00:00Live from Globe Life Field, getting you ready for the Texas Rangers home opener, and who better to do that
00:06with than right now we talk with Texas Rangers president of baseball operations, it is Chris Young, good afternoon.
00:12Hey guys, happy opening day.
00:13Indeed, indeed. Now I appreciate you powering through with us as well.
00:18Well, I apologize for my voice in advance, but I'm fighting a little upper respiratory here, but nonetheless, happy to
00:25be here and excited to be with you.
00:26All right, so absolutely. Now, the start of McKenzie Gore, not only his performance against the Phillies, but now getting
00:34to start the home opener, that feels like a great start and a good bit of confidence shown in him.
00:39Well, I think, you know, we, one, have confidence in everybody in the rotation, but McKenzie pitched great in Philadelphia,
00:46a huge trade acquisition this winter, someone we feel like can pitch at the front of the rotation and certainly
00:53in the middle of the rotation.
00:54But, yeah, anytime you get to start an opening day or a home opener, it is a special day, and
01:00I know he's up for it, and I'm excited for our fans to get to see him here opening day.
01:05What was it, what was it that when you were kind of looking to add to this team that you
01:10saw in him, was there a number or was there something about the personality that you were like, that's the
01:15guy that's going to be a Ranger?
01:16Well, anytime you have the chance to get kind of a frontline starting pitcher, and especially a young one who's
01:21still coming into his own, you have to be interested in that.
01:25And then when we did our background work and kind of learned about the person, the intangibles, the competitor, the
01:33desire to be great, it just, he hit every checkbox that we want to, you know, that we look for
01:40in terms of a good pitcher and a successful player.
01:43And he's lived up to it.
01:44Watching him this spring, watching him his first start in Philly, he's not afraid of the moment.
01:48He wants to be good.
01:49He wants the ball, and he's a great teammate.
01:51So we're really, really excited to have him.
01:53See, Kevin, right there, you were making the joke about wearing the nacho hat and seeing a nacho man in
01:59front of Chris Young.
01:59I told him about that off air.
02:01What did I tell you, though?
02:02I was like, he would look at you and say, are you here to compete?
02:05The first question, and he's already talking about competitiveness.
02:08We like having fun, too, so nothing wrong with that.
02:11Well, in the spirit of being honest and competitive, you know us media folks, we love to call people out.
02:18So I'm going to call out myself, early returns on Brandon Nimmo make it look like he'll be far more
02:25impactful than I anticipated.
02:27Can you walk us through that decision?
02:29Because I have to admit, I was like, oh, yeah, I like Brandon Nimmo, but early start.
02:34Yeah, Brandon's been phenomenal.
02:35And again, similar to McKenzie, just anytime we acquire a player, we want to know who the person is that
02:41we're getting and how that's going to fit into our environment.
02:44And everything we heard about Brandon was super positive and just a guy who's so dedicated, wants to be great,
02:51hard worker, great teammate, just this positive energy that he exudes every day.
02:57It's infectious.
02:57And, you know, there's nothing wrong with having someone like that in our environment.
03:01But then, you know, you couple that with the performance and he's been an all star.
03:05He's, you know, been one of the best players in Mets history.
03:09And it just felt like this was a very good fit, especially as we had made the decision to move
03:13on from Adoles Garcia.
03:15You know, we needed somebody who fit, one, the profile of hitter that we wanted in our lineup and, two,
03:21somebody that could play the outfield.
03:22And it just lined up that we were able to make that trade.
03:25I never doubted that one, Kevin.
03:27I think you can remember I was always on.
03:29I'm here to face the criticism.
03:31It's only fair.
03:31When I watched Nimmo play in the past, I always saw this hustle factor that I was like, that could
03:36go on my team anytime.
03:37If you're as long as you're hustling, you can play in my team.
03:40Obviously, the skill is going to come along with it, too.
03:43But I just saw that heart that I was like, I didn't expect that much of a talker, though.
03:47I didn't realize that he was going to be that much of a talker.
03:49But he's definitely been awesome there.
03:51Jack Leiter feels like he's got this tiny little hammer and tiny little chisel and one more little tap.
03:57He's just going to break through.
03:58And we kind of got to see it leading into at spring training.
04:02All his teammates were talking about him.
04:04And I was like, man, I keep hearing his teammates talk about him.
04:07How close is he to cracking that thing wide open?
04:09Well, you know, I don't know necessarily, like, is this just a breakthrough moment?
04:14I would say the second half of last year, he was one of the best pitchers in the American League,
04:19if not in baseball.
04:20And his performance was really, really on par with some of the best in the game.
04:24And so, you know, this spring and into his first start, we saw him continue that.
04:28And, you know, I think at 25 years old, we'd be foolish to think that he is a finished product.
04:34I mean, I still think he's coming into his prime.
04:36Same thing with McKenzie Gore.
04:38And there's going to be an evolution here and the best is yet to come.
04:41So, you know, I think Jack is in some ways scratching the surface of who he is and what he's
04:46going to be.
04:48But he's a pretty good pitcher right now.
04:49And we're just so excited about the progress he's made and what he means to our team.
04:54Now, one of the things about that, though, is I don't feel like you guys handled him with white gloves
05:00this whole time since you drafted him.
05:02I feel like y'all have given him really good things to go after.
05:06Has it been that same process with everybody that you deal with?
05:10Absolutely. I mean, we have, you know, two mantras that govern my career where that it's a performance-based game
05:15and the game owes you nothing.
05:17And at the end of the day, you've got to go get the job done.
05:19And I love for our players, especially in the minor leagues, to experience adversity because it's going to make them
05:25stronger.
05:26And once they get through that, they're going to know the next time they have that adversity, they're going to
05:31fall back on their previous experience.
05:33If a player coasts to the minor leagues and gets to the big leagues and doesn't experience adversity, at some
05:38point, everybody in this game goes through really hard times and times where you doubt yourself.
05:43And if you haven't been through that before, it's a hard thing to get through.
05:47So for Jack, he did.
05:49I mean, he was a top draft pick who did have some adversity.
05:51It was not a perfectly smooth, linear road, so to speak, in his development.
05:56But I think that's the best thing for some of these guys.
05:59And Jack has learned from that.
06:01It served him well, and I think he's a better pitcher today because of that.
06:05And I'm just so happy and proud of him.
06:07Now, you talked a lot in the offseason about, hey, we're going to need improvement from within.
06:13Only six games.
06:14But how encouraging are the early improvements in the lineup, especially some of those performances against the four-seam fastball?
06:21Because that feels like a big jump up.
06:23Yeah, it's very encouraging.
06:25We saw it all spring.
06:26I mean, we saw an offensive profile and an identity offensively that we felt like is what winning teams have.
06:33And so, you know, throughout spring, I try not to ever get too excited about anything.
06:38But over the course of spring training, it felt like, okay, we've made steps in the right direction.
06:43And our hitters have bought in, our hitting coaches have done a tremendous job of preaching the message, and the
06:50hitters are executing it.
06:51And, you know, you hope that that's going to continue into the season.
06:54But the early returns have been wonderful, and I expect that to continue.
06:58And I also expect some, you know, some guys to get hot that haven't been yet.
07:02I mean, we've gotten off to a good start.
07:03And I wouldn't say that we've had one through nine all hitting at their best yet.
07:07But that's going to come.
07:09So I'm excited about where we are.
07:11But, you know, this division's tough.
07:13We've got our work cut out for us.
07:15Obviously, Seattle is picked at the top of the American League deservingly.
07:20Houston has been a perennial powerhouse and is there every year.
07:24And certainly, we're trying to keep pace with them.
07:26Oakland is much improved.
07:27So we have our work cut out for us.
07:30But what we have seen thus far from this team, for me, is a great sign.
07:34And I'm excited about what that means moving forward.
07:36You mentioned the phrase, what is the winning profile?
07:40In terms of offensively?
07:42Yeah.
07:42Well, it's, you know, hitters that are disciplined to their approach, that can have adjustability,
07:50some versatility.
07:51They don't have to necessarily hit a home run to beat you.
07:53They can just draw a walk on an eight or nine pitch at bat, make the pitcher work.
07:57Then you get on first base, potentially steal a base.
08:00It's having guys that one through nine are committed to their specific role within the
08:07lineup and understanding that role may vary or change at bat to at bat, but they know
08:11what's being asked of them.
08:13And they're up there doing their job and trying to do their best to help the team win.
08:17And to me, that's what winning teams have.
08:20And, you know, there's a discipline to that, a focus and a discipline.
08:24And these guys have shown it early.
08:25I think there definitely can be selfish swings in this game, for sure.
08:29And realizing, hey, man, I don't have to be the one.
08:32The next dude in this lineup can definitely do this for me.
08:36It's understanding the game.
08:38It's trusting your teammates.
08:39No individual single-handedly wins any game.
08:42It's collectively the team.
08:43And so that's the approach, the mentality.
08:46And you can't be the hero every at bat.
08:48You know, I can speak from experience.
08:50Greg Maddox once told me, he was a teammate of mine, he told me, you don't beat individuals,
08:54you beat lineups.
08:55And you have to pick and choose the guys that you're going to, you know, pitch around or
08:59work to.
09:01And that's true of teams facing us, is that they're going to decide, hey, we're not letting
09:05Corey Senior beat us tonight.
09:07But Corey has to trust the guy behind him, which he does.
09:09And the guy behind him has to trust the hitter behind him.
09:12So it's a collective mentality and then a commitment to that.
09:17And then lastly, and most importantly, the ability to execute that.
09:20Now, not talking about these players specifically, just using them as examples, Colt Emerson, Cooper
09:27Pratt, it looks like it's about to happen with Connor Griffin.
09:30The extensions for players who have not even played in Major League Baseball yet, is that
09:36just the next evolution of contracts in baseball?
09:40Yeah, you know, it's been there in the past.
09:43And there have been guys that have been, you know, pre-signed either in their first year
09:48before they've reached the Major Leagues.
09:50But, you know, I think it's organizations doing a good job of understanding their players
09:55and saying, we want to make a long-term commitment.
09:57And certainly, there's risk involved with that.
10:00But I can't say it's going to be the norm going forward.
10:03But I do think that, you know, when you're a young player and you're trying to establish
10:07yourself, having that, you know, kind of out of the back of your mind can be a good thing.
10:12And I know the situations are somewhat different, but we get asked about this all the time.
10:16Have any extension talks taken place with Wyatt?
10:19Yeah.
10:19Well, I wish I could divulge everything there.
10:23But, you know...
10:24That would be great.
10:24Yeah, we're a pretty tight-knit group front office-wise.
10:27We keep that stuff in-house.
10:28But I can tell you that we drafted Wyatt for a reason.
10:31We love him.
10:32He's a tremendous player.
10:33I'm so happy our fans have him to watch.
10:37And, you know, we certainly have interest in keeping him a Ranger long-term.
10:41I think you know how much we love this team, for one.
10:44We both grew up here in East Dallas, Garland kid.
10:48So, you know, the feeling on this is always like, we want this thing to be amazing.
10:52Yeah.
10:53Nathan Ivaldi, we love him.
10:54I got our chance to interview him.
10:56This is my first time to get a chance to thank him for the World Series since they won.
11:00So I got a chance to do that at spring training.
11:02But we also...
11:03Thank you, too.
11:03Yes.
11:04Thank the players.
11:05They did it.
11:05A lot of, like, questions started popping up after this second outing.
11:11Are you concerned?
11:12And I have reasons that I was like, no, here's why I'm not.
11:15I still see the competitor.
11:17Why are you not concerned about these two outings?
11:20Because he's just an absolute winner.
11:22You know, one, I have information and data internally that suggests that he's going to be just fine.
11:29You know, we've got to always work through a couple mechanical things, but he's in a good spot.
11:34He threw the ball well this spring.
11:35He's healthy.
11:37There is no need to panic or worry about Evo.
11:40This guy's going to help us win a lot of games and just an absolute winning player.
11:44Yeah.
11:45And, Kevin, that's how I...
11:46Like, that's the first thing that stands out for me immediately is I know the dude's mentality.
11:51And he's just that kind of guy.
11:53Now, Cody Bradford, he got the injury rehab start yesterday.
12:00What are the reports and the thoughts on him throwing?
12:03And how are we progressing?
12:04Still hoping for May?
12:05Yeah.
12:06I think May's very realistic.
12:08Cody's made tremendous progress through his first rehab outing yesterday in Round Rock.
12:12Two innings and came out of it feeling great.
12:15We'll continue the progression.
12:17You know, we're still, you know, about a month away, but he's passed all the tests.
12:21And he, too, like Evo, is just a winning player.
12:24Somebody that you know you can depend on.
12:27Never going to beat himself.
12:28Going to go out day in, day out, be prepared and compete.
12:31And we can't wait to get him back.
12:33It's going to be a big boost for our group when we do.
12:35I only have one more question for you.
12:37I don't know how much more Kevin's going to put you through.
12:40But I do will give you a little advice.
12:42Kevin has some great advice.
12:43He loses his voice once a year at least.
12:45All right?
12:46And in radio.
12:46What am I doing wrong here?
12:47He's got some controversial advice.
12:49He's got some very controversial player enhancements that he can work on.
12:53Okay, good.
12:54We fell in love with that 23 team.
12:57Yeah.
12:58Obviously, a lot later, too, because we saw the potential.
13:01And then that Astros series was amazing.
13:04That was great.
13:06What do you love about this team right now?
13:09And what are you hoping to fall in love with them for?
13:12There's so much I love about them.
13:14I mean, we're invested in every single one of these players.
13:17Our coaching staff is tremendous.
13:19Skip has done an amazing job.
13:21But the thing that stood out to me this past week was watching the game.
13:26I came home from Philadelphia and watched the games in Baltimore at home.
13:29And on TV, I could hear our players in the dugout cheering for each other, yelling for each other, supporting
13:36each other, and fighting for each other.
13:38And to me, that's an early sign of a winning team.
13:40And, you know, it gave me chills when I heard it, and it continued.
13:46And when a team has that type of support and love for each other, good things are possible.
13:50And that's what I'm excited for, for our fans to see that.
13:53Does it help having a manager that he can just go in there and go, no, this is how I
13:57want you to do the pull-off?
13:58And then he can just start doing that, right?
14:01I'll tell you what, Skip's in some kind of shape.
14:03So, yeah, it's impressive.
14:04Yeah.
14:05Well, we appreciate the time very much.
14:07Appreciate you fighting through to talk with us today.
14:10Guys, it's a real pleasure to be here, you know, just to speak to our fans.
14:14I'm so excited for this season.
14:15I can't wait for our fans to watch this team.
14:18I think great things are possible, and I'm looking forward to a great year.
14:21So, thank you.
14:22There you go, ladies and gentlemen.
14:23Chris Young right here on 105.3 The Fan.
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