- 8 hours ago
Jared Sandler joined the GBAG Nation and broke down fatherhood, what to expect from Jacob deGrom this season, and how important this year is for Wyatt Langford. Sandler also discussed what a true breakout would mean for the Rangers, MacKenzie Gore, the pitching coach transition, and more.
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00:00on your home of the rangers 105.3 the fan we miss having you out here jared how are things
00:03back at
00:04the house guys i miss y'all but i've just been crushing a lot of ecs i know that's uh
00:10one of
00:10brought us a nice favorite places uh over in the preston royal area so i can't complain i just had
00:18some ec salmon doesn't get better than that well how's dad duty going on man you learn how to
00:23changing them diapers and stuff you know i'd say i'm like mediocre um my speed and efficiency has
00:31improved slightly i worry about fit aren't you the fit you're worried about the fit too much aren't
00:36you yeah yeah i am and i don't really know like i have a friend uh like they'll take off
00:42the diaper
00:43but have the new diaper like ready and it's like they do like three moves and then the new diaper's
00:48on i'll tell you what i don't lack i'm like a running back who has no problem like a fullback
00:53who has no problem like going right through the line to block some ray lewis like linebacker i don't
00:59care about the the poop like that doesn't bother me uh none of that like i i have a a
01:05deviated septum
01:06so it's not like i really smell like how bad it really smells anyway i'm just despite avoiding
01:12that complication i still find a way to be really mediocre at it so i i need to improve i'm
01:18i'm looking
01:18for some inspiration yeah there's something to the fit and then there's something to the
01:22intimidation factor because they're so tiny yeah you know and you're moving their their legs around
01:26and stuff and you don't want to hurt them uh so i feel your pain uh sans but i am
01:31excited to get
01:32your thoughts on jacob de grom who's going to make his spring debut tomorrow for the rangers against
01:38team brazil what's uh what's the outlook like compared to last year here for our ace
01:44yeah well you know i i'm glad you're not asking about team brazil uh don't really can't really
01:50give you i was going to ask you what do you feel about their starting 11 i thought i was
01:53going to
01:54tweet about their starting 11 yeah i'm sure we could all talk about like rivaldo and romario and
01:59ronaldo i don't know if any of them or kaka are they playing um hey yeah i i i think
02:06that you know
02:06with jacob de grom uh the the thought the hope is that hey what a great year last year for
02:12him to
02:13basically go the distance uh and you know be healthy and effective even if it maybe ran out of
02:21gas a little bit towards the end but you know the thought is that your first full year back from
02:25tommy john is just a building block year it's it's that next year where you've got that previous year
02:32uh you know 30 or so starts under your belt that you take a step forward that's a scary thing
02:37to
02:37think about because jacob de grom kind of you know until the last maybe few weeks was a legitimate
02:43cy young contender in the american league uh you know you just you you don't see him uh you don't
02:49see him give up a lot of you know frozen ropes because you know he doesn't throw a lot of
02:54meatballs
02:54it's tough to square him up uh and you know he had a little bit of a tater problem there
02:59in the
03:00the second half uh but you know you're not in a pickle at all when jacob de grom is uh
03:05on the
03:06mound you feel pretty strongly that hey this guy's going to give me a great chance to win and i
03:11think
03:11the hope and the thought is that you know he's going to be even better this upcoming year uh than
03:16he was this past year just in terms of maybe not like it's not like he's going to start throwing
03:20104 or anything but just be maybe more consistent and and maintain the sharpness of the stuff uh from
03:26start to finish i was thinking you were going to add another food item you went pickle and tater
03:31there so yeah so i'm texting with our our suspended friend zach wolchuk and i asked him for uh some
03:40words to drop in in this interview in his honor and i just dropped in all four in one sentence
03:45so i
03:45that's what i was wondering our buddy zach i knew you were doing something i knew you were up to
03:50some kind of bit you know i was just gonna ask you what were the other two i was thinking
03:55of food
03:55items so what what the other two words you got in well which one did you identify tater and uh
04:02pickle
04:02yeah okay yeah eric gavin any any guesses on the other two
04:10none come to mind jared that's okay uh meatball and frozen rope were the other two oh the meatball
04:17that's right the meatball wow okay so watch the meatball there mid-season form already jared
04:22chuck's thinking about food while i know i think in stomach pain only the woolly bully could pull
04:28something off like that do you think degrom could be even better than he was last year i mean let's
04:34talk cy young like there's some some elite arms in their prime here in the american league can you do
04:39it
04:40yeah i again you know i think typically and and you know not everyone responds the exact same way
04:47but typically uh you know you you come back from tommy john if it's in the middle of the season
04:53you
04:53know that the rest of that year is just sort of hey let's let's get a little bit of uh
04:57a little bit
04:58of experience back on the mound and then that first full year you know some guys don't go the full
05:04year
05:05you know they they shut it down in the middle they take a break or whatever uh and and they're
05:09still getting their sea legs under them i know it's over the course of an entire season but
05:13you know if you think about it it's been over a year but since they've pitched that level of of
05:18uh
05:18workload and so it's that next full season it's the second full season where you know people really
05:24kind of peg is the you know the the year that is representative of who that guy is and so
05:29if last
05:31year wasn't that and this year is supposed to be that for jacob de grom and he's able to you
05:36know
05:36dial it up a notch from where it was last year then he's absolutely a cy young contender now that
05:42doesn't mean it's going to happen that way it doesn't happen the same way for every pitcher but
05:47i think if you asked jacob last year he would tell you that really throughout the year he was still
05:52trying to rediscover and refine things he was you know maintaining that that level of endurance and
05:58stamina into the sixth and seventh innings and into august and september and maintaining a sharp
06:04slider when he gets to 80 pitches stuff that you know wouldn't be as much of a concern you think
06:09this year after building that up last year so if that's the case then look out but obviously you
06:14know there are no guarantees but there's a lot of data to suggest that you're the second full season
06:20back is is even better than the first full season back why langford was with us yesterday and he was
06:26electric as i'm sure you can imagine uh what do you think of this conversation going down about
06:33you know can he be a franchise player how how important of a year is this for him after being
06:38a collegiate guy like do we need to see like real superstar stuff from him this year or is is
06:43he still
06:43on the right trajectory for that well yeah i mean i i think he's still on the right trajectory i
06:48i guess
06:49the only reason why there might be some urgency is just that you know this is not a team of
06:55the
06:55future necessarily it's it's a team with a lot of veterans that wants to win now and uh you know
07:00he doesn't become a free agent until after the 20 29 years so it's not like he's you know you
07:05only
07:05have a few years left of control and perhaps the rangers will consider extending him to where that's
07:10not even a conversation but you know i guess the only reason why there might be urgency would be those
07:15two things you want to get the most out of them now but i mean he was a 2020 guy
07:19last year you know
07:2023 years old that's uh you know that's pretty impressive stuff and he took a step forward last
07:25year from the previous season uh do i think he's going to take another step forward absolutely you
07:30know another step forward you're looking at a borderline 30 30 guy you know i think it's tough
07:35to have those types of numbers and not be considered uh you know at least someone on track to be
07:41a
07:41franchise caliber type player uh but i i think that he can do even more than that and it's not
07:47just about
07:47the homers and the steals right and you look at the ops you know i think you're going to see
07:51a
07:51number that's in the mid 800s at minimum uh with just natural progression so yeah i i don't i you
07:59know i think if he took a step back that would obviously not make anyone feel good i think the
08:03key for me is hey let's keep this guy healthy you know he's playing through oblique injuries on both
08:07sides uh still able to produce to some degree but i think you look at the power and it seemed
08:12like when
08:12he was really coming back from the obliques and he dealt with it on both sides throughout the year
08:17that the power dropped a little bit in the aftermath of that i think if you keep those
08:21obliques healthy i absolutely think you got a guy who can be a 30 home run player and then
08:26depending on how aggressive he wants to be on the base and certainly the capability to steal 30 plus
08:30bags jared sandler with us here on the fan can see was kicking this thought experiment around the
08:35other day like if you could give a magic elixir of health to any one player yeah who would you
08:42i mean
08:42would it be a degron would it be one of these pitchers would you go with the seager would you
08:46want to
08:46see a younger guy like langford be able to play the full you know hypothetically 162 yeah i mean if
08:52i were to really break it down realistically i'm thinking hey i'm going to trust that the 23 year
08:58old why langford uh can stay healthy um i'm gonna i'm gonna give that to cory seager i mean if
09:04i get
09:04140 games out of cory seager uh and and you're also telling me he's healthy so he's not playing through
09:10stuff so he's not going to have his performance impacted by playing through some you know challenging
09:15conditions uh that that's a guy who you know we've seen he's one of the best hitters in major league
09:21baseball so i would i would take cory seager uh again i'm i'm considering that white langford's you
09:27know still in his early 20s so i'll roll the dice and he's he's able to stay healthy uh you
09:33know
09:33compared to some of these older guys now what do we need to know about cam colley uh who's really
09:39made his mark here early in spring training he's hitting the ball super hard the glove looks pretty
09:44nice saw make a couple of plays at third base yesterday uh what do we need to know about this
09:48fellow yeah uh you know so it is a third round pick back in 2021 i think out of high
09:57school uh barbers
09:58hill in texas so uh you know he's still young right he's not a uh uh you know he's not
10:04a huge
10:05guy uh i think he's like you know 5 10 or so uh but he's 22 years old he'll be
10:10i think he's 23
10:11uh now actually i think he'll play this entire year as a 23 year old i was looking it up
10:16the other day
10:16he spent last year in double a and you're a couple years younger than the average double a player
10:21and held his own you know he was he was pretty good in an ops just under 800 uh he's
10:26having a good
10:26spring and i think what that means is that he just kind of better puts himself uh on people's
10:31radars on the big league level i think you know organizationally it's not like you know cam colley
10:36was slipping through the cracks uh but you know he starts the season on the big league club that
10:41probably means you got some injuries and things aren't going great in that regard i'd expect him
10:45to start the year in triple a and then if he has a good year a good start to the
10:49year in triple a
10:49then he's absolutely someone who could be a candidate to uh jump up uh and and make his major league
10:54debut this year i think every year you know we we got to be careful because there are guys like
11:00cam colley who have really good springs and we think oh well he's not going to make the major league
11:03team
11:04but he'll be up there at some point but then you know they get hurt or then they struggle and
11:08all of
11:08a sudden you know the equity they built up in spring is diminished so you know he's going to have
11:13to keep
11:14it up when he goes to triple a round rock and faces that level of competition for the first time
11:19but you know he's young he's a guy who you know he's not i don't think he's a guy you
11:23build a team
11:23around but he's a guy who you mentioned he's got position versatility he can play middle infield
11:28and play center field uh you can obviously then move him elsewhere if needed but he's he's a good
11:33athlete and someone who uh you know could be a 30 plus stolen base guy at the major league level
11:39uh you know i i think he's probably a guy who could hit 20 or so home runs if his
11:44power continues to
11:45develop he's just a really impressive player and i think that being able to showcase that in arizona
11:50this spring is great for his confidence and hopefully he can take that to round drop to start the year
11:55and then if there's a need or when there's a need he comes up and helps fill a hole at
11:59the major league
12:00level jared when you were uh with you know the changing we've all kind of talked about managerial
12:08change here but now with no mike maddox and we've all kind of grown to love mike maddox and what
12:14he's done with stabs and you know we just we always trust mike maddox but kind of can you
12:19address with the change the pitching coach change and how that might be different with with no mike
12:26maddox here anymore yeah it's a great question brought us and it's tough to know for sure but
12:32what i'll tell you is this you know i think we talked about it throughout last season i know we
12:36talked about it when the rangers made a change of the hitting coach thought that you no longer just
12:41have like one hitting coach and one pitching coach you got departments right you got right you got a
12:46group and so you know i think what was great about mike maddox and jordan teagues and you know what
12:51they
12:51did last year is is uh you know they they kind of covered all the bases right i mean they
12:58really
12:58complemented each other well with their skill set and you know i think just like anything any team
13:03players have their guys right so you know i think there are probably some pitchers who uh you know they
13:08they they benefited from jordan teagues but mike maddox was their go-to but there were also guys
13:13who uh you know mike maddox was helpful in some ways but jordan teagues was their go-to and uh
13:19you
13:19know i i think it would have been interesting if the rangers totally replaced the entire pitching coach
13:24staff after what they did last year but you know jordan teagues i think played a really big role that
13:29he's
13:29you know he's really big i don't want to say on the analytics because i think to some people that's
13:33a
13:33negative connotation but really understanding the granular nature of pitching tunneling and pitch
13:38movement and pitch shaping and sequencing and stuff like that what mike maddox was great at was
13:43telling you brian hey you might be throwing 89 but my goodness your stuff is awesome and if you throw
13:49that pitch in this spot you're gonna get my trout out right and just building game plans and then
13:55building belief giving guys conviction so who's gonna be that guy i i i don't know i don't know that
14:00they can answer that with some of the new faces but what i will tell you is that jordan teagues
14:05is
14:05is you know highly coveted for his his knowledge and the way he kind of climbed up the rangers
14:12organizational ranks i hate to compare him to christian parker because it's certainly not apples
14:16to apples but jordan teagues was in some ways a christian parker who you know just knew pitching
14:22and knows pitching at such an impressive level uh and is really able to connect with guys and so he
14:28kind of in in some ways fast-tracked to being a big league pitching coach and he absolutely played
14:33a huge role in the rangers pitching success last year wrapping up with jared sandler here i'm still
14:39waiting to see mckenzie gore here i don't know if our schedules are going to align but man there's
14:43been a lot of dfw trades over the last year so jared people didn't like i think this one has
14:49a chance
14:49to pay dividends for years uh what do the what do the rangers have in mind with mckenzie gore as
14:54far
14:55as a plan to get more out of them than than san diego and washington did well i think the
15:00first
15:00thing is the patrick corbin plan where you put mckenzie gore in front of the defense that doesn't
15:04suck that's going to help you know the the nationals have routinely been one of the bottom five defenses
15:10in uh in major league baseball and you know for for patrick corbin he's not a huge strikeout guy so
15:16that plays a role but it absolutely helps mckenzie gore and then the other thing is you know he's a
15:21guy
15:21who is a left-handed pitcher so he faces a lot of righties uh and gives up fly balls and
15:27you know
15:28right-handed hitters who hit the ball in the air at globe-like field tend to have uh you know
15:32a little
15:33more of a challenge than left-handed hitters who hit the ball in the air so that's an advantage for
15:36mckenzie gore but i think just in general you got a guy who's one of the best pitchers or one
15:41of the
15:41most talented pitchers in baseball who took a little bit of a circuitous route from top prospect to
15:46major league all-star but you know you you see it and there's still some inconsistencies and that's
15:52you know that would be the story if you'd have a start where he'd strike out 12 and six innings
15:57but
15:57maybe give up four runs because he had that one inning that that kind of did him in or maybe
16:02he'd
16:02only go five innings because of that one inning and i just think continue to work on some of the
16:06the areas that it leads to consistency because again this guy was was one of the top or one of
16:12the
16:13and the top prospect in baseball for uh quite some time coming up and there's nothing wrong with the
16:18talent i think it's just consistency uh and maintaining command from start to finish which
16:22is something that will allow him to take that next step and remember he was an all-star last year
16:26he
16:26was one of baseball's best pitchers best pitchers before the the shoulder stuff kind of slowed him
16:32down briefly but i think that a lot of people are confident he's going to take another step forward
16:36well thanks for joining us uh jared uh congratulations on the young family and uh look
16:42forward to uh to hearing you out here surprise calling games real soon well i appreciate it
16:47fellas i'll see you guys in a few days cheers there he goes he's at jared samler on twitter a
16:51must follow
16:52on the zero res hot seat zero res spell it backward or forward it spells the same
16:57you
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