00:00Right now, let's get to Grant.
00:01Grant, West Coast swing, and certainly the Arizona Diamondbacks,
00:05a team that right now at .500, we're going to see Ronaldo Lopez,
00:08who looked great.
00:09So much was made up of the velocity thing in spring training.
00:12Didn't mean anything.
00:12He was fantastic, I thought, on Saturday night.
00:15Yeah, he was.
00:16Ultimately, that was just one of those little blips on the radar,
00:19and you hope that that's really all the Braves are dealing with with Ronaldo
00:22because, obviously, he became very, very important.
00:25I mean, he was important to begin with, but then you started losing other pieces,
00:28and I think they just put more onto a guy like Ronaldo, a guy like Grant Holmes,
00:32who we'll see in the second game of this four-game series,
00:34to just be able to post every fifth day
00:36because that's been one of the most difficult things for the Braves pitching staff
00:40in general is getting those guys all out there.
00:42But, yeah, I thought Ronaldo looked great.
00:43He was up to 97 miles an hour, so clearly the velocity is there when he needs it,
00:47and he commanded all of his other secondary stuff really well.
00:50So a sixth inning, six-plus innings, I guess,
00:53he'd give up a homer on his one pitch in the seventh inning.
00:56But, overall, if that's what you get every fifth day
00:58or something similar from Ronaldo, you're going to be pretty happy.
01:00Grant, I wanted to talk to you about the plate approach of Michael Harris.
01:05His on-base percentage and his batting average the exact same
01:08means he's taken no walks yet.
01:10And I think that's one of the aspects of his game
01:12that, if he improves, really could put him offensively into the next level.
01:17Every other Brave has at least one walk this season
01:19except for Jorge Mateo, who's only got three at-bats,
01:21and Farmer, who's only got one.
01:23And is that something you were maybe looking at coming into the season
01:27that could be improved upon and hopefully can still work towards that?
01:32Well, the answer to those last two questions is yes and yes.
01:35And I really thought in spring training we were starting to see
01:38a little bit more of this.
01:39And I asked Walt Weiss about it during the homestand.
01:41You know, what for Michael Harris, having seen him all four years of his career
01:45thus far leading into this year, knowing what the highs are,
01:48but seeing him also go through the lows,
01:49what is the thing that Michael Harris needs to do in order to, I guess,
01:53unlock whatever that next level is?
01:55Because people like me for the last couple of years have just been thinking
01:57there is a next level for Michael Harris.
01:59There's a star level, but consistency is a big part of it.
02:02And I do feel like not just drawing the walks,
02:05but being able to work counts.
02:07And we have seen some of that from him.
02:08I do feel like, particularly on opening day,
02:11as he hit the home run against Cole Reagan,
02:14so a lefty-on-lefty homer is always a good thing.
02:17But long story short, I do feel like he's made some strides in that regard.
02:21But if he is able to draw, let's say, 40, 50 walks over the course of 162 games,
02:26if he's a guy that's hitting his way on base the way that he should be,
02:30all of a sudden you're talking about a guy that can hit 290, 300,
02:33and on base in that 350, 360 range at the very least.
02:37And I feel like he's capable of doing that.
02:40Obviously, I feel like the power's there.
02:41The speed can be there.
02:42He can do a lot of things defensively that you love.
02:44It's just a little bit early for me to draw any real conclusions yet,
02:48but you do want to start seeing the work that was put in over the course of last season,
02:53the offseason, and in the spring training start to show some of its results.
02:57And the walk column is definitely something for Michael Harris,
03:00maybe more than any other player you're going to be looking a little bit more closely at.
03:03Grant McCauley with us here, guys,
03:04talking about the Bravos getting ready for the Diamondbacks.
03:07And you just mentioned we talked briefly about it yesterday, Grant,
03:09the pickoffs because they're trying to maybe steal.
03:11Well, Anton Richardson comes over from the Mets where they sold a lot more bases
03:14despite not really having great speed.
03:16So is this kind of a – in the old days, the first base coach is basically a hat rack.
03:20He takes your shin guards.
03:21He takes your elbow guards.
03:22He hands them to the bad boy.
03:23But talk about what the first base coach does,
03:25and how does that work with Walt Weiss as far as when they greenlight the stolen base?
03:30No, obviously a lot more specialization with the relaxed rules for being able to hold runners on.
03:35You'd like to feel like you can get everything you want to out of that.
03:38And Walt did say that they'd been reluctant to really steal a whole lot in recent years
03:42because they were a slugging team, and they didn't want to make outs on the base pass unnecessarily.
03:47Now, a guy that that doesn't apply to is a guy like Ronald Acuna Jr.,
03:51who's just going to do special things and pretty much always has the opportunity to do it.
03:55And I think he's going to steal some bases this year.
03:57I think Ozzie will.
03:58I think Michael Harris will.
03:59I also think that with Antoine Richardson, the big thing that they really raved about was, you know,
04:06the New York Mets, I think, were in the bottom three, if not four, in sprint speed, overall speed as
04:13a team last year.
04:14And somehow they were top five in stolen bases in Major League Baseball.
04:17How exactly do you do that?
04:19Well, with situational awareness, picking your spots, and being able to run the base as well.
04:23It's not all about speed.
04:24And I think that's one thing that Billy Martin made that impression on Ricky Henderson, who was fast,
04:29but giving him the awareness at first base and teaching him a whole new set,
04:34giving him a whole new set of tools to utilize,
04:36took Ricky from a really good stolen base artist to a great stolen base artist.
04:42And I don't know that you're going to turn any of these guys into Ricky Henderson
04:44if they're not named Ronald Acuna Jr., but the long story short is,
04:47I think there are advantages to running a little bit more,
04:50and I think the Braves would like to take advantage of that,
04:52and I feel like that's something that Walt Weiss has really made a point to say,
04:56is when your offense relies on the home run a lot,
04:58and you're not getting the ball, it's not going in the seats,
05:01then your offense can look really flat when you're not doing the other things.
05:03And they do want to see improvement on the base pass,
05:07and I think we will see some of that begin to be integrated a little bit more
05:10as we move through the month of April.
05:12Chatting with Grant McCauley, his show from the Diamond,
05:15going to be heard on Sundays here on Sports Radio 9,
05:17trying to get on the game.
05:18Looks like 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern time on this Sunday.
05:21I wanted to talk to you about kind of a little unsung hero
05:24of the early stage here of the Braves.
05:27That's Mauricio Dubon.
05:28Obviously kind of forced into action defensively with the Hassan Kim injury,
05:33but has also produced offensively right now second in the team in RBI,
05:38and I have to imagine probably leads the team in batting average at over 400.
05:43Yeah, timely hitting, and obviously anytime somebody wants to hit 400,
05:47you'll take that as long as they can do it.
05:48And, you know, they want Hassan Kim back, and I believe he will be, I think,
05:52targeting that mid-May return most likely.
05:54You know, Sean Murphy, I think, is a little bit ahead of where Kim is.
05:58He's still got to face some live pitching before they're able to really check all
06:01the boxes and send them out somewhere to begin a rehab assignment.
06:04But Dubon has come in and done exactly what you needed him to do,
06:07and that's play a very capable shortstop.
06:09And offensively speaking, I think that the Braves liked that there was maybe a little
06:13bit more in there than we saw, say, over the last couple of years.
06:16He's never going to be an offensive first player, but when you're able to put him,
06:19I guess, in your hitting environment, I think is kind of what I would call it,
06:23maybe you're able to teach him a few things that can help elevate his game a little bit.
06:26And I think Dubon was very excited to come in, work with the Braves hitting side of things,
06:31and get a chance to kind of sit under the learning tree in spring training for Chipper Jones
06:35being down there.
06:36And I think that that's just nothing but a positive.
06:39When you've got some really great minds and, you know, really good plans made for these hitters
06:43to, you know, incrementally improve, if nothing else, then maybe you can see a little bit more
06:48than you expected, offensively speaking, out of a guy like Dubon.
06:51I will go out on a limb and say he's probably not going to finish the year batting .400
06:55if he's playing on a regular basis, but I think he's shown that he can be a very useful player,
07:00and situationally, that can definitely come in handy, and he's had a knack for coming up
07:04with a couple of big hits when the Braves needed to go 4-2 on this homestand.
07:07All right, Grant, more baseball talk this week.
07:09Next time we talk, I want to get your take on this new Braves celebration,
07:12the head-scratcher, which has got me confused.
07:15It's a head-scratcher.
07:16It's got me scratching my head.
07:17Again, Grant, thanks for the time, brother, and go Braves tonight against the D-backs.
07:21You got it.
07:21Have a great weekend, guys.
07:22There he is, man.
07:23G-Mac.
07:23And hey, guys, we're going to be hitting the road Monday.
07:25We've got college hoops in the championship.
07:27Of course, it wraps up on Monday night.
07:28It's the championship game.
07:30And no better place to be than Twin Peaks in Buckhead.
07:32Andy Rende, which means Abe will be producing out there.
07:35Actually, Abe will be hosting out there.
07:36Oh, that's right, because now Andy's in Norway.
07:38And no Randy either.
07:40Oh, okay.
07:41Either way, it's going to be the Ape Palooza, and then it's Dukes and Bell,
07:44live at Twin Peaks in Buckhead.
07:46Get yourself for the championship action, eats, drinks, scenic views,
07:49along with the big game on all the TVs.
07:50That's all Monday, Twin Peaks in Buckhead, 90-9, the game.
07:53Real quick, I promise I don't want to pay off the tease.
07:56Alabama's athletic director, the latest to say you don't really need an SEC championship game.
08:01Greg Byrne does an interview with USA Today.
08:03He says, quote, I think that ship has sailed.
08:05It's run its course.
08:06It's a great event.
08:06I don't like the idea of it going away, but I think it's reality now with the expanded playoff.
08:10Now, some would say, yeah, Alabama don't win it no more, but what about the,
08:14and I've hated to say it, but I agree with him,
08:17it's kind of going to have to go the way of the dinosaur.
08:19It doesn't help SEC teams.
08:20Kirby wants to win it.
08:22Georgia fans want to win the SEC championship.
08:23But with all these extra games, does it really help you?
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