00:00Now, but right now, it's time, brought to you by Reliant Air Conditioning for some baseball doggets.
00:09Now, I want to talk about this. This timing is great.
00:13I have an update on it, too, so that's good.
00:14Oh, okay. So, I wanted to talk about, specifically, Jacob DeGrom may be excelling because of the ABS.
00:23Can you describe to everybody at the tail end of the last segment and in the break,
00:28kind of one of the drills that we were watching transpire in front of us?
00:32Okay, so the drill that they were running out here, we were trying to figure out what exactly they were
00:36doing,
00:36and I was like, it just looks like some live catcher drills.
00:39But then we started noticing, because they didn't have an actual live pitcher out on the field.
00:42They had a coach who was putting it in the pitch machine, and he was letting it throw the balls
00:47and strikes.
00:48And I didn't notice until late. I started hearing the catchers calling them balls or strikes.
00:54They were saying it was out loud.
00:55And then everybody would turn and look up at the ABS on the board out in left field.
01:01And so, I was like, okay, I've got an idea of what this is. Let me confirm.
01:04Reached out to some people, Kevin, and they were working on challenging the system, challenging balls and strikes.
01:10So, get your catcher comfortable with where he knows the strike zone should be, especially within the ABS.
01:16And if you need to make that call, you have to trust the catcher first.
01:20Reached. You know, every pitcher probably wants it. He's like, nope, call that one. Challenge it.
01:25Every pitcher probably wants it.
01:26And you don't have that freedom.
01:27And so...
01:28Like every NBA player doing the circle every time you're like...
01:31Yeah, exactly. Oh my God. And you have to trust the player, right?
01:33You have to be like, well, you know, that's my star player. I guess I've got to give him...
01:36Or it's the third play of the game.
01:38And I'm like, we're good.
01:39We can't use that. So, every manager needs to know that he can trust his catchers with their strike zone.
01:45And so, they are legitimately working to understand training themselves.
01:51That's what spring training is about, Kevin.
01:53Training themselves on where the strike zone is.
01:55And they were pretty damn accurate based on what I was seeing and hearing.
01:59Well, and so this is one of the things that I was fascinated specifically with the Rangers then.
02:04The top of the zone is consistently the most difficult to get, like, a day-to-day-to-day reading
02:13from different umpires.
02:15Oh, yeah. The consensus on it is very all over the place.
02:19Or, if you want to just cut right to the chase from Ryan Jeffers, the Twins catcher,
02:28maybe in general it's just that umpires aren't very good at calling the top of the zone.
02:32They're worse calling the top than they are the bottom.
02:35So, the Athletic put out an article kind of supposing that, does that mean if you like to go high,
02:42especially high with your fastballs, that the ABS could be better off?
02:47And so, they essentially put together, like, a control metric for high fastballs.
02:54And who's the best at, like, consistently getting that top of the strike zone on the edge kind of fastball?
03:02I want it to be Jack Leiter, honestly.
03:03Well, that would be fantastic.
03:06But they put Jacob deGrom at 10th on the list.
03:09And so, I know we all felt really good about what Jacob deGrom was doing last year.
03:14I'm sure he would be, like, got to cut down on the home runs.
03:17But I like the idea that maybe, especially in clutch situations, he would be a little bit more comfortable
03:24challenging fastball a little at the high end of the zone, knowing that the ABS might be there
03:30to bail out what he thought was otherwise a poor call.
03:33Okay.
03:34I mean, yeah, dude.
03:35Whenever you watch, for me, Leiter, he loves the high fastball.
03:41Sure.
03:41Like, he's been very – he felt like that was his confidence, go up high for strike three, was his
03:49goal.
03:50Then he got up here and was like, oh, yeah, a lot of these guys can hit that high fastball,
03:53too.
03:53But it's more – it's used a lot of times for – we discussed it with Maddox.
03:59The approach was high.
04:00You're using that to offset the eyes.
04:03Well, deGrom's like, no, I'm using it to strike the next guy out because I've been offsetting their eyes the
04:07whole time.
04:08I know where the strike zone is up high.
04:11But that system, as you pointed out last week, where it's a .10.
04:16Yes, yeah.
04:16The size of a coin.
04:17Yeah, good for him that I guess if he can get a strike there, I need to throw it a
04:22little lower.
04:22I love that concept.
04:24And that's the thing about deGrom's pitching style, dude.
04:27Like, it's so – it's still high velocity.
04:30You know, his slider's high velocity.
04:32His pitches still come in and you're like, it's so – the movement's so nasty on it
04:37that when he decides to go do something like that, it just – you're like, what am I supposed to
04:41do?
04:42So, hopefully he does get the benefits of this man.
04:45I hope it's a big change for him.
04:47Now, let's talk about a few more prospects in spring training.
04:51Now, prior to yesterday's game, I want to take you to the Orioles, Vance Honeycutt.
04:58He was the Orioles' first-round pick in 2020-24.
05:03Didn't really go well for him in 24 or 25, and he was like, look, last year was tough.
05:08It's a new year, new me.
05:10Thus far, going into yesterday's game, he only had three at-bats in spring training,
05:14and he had three home runs.
05:17Kind of feels like you should get him more at-bats, right?
05:19Yeah.
05:20Specifically, their manager was like, three hits, three homers?
05:22I like that.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Yeah, everybody will take that.
05:25Just cutting right to the chase.
05:26Yes.
05:27Now, speaking of three home runs, who is the prospect that we have talked about plenty
05:33across Major League Baseball this year?
05:36Oh, Monty Ferris.
05:38The current, not the mid-90s prospect, him and Donald Harris.
05:45Connor Griffin.
05:47Connor Griffin did, in fact, hit his third home run yesterday, so he continues to rock
05:54and roll as he goes along.
05:55Now, let's move over to, he's nuking the ball.
06:00He looks like he's, and he smashes that thing.
06:03He looks like he's going to be unbelievable.
06:05Don't mark that.
06:06And I really hope he breaks camp with the Pirates, because I would love to see how that goes.
06:11Now, are the Pirates becoming our second team?
06:13Yeah.
06:14Oh, for sure.
06:15Have we chosen the Pirates this year?
06:16Yeah, because I feel like their fans deserve it, because their ownership, although this
06:22offseason, their ownership did their version of breaking the bank or attempting to, I guess.
06:26But they could conceivably have the best pitcher in the game, and then they might have the best
06:33prospect in the last decade.
06:35Yeah.
06:35And he's a hitter, so, like, you want to see that, right?
06:39Yes.
06:40Now, for the Cardinals, they gave their manager a two-year extension while they're kind of in the
06:46midst of their rebuild, and we can talk about that if you want.
06:48But what I figured you'd rather talk about is their all-you-can-eat package that starts at the
06:53low, low price of $29 per ticket.
06:57Wow.
06:57With that, you can get bottomless sodas, hot dogs, chicken tenders, bratwurst, nachos,
07:03fries, popcorn, peanuts, chips, and ice cream, all for the low, low price of $29.
07:09That's insane.
07:10That really is insane.
07:12That's a great value right there, especially if you're going to the stadium to look to
07:15splurge like that.
07:16Like, if you're like, you know what?
07:17Sure.
07:17I'm going to starve all week, but at the end of this week, I'm going to get my $30 worth.
07:22That's your cheat day.
07:22Yeah, I'm going to maximize this $30, max it out.
07:26I love that idea.
07:27What percentage of people, and I know you've had friends like this, I've had friends like
07:30this, their goal is to bankrupt the company that's doing the all-you-can-eat?
07:35How many people did you know when you would go to CC's and they're like, I'm going to
07:38put a dent in their profits today?
07:40Oh, yeah.
07:40No, absolutely.
07:41I remember in middle school, we're coming back from band trip, some band UIL or something
07:48like that.
07:48That makes sense.
07:49And we had the tuba players and trumpet players were like, hey, we're going to make sure we
07:55make this place sorry that they did it today.
07:57And I'm pretty sure there were about four dudes there that ate one pizza by themselves, at
08:02least one.
08:03And then they were just stacking the plates.
08:06So, yeah, man, you kind of want to do something like that.
08:08You want to get your money's worth.
08:09Yeah.
08:09And obviously, CC's always tried to deter you by cutting thinner slices.
08:13And you're like, that's an eight-sliced pizza.
08:15Don't be giving me this 12 crap.
08:18All right.
08:19Now, since we brought up the Pirates, I want to tell you a story about Paul Skeens that
08:23I learned from MLB.com.
08:25If I told you that Paul Skeens, when he was on Team USA's under-12 squad, threw a no-hitter,
08:33would that really surprise you that much?
08:34All right.
08:35Would it surprise you, though, if I told you he was the catcher for a no-hitter that was
08:40thrown by Mason Wynn and Pete Crow Armstrong?
08:44I'm sorry, what?
08:45They were all teammates on this U-12 squad, and they were reminiscing about it, and they
08:52were like, oh, yeah, no, that definitely happened.
08:54And then let's take it a step further.
08:56Paul Skeens was better known as being a catcher because he didn't start pitching until high
09:02school, and he got more college offers as a catcher than he did to be a pitcher.
09:07You know, that makes a lot of sense about how his velocity, A, your best athlete is your
09:13shortstop, okay?
09:15Your fastest dude is your center fielder.
09:17The dude who knows the game and has, like, the next best qualities is your catcher.
09:21Sure.
09:22That's the dude, especially if he can throw down to second.
09:24And can you imagine him throwing down to second?
09:27Don't steal on him.
09:28But it also explains...
09:29You're, like, halfway there.
09:30Yeah, exactly.
09:30It also explains his legs.
09:32Like, he's a weapon at catcher.
09:34But it explains his lower body and the regimen that he put himself through when he became
09:38a pitcher because your lower body is that important to pitching.
09:42And so he already had the foundation built, Kevin.
09:45This is brilliance on his part.
09:47So congratulations, like, back a decade to him, Pete Crowe Armstrong, and Mason Wynn on
09:54the combo no-hitter.
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