which for those who don't get it, it's effectively when
you throw a curple or an off speed pitch and
you basically keep the seam rotating like on the side
or on the axis on the because you've got that
scene permanently there, it actually will move or deviate more
(21:05):
than you think because the seam actually breaks up cuts
up the air differently, and that's what gives you that rotation.
And you're like, well, in cricket, pretty much you spend
that whole entire time scuffing one side of the ball
to do exactly that sort of thing. And baseball they've
got it to the point where you knew that, like
you were not allowed to scuff the ball. People who
did scuff the ball deliberately got done in trouble. But
people didn't think about, oh, yeah, but what happens if
(21:26):
I just rotate the ball and keep the seam there
Like that seemingly took until the point that we had
SlowMo cameras for people to kind of work that out.
There's something to do. I imagine there are people over time
who are thrown pictures like that. We've just not been aware.
That's why they were so good. This once again seems
one of those things. It just seems so fundamentally, like
why is everybody using exactly the same bats? It seems dumb,
(21:47):
But then it also seems that like it's a really
sensible thing for an organization the size of the Yankees.
This is the thing that they should be doing the
same thing with that impact wise, It's kind of it's
so down to the badness because so many of these
guys have been swinging the same bats or the same
weighted bats for probably twenty years, and I don't know
about you just playing. Like in the UK, I swung
(22:09):
a bat for like two years. It broke, and I
tried to swing other bats. I was awful. Really, Like
I really I really struggled to swing like a different
bat to the one that I basically spent like my
first two years playing. Is took me like probably like
about four or five games before I then just like
just to adjust to a different bat because it just
the weight was slightly different, so like and then you
(22:30):
get in your head and so I just don't know. Obviously,
these are these are premium sports stars, not single A players.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
In the United States, it.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Is an adjustment and if it's an adjustment where they've gone. Actually,
you don't need to make the adjustment because you're so
good at doing the swing, but you just get yourself
jammed up a little bit on the inside. So you
know what you do. You let's move the bat and
kind of make it work. So who knows.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Yeah, I think it's a good thing. Honestly.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
I think a lot of the advance and lists or
changes in development in the last few years have favored pitchers,
and I think there's been a lot of discussion around
things like tunneling, things like spin rate. Obviously, velo has
been known for a while, but all this stuff that's
been relatively new to the world of baseball that has
helped us understand what makes pictures effective and how.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
They can become more effect going forward.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
And it feels that we maybe haven't had quite the
same advances in the world of hitting. You know, exit
vilo we understand a lot better now and launch angle
and things like that. There obviously are still metrics that
we know are important, but I think in terms of
how we improve those, the world of baseball has found
that more difficult to get right compared to pitching. So
I think any advancement like this, we're actually now we're
going to see hitters, you know, maybe try.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
And them not paying for a bit, or just have
another option. I suppose to make pictures.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Think a little bit more is great, And I don't
think this is the kind of thing where we're going
to see every single hitter using these bats going forward.
It's it's obviously some of the identify for certain hitters
where they were getting jam more often than not. Let's
move that barrel up a little bit and make it work,
and maybe that will now need to sort a bit
of a cat and mouse sort of how to pitches
the just how the hitters ajust and it will just.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Make the game more interesting. I think.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
So, Look, if the Yankees go out tonight and score
fifteen more runs and on eight more home runs, we
might look back on this and say, actually, is it
such a good thing.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
But I don't see the effect being that pronounced.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I think that was probably more nessa Cortes serving up
delicious place of meatballs than anything to do with with
the bats themselves. Hey, it's given us a talking points
mean to talk about. I'll be interested to see in
the next couple of weeks whether more players, more teams
start to pick up on those bats and follow follow sleep.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, I think I've seen a few pieces. I think
Trevor Plue puts something out saying that, as far as
he is aware, there are actually quite a few guys
that are thinking of using these really Okay, So it's
not something that I think is it's not just the Yankees.
It may have been like a hitting like development, like
person or whatever that's kind of likes has brought this
idea and kind of the Yankees maybe organization have taken
(24:49):
it on board and gone yes, whereas maybe some other
areas or other teams have gone like no, just get
better with the normal bat bell end instead of like
coming here with this fancy, weird butt that no one
thinks you can use properly.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Interesting.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well that was the main obviously talking
fro him from last night, or was there anything else
storyline wise that you've seen from the weekend. I think
one thing I noticed yesterday from the games was Jeff
Conine no Griffin Conine making an outrageous leaping catch over
the wall for the Mammi Marlins. I don't think they're
going to get much shut out on our podcast this year,
So shout out to Griffin for an early catch of
(25:20):
the Year candidate that saved the game for them that they
ended up winning an extra innings. He obviously is the
son of Jeff Conine, which is a nice like parallel,
I suppose, and that he had a great defensive played
twenty years ago and the NLCS that won them that
division series or championship series, and then his son then
having an awesome play obviously twenty two years on is
a very nice cool story. And then I was saying
to you, just Foy started recording, there's a cool work
(25:42):
in scoring at the end of that game that you
put me in my place saying that's just the way
it's meant to be. But it was a tie game basis,
loaded bottom of the inning in the eleventh I think,
so extra innings. Obviously one run ends the game wins
it for the Marlins.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
But there was.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
A ground rule double that was hit, which obviously is
an automatic two basis, So I thought, oh, would that
men mean that the Marlins get two runs and they
would win, you know whatever, it was six to four
rather than five to four. But actually no, they just
get the one run even though it was a groundruled out,
so it goes in the books as a double, but
only as one RBI, only as one run scoring, which
is just the most nerdy, boring thing I can ever
(26:16):
talk about.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
But I thought it was interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, No, it's the glorious ones where you kind
of the obviously normally if you get the home run
is basically your way of kind of like getting getting ahead. Further,
the intricacies of knowing these rules comes from playing single
a baseball in the UK, where you have five run limits,
so you know of like the different ways that you
can potentially score more to we get over that you
get more than five runs, because you've got to know
(26:38):
them because if it happens, you've got to be like,
I want my eight runs, not my five run. Yeah's
a couple of things for me to talk about. I
think it would be remiss if we didn't talk about
Randy's batspike. After that potentially kind of allay up there
for bat flip, maybe a spikes backflips. I think we
kind of have to include them.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Said, it's kind of like the year.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah, it's kind of like a bat flip is effectively
just doing something after you've TOPPD top something. So yeah,
that was Randy being being Randy, making himself, making himself
down at stage. I think obviously that he didn't have
the greatest of years last year with with Sam Babe
before he went over to Seattle, and he's one of
those guys that runs hot and cold, and if he
(27:18):
runs hot, he's amazing. We all remember like that with
the talks of like Randy being the new like mister
October or whatever. I remember being out there in the
WBC and watch Randy just kind of like being Randy
and just being like, yeah, I am the man like
everything that's going to want. So he is just electric
entertainment to watch, kind of like what that happens, and
hopefully can provide some of those poor Seattle pictures with
(27:41):
some run support.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I mean, I think if if he has a good year,
that's going to go a long way towards making them competitive.
I know we obviously mentioned with George earlier we kind
of just ruled them out automatically now just based on
the years of getting close but not close enough. But
if if he can have a big year, if if
Julio Rodriguez have a big year, I think he has
two steals yesterday, Like he looks healthy and fit and
fighting like that, you can start to sort of squint
and see maybe a half decent lineup in there, which
(28:03):
always been their issue. So yeah, that's that's a promising
sign for Seattle in the early going. I Rokie Soasaki,
I was gonna mention obviously struggled last night and his
Dodger Stadium debut. I think it was he Paul in
the second inning right and gave up four or five
wall shrugg with his control.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
I don't think there's anything to worry about long term there.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
I think we saw Yamamoto shrug a little bit to
start the year last year for Dodgers as well. It
may just be getting up to speed with with the
swing of things to start the season. I mean they
won anyway, right, they're still unbeaten the season we had
the Mookie BET's walk off. The Dodgers look look a
force to be reckoned with. So yeah, no concerns there.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
No.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I think the some people may not know is that
the actually the the MPB ball and the NBB ball
is slightly different. I mean it's like a US like
it does feel different. So obviously he's had spring training
and it got through that. But seeing kind of what
Yamamoto did, maybe even even thinking back to Otani when
he was first pitching, it took them all a little
bit of time to get accustomed to kind of like
(28:59):
what's exactly going on? And yeah, maybe it is then
for them it's something that's not that used to in
a while, so it gets a bit of bright lights.
But I don't really have any concerns of him kind
of like get getting it on, Like I think he's
he's a phenomenal guy and and we'll work it out sooner,
sooner rather than later.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
I think some teams might be worried, though, is about
what they're what their closers are going to do. I
think we saw some pre shocking performances across the board
from some closers there opening night or class A. Like
opening night, I was just like, oh, here we go,
like three nail down, get it back to four to three,
like Kate Smith boom one up like faces the minimum
(29:36):
with two strikeouts. Heron comes in faces the minimum, two strikeheads, Goddess,
doesn't give up a hit, walks a couple, but still
gets through the inning. And then it was Class A
was just double single. I looked back on it and
I was like, actually, like two of those pitches were
hit like like almost like half a foot off the homes.
So it's like they're not like meetple pitches, not people
(29:57):
pictures that were located. Well, but we saw Devin Williams,
we already seen Josh Hader. I think presidentally last night
was very lucky to get out.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Of his as he's using that job sooner than later,
based on how last night when yeah, he's looking shaky.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Saved by either a great play from Dansby Swanson or.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Some terrible play.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, Amison, Yeah, I can't quite work out which way
it is. I think a bit of both. I think, yeah,
the pump bake is just like, are you really like
going to go that early? They feel something that I
would expect in lower league British and how we didn't
get back to do that. So yeah, that's kind of
like where you're at then. Otherwise, yeah, I think we're
(30:35):
just at this. My position is, are any team going
to have more wins than the Dodgers at any point
this season? In the fact that they are two games
ahead of everybody else and their rest days quite a
while until they get back and they are four and oh,
do you think that anybody will ever have a better
record than the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
It's not like every year we see a team go
like twenty two and eight to start the season or
something crazy, and maybe that's the Dodgers this year, to
your point, and so no one ever does. But I
feel like in this next month, maybe someone has a
hot start and can overtake them, if only briefly.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
But I mean, yeah, I think the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
I know, I said in our eighteen predictions that I
thought the Braves might out do them for best record
in baseball. But look, the Dodgers are going to win
a whole heap of games. They're going to be a
regular team. And this is even with yeah, Bets obviously
still recovering from from his illness, and with Freeman maybe
still being slightly hobbled, and the rotation not even putting
it all together yet.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
So yeah, they're they're a frightening proposition.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
I mean, Tommy Edmund's gonna be an MVP, I guess
based on the first three games of the thirty days
of the season. So yeah, look, they're going to be
a wagon again, but we'll see how the next month goes.
I'm sure someone will will come out and give them
a run for their money at some point.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, I think that's probably the case. But it's a
fun hypothetical to think that the Dodgers will never overtaken, never,
never be overtaken for the entire season.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Well, we should probably go and be social ball and
chat with some the other people here at this event,
but that was good for us to have a little
bit of a chat in person in about baseball.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Rare that we get to do.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
So so yeah, thanks for Russell for taking us time
to chat with us, or with me, i should say,
And obviously big thanks to George for hopping on and
talking us through what we're doing here and what his
team's doing this year as part of their community efforts.
And obviously also a little bit about the Astros. And yeah,
I'll let you do that. Do the outro, but good
to chat.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, write anything then, sorry, writing anything anything?
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Oh God, here we go. Actually I do mean to
write more.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
There's no point even saying it, but Gav I'm I'm
kind of working on it.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
At some point.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
We saw him on Thursday and he was brating me
if for not getting more done for the website. So
I'm gonna pull my finger out at some point.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
You I always like get stuck between ideas, which is
always the fun side of doing animals stuff. You kind
of end up like halfway through something and then you
go like, oh, something else looks interesting, and you get
the oop piece of candy. MLB is sorty good with
the oop piece of candy.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
When it comes to statistics, there's new stuff this year,
isn't there that they've they've got information on?
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Was it?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
They're like where batters are in the batter's box and
then where they like step towards when they're swinging.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I don't really know how.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That would make for for analystical content, but I'm sure
if anyone can find a way, probably probably you can.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yeah, it says once you get the large enough simple size,
you can start to look through it some of the stuff.
Obviously last year we've got the bat speed stuff, which
is some very interesting stuff that came out of that.
Knowing that like MLB players choke it up, but choke
it up basically is like two miles an hour slower. Really,
it goes from like averaging like seventy one miles an
hour to averaging sixty nine miles an hour. So like,
if you think that they do have a slightly different
like standpoints as well, sometimes a few people are just
(33:24):
done that, but like, honestly, more more it's they change
their swing like far more depending on certain pitchures than
they do on the count.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Interesting, but there we go plenty to get our teeth
into nerd wise, and I'm sure we back next week
to talk through any other storylines in the first week
of baseball. But yeah, let's go go chat with some
of the folks here.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, let's go watch some baseball.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Sounds good, Go Rockies, go Guardians.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
All right, thank you very much, boys and girls for
listening to us. As always, you can find us at Batflips,
Underscore Nerds on X and Batflips and Nerds on YouTube
and ig. We will be speaking to you soon, probably
with a full review of the first week of the season.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Cheers, bye,