- 2 days ago
Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker joined the show and broke down yesterday’s matchup with the A's. Schumaker discussed Curvelo’s injury, pitching philosophy, and the team’s offensive approach in key situations, and provided insight into roster decisions. He also reflected on the significance of Jackie Robinson Day and more.
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00:00it is time to talk with the texas rangers manager skip schumacher good afternoon sir
00:06hey guys thanks for having me on yeah absolutely can you walk us through the balance you have to
00:12have when curvello comes out it looks like a major injury in the moment but at the same time
00:18it's two to one and the game is still up for grabs like how do you balance all of that
00:23in the moment
00:25yeah pretty scary situation first of all you know you never want to see a pitcher
00:30you know yank one like he did and then come off the mound and calling for the for the training
00:34training staff or trainer so when we got out there you know he was pretty emotional at the time you
00:42know you're thinking the worst and then you have to you know make a decision on you know where the
00:46game is at and and also think about you know what curvello is going through so yeah unfortunate
00:53situation luckily we had alexander ready and fresh and you know he put together you know really good
00:59doubting to keep us in the game also was it complex at all with curvello being in a ballpark
01:04where did you have to wait until that half inning was over to be able to get him to the
01:08clubhouse
01:11yes so at the end of the inning is when he walked it down but he was you know talking
01:16with the training
01:16staff inside the dugout and just walking him through what he felt we didn't really know if it was
01:21you know bicep or elbow or shoulder you know you're obviously thinking the worst of the worst you
01:26know when you see him uh come off the mound like that um you know luckily it was you know
01:31something
01:31in the bicep you know we'll see what the the imaging that uh suggests this morning uh once the doctors
01:37look at it um but yeah he had a way to happening to go out there and and our training
01:42staff actually
01:43felt you know pretty good about you know where he was at you know towards the end of the night
01:47so
01:48fingers crossed we'll see what happens today and then for martin is it is it arm fatigue or is there
01:54something else at play here yeah we'll see what happens uh when he comes into the to the field
02:00today uh to the stadium today um it was uh something kind of you know in his uh you know
02:06bicep shoulder
02:07area so we're just trying to figure out exactly you know what that is and um yeah he came off
02:13the the
02:13mound uh after getting the out the strikeout and kind of felt a little something and and it's i didn't
02:19want to push it uh any further and hopefully we got it before you know something major happened can you
02:24with all that in mind obviously that is a lot to deconstruct while the game is still going on and
02:29y'all are trying to win it and it's a one-run game can you tell us anything about what
02:33the plan might be
02:34in terms of bringing folks up for today's game to bolster the bill the bullpen yeah i think we're
02:42having conversations uh we had conversations last night with the front office um and you know kind of
02:48getting guys in motion you know either you know pulling guys out of games or making sure they're ready
02:53to go uh today if needed you know depending on the the imaging and how guys felt this morning to
03:00get
03:00them on a flight out here so yeah there could be one or two moves just uh depending on what
03:05uh the
03:06status is of both of them uh what's you know we talked with them this morning and the imaging comes
03:10back have those flights ever been already been booked for anybody uh there's a couple guys that have
03:17been booked but we just don't know what if it's one or two yeah is uh is my co-host
03:22prodding a lot
03:23here uh who came out strong yeah sorry well and yeah and i'll tell you by comparison my co-host
03:33wanted
03:33to be like i want to know what skips day is like sorry i just felt like there was a
03:38lot of info there
03:38we needed to get into no no no i totally get it um it was a a frustrating night on
03:45so many uh so many
03:47ends not only you know health wise that's first and foremost but you know losing a one-run game after
03:52scoring first and then not really adding on to that and then coupled with a couple moves that you know
03:57towards the end so yeah it's a i totally understand where you guys are at well and also you know
04:03watching
04:03that last night i texted the guys at one point i was like man uh gore's curveball is just sick
04:09it's
04:10just nasty and then he you know he had it he was on a groove and all of a sudden
04:15he kind of lost it
04:16and couldn't find it throughout the night how frustrating is that for for a pitcher and i mean
04:20obviously overall for a team but was he pretty frustrated that he couldn't find you know that
04:25control again yeah he was i mean because you know from our angle and just watching you know you
04:31know in between innings kind of you know via the ipad his stuff was really good it's just the the
04:37command was just obviously not there you're hoping to your point that the curveball was almost like
04:42the reset pitch to get him back into the the zone and and to counts um but just couldn't really
04:48find
04:48the fastball you know towards the you know third fourth inning there and then the pitch count got up
04:53the walks kind of you know crept up and um you know unfortunately couldn't get him out of the fifth
04:58but yeah definitely frustrating for him because his stuff was so good he was you know 97 uh you
05:04know struck out you know the first hitter of the game and we thought you know we're gonna look up
05:08and he's gonna go seven innings just like evo um so you know every now and then guys are gonna
05:13have
05:13these starts you know unfortunately um you know it's one one of those for him but you know when you
05:19walk six to eight guys and still only give up two runs um you know last night you know you
05:24still
05:25have a really good chance to win our bullpen did a good job and you know we just couldn't get
05:28another run across yeah i uh speaking of another run saving moment last night we talked about it a
05:34couple times i know they talked about it on the broadcast segers play it short where he throws
05:38the guy out at home how i mean how fast are that dude's hands you know it you know analytically
05:45second and third less than two outs you know that point of the game it's you know usually you don't
05:50want to go uh infield in but you know with mcneil left on left you know he's going to put
05:56the ball
05:56in play doesn't strike out much actually had some really good numbers against mckenzie um you know we
06:02just felt like infield in was the play credit to cory ragsdale of you know the positioning because it
06:07looked like the sixth hole was wide open yeah um it's always a little concerned on you know what
06:11where we were at but um you know he does his homework did a really good job and yeah cory
06:16is
06:17you know he's a big shortstop um you just don't see it's just uh and for how big he is
06:24the jumps he
06:24gets and the the um the glove work is as good as anybody's and for him to make that play
06:31with a good
06:32runner on third base was uh was impressive and there's a reason why his metrics are where they
06:36are and usually a top five you know defensive shortstop which is you know really impressive
06:41to me when you see the the size of cory and and how he goes about it um it's it's
06:47impressive to
06:48watch skip i'm gonna i'm gonna ask you to go back with me to friday night because friday night we're
06:53in the moment of you got kamar rocker up against otani in that first at bat and in my mind
06:59i felt
06:59like i was watching two monsters going at it and of course i got the immediate outcome that i wanted
07:04can you kind of tell me a little bit about how the emotion of watching rocker go up against otani
07:10uh to start that thing off yeah rock did uh an amazing job i actually think uh rock does better
07:19in those type of environments um where it's you know 40 000 uh bands were maybe even more that night
07:26um with uh you know the third deck and uh filled up stands i think he just does he's on
07:34the attack
07:34and i think does better in those high pressure high leverage situations i think um if we can get
07:40you know 50 000 in front of him every game i think you'll see more of that he was uh
07:45talking
07:45to you arlington fans let's go yeah i mean well we you know luckily we get a lot of fans
07:51you know
07:51we're fortunate to have that but i do feel like that is he's better in those spots um and you
07:57know
07:57he's built for those moments i've always said that you know i you know watching him you know in vandy
08:01in the college world series i mean if you watch some of those starts and the emotion that he has
08:05and
08:05i just feel like that's who he is um and i think that's what you'll see more often um it
08:12was especially
08:13in big moments so it was a big start for him you got to you know remember he's he's still
08:17young in
08:17his career and how many starts he has at this level um but to see him grow not only from
08:22last year to
08:23spring training this year but in that start against dodger stadium was huge for us and hopefully we get
08:28another one tonight and and that was that was something i noticed throughout that weekend and
08:31obviously i'd seen it a little more i guess because it was the dodgers and all that there
08:35was just it was a little more prevalent to me i love how your pitching staff attacks the zone they
08:41don't nibble it seems like their philosophy is if we're going to miss we're going to miss in the zone
08:45but we're throwing strikes yeah you know we when we get in troubles when we walk guys and then the
08:52crooked number happens with the home run there's just the league is you win and lose games right now
08:57via the home run um and we gave up some solo shots which i'm okay with it's when you walk
09:03the
09:03guys and then give up a home run is when you know i think everybody has a hard time with
09:07that you know
09:08not only me but just the pitchers so you know it is a credit to our you know our pitching
09:12staff and
09:13our coaching staff um you know jordan tiggs has been great you know at you know emphasizing you know
09:19throw it into the strike zone you have good stuff rely on your defense we just don't want to get
09:23fit by the by the walk um and it's been good so far now you know y'all were just
09:29talking about
09:30friday night's game against the dodgers i know you don't get the win but you do put up a three
09:35spot
09:35in the ninth and then monday against the a's you get four runs in the eighth it looks like this
09:41team
09:41has already been way more competitive offensively or able to put up numbers in the late innings
09:48compared to let's just say last year anything in particular that you might attribute
09:53that too you know i just feel like we've been in the fight um in every single loss and you
10:01know i
10:01don't like losing don't get me wrong you're going to lose some games at the big league level with this
10:06however long this season 162 i mean it's a long year but i do feel like you know if you
10:12do lose
10:12you want to you know make the other team you know feel you and earn it um and in all
10:17those losses that
10:18we've had so far we've either had to have their closer come into the game it's been a high leverage
10:23situation where it helps the next day um where they maybe have burned their leverage guys and so
10:29it gives us a better chance in the next game or you know they can't use their closer um you
10:33know
10:33whatever it is if they had 25 30 pitches so that part has been um really fun to watch and
10:39to see and
10:40to feel inside the dugout that we're never out of it doesn't feel like we're out of it um but
10:44you
10:45know last night was frustrating right i mean we've had you know we feel like we scored you scored
10:50early and then you know really didn't get an opportunity um to score late to middle innings and late
10:55we just kind of got away from our approach um which we were you know very disciplined in the first
11:00couple innings kind of got away from it and then you know when you get to the back end even
11:04last
11:05night uh you get to the back end of bullpens it's tougher right in this league there's just a lot
11:09of
11:10swing and miss with elite velocity so we feel like we had a chance to beat the starter just
11:14couldn't get it get anything going in the middle innings now these two questions might kind of be
11:20connected i think it was after the win over oakland but it might have been the dodgers the day before
11:25you talked about slowing the game down what does slowing the game down mean to you and why is it
11:31so
11:31important i don't want to get in trouble for this but the really good teams um play kind of boring
11:39baseball and what i mean by that is it's very fundamental um you see jacob degrom go around
11:45the mound uh in between pitches it's very slow he has a rhythm to it evo very slow grabs the
11:52ball
11:53has a rhythm to it you know thinks about what he just did with that pitch and he's already geared
11:57up
11:58setting up the next pitch and then you see some younger guys that are you know kind of walking
12:02around the mound fast grabbing the rosin bag flipping it up 10 times you know grabbing the pitch calm
12:07shaking so i think there's uh different things that you know guys do that can um you know help
12:13slow the game down and a couple of the guys to watch are cory degrom and evo go about it
12:19jacob
12:19junis is really good at it just you know walking around slow heartbeat you know thinking about you
12:25know pitch to pitch and not thinking about you know four or five pitches ahead or the what ifs or
12:29you
12:30know fearing failure type of thing so i think you know our you know as far as slowing the game
12:35down
12:35there are guys that are learning how to slow the game down whether it's setting up pitches as a
12:40hitter or or as a pitcher um and then there's other guys that are still learning uh to do how
12:45to do it
12:45yeah it seems like with those guys specifically kevin that he's saying everything seems very
12:49intentional uh yeah every movement they make seems very intentional that's the feel i get from that
12:55one of our listeners skip the other day said that young is so much better when he's trying not to
13:01pull
13:01the ball and and he just goes with it what is your philosophy on pulling the ball and going with
13:06what the pitch is well i think in order to be a complete hitter you got to use the whole
13:13field
13:13um you know there are certain guys that have the ability just to hit pull side home runs um and
13:19then
13:19don't really use the other side of the field those guys are rare and they also have a lot of
13:23swing and
13:24miss and there's a lot of ways to get you out if you can only do you know pull side
13:29home run
13:29um so in order to be a complete hitter and to do pull side home runs at times is you
13:34got to be able
13:35to force them into your zone which if you like it middle in you got to be able to hit
13:39it the other
13:39way at times to force them back into where you want it um and i think you know jj's uh
13:45you know
13:45made an adjustment this off season using the more more of the middle of the field approach
13:50runners in scoring position he's gone the other way as well um and he still has a lot of slug
13:55pull side
13:56but if you watch him gosh in his college days he was you know middle the other way a lot
14:01and then
14:01you know every now and then he'll pull side click one and so i think that's where he wants to
14:06be more
14:06often um and i think he is a much more complete hitter a lot more a lot less swing and
14:13miss um he's
14:14got into a lot more three two counts uh so far this year um and i think he'll end up
14:18walking more
14:19as the season progresses i think that's what i was texting kevin about on friday also regarding evan
14:24carter i was like i think he's 30 at bats away from going on a heater uh because it just
14:28looks
14:28like these guys really have a good understanding of what the strike zone is and they're not very
14:32willing to go outside of it right now yeah and and you know what we haven't gotten hot yet
14:41right there's you know there's a credit to you know some of the pitchers that we have faced early
14:45on where feels like we're facing a guy that has a one each night uh you know and then um
14:51coupled
14:51with a couple guys that just haven't got off to hot starts yet you know obviously nimmo has gotten
14:56off to a an incredible start um you know we've had some guys you know below him that you know
15:02are
15:02feeling good you know burger is you know 11 12 rbis four or five home runs already but you know
15:07we
15:08have other guys that you know just having uh it hasn't clicked you got one good game two bad ones
15:12one good game two bad ones so you know hopefully we can get some consistency up and down the lineup
15:17and um and be more of a threat but because when we are like you know what we did in
15:22oakland uh against
15:23the a's i keep saying oakland but okay the a's oh we got it yeah two nights ago um is
15:29i feel like
15:30more like us than what it was last night that's a dollar in the cup according to sandler and dave
15:34raymond
15:35correct correct me if i'm wrong but it's today one of at least the first deadline for
15:42josh spores to be added back up to the big team and if so where are you guys at with
15:49that
15:51yeah spores is doing uh you know doing really well down in triple a been watching him i you know
15:56i
15:56watch every single triple a double a game uh the next morning to see you know how guys are doing
16:01we
16:02have constant communication with our scouts and triple a staff double a staff and seeing how guys are
16:07doing and yeah spores he's been you know 93 to 95 um he's always been able to spin the ball
16:13he's doing
16:13that uh once again down there um so as far as like you know him being you know recalled or
16:20called up
16:21uh one of the options he's still one of the options but you know i don't know if that's today
16:26or not
16:27you know we haven't made you know a decision on you know what we're doing as far as the il
16:30and you
16:31know who's getting called up but he's he's definitely uh an option moving forward and you would not
16:35anticipate him leaving the organization yeah i i don't listen i have no idea about the contract
16:43stuff i'll link that up to see why and ross he's coaching a team right now well you know i
16:49just i
16:49don't know what the language is on a lot of these things on you know where that is and where
16:53his head
16:54that where you know our group's head is that i know what he means to this organization what he's done
16:59um i love the player i love the the person um as far as the contract language you know i
17:05leave that
17:05up to the front office i gotcha and then last thing i would be remiss if i i didn't ask
17:10what
17:10it means to you and the importance for the players across the league for jackie robinson day today
17:18yeah one of my favorite quotes is by jackie robinson so i you know roberto clemente and
17:24then jackie robinson and jackie robinson one of my favorite quotes is a life is not important except
17:28any impact it has on other lives and when we do that when we think about that uh this game
17:34is about
17:35relationships and what jackie has done uh for this game and what he did for the game on and off
17:40the
17:41field i think you know we all know what that means and um but i always think about that quote
17:46and you
17:47know what the platform that you know he was given um and what he did with it and what we
17:52can continue
17:53to do uh you know with our platform and not just play the game but the impact it has uh
17:59on lives
17:59around us and others um is significant what can we do to help others because we're wasting this time
18:05on earth if we don't help others right i mean that's kind of the the the reality of this thing
18:10and and jackie that quote it always took up out to me and um it's a privilege to wear you
18:16know the
18:16jackie robinson shirt the jackie robinson socks the jackie robinson cleats that guys get and and
18:21obviously 42 means means the world to to every uh baseball player not just in the big leagues but you
18:27know little leaguer it should at least uh around the world so yeah very grateful for this day and
18:32what jackie did love that answer i love that quote and as always good sir we appreciate the time
18:38thank you guys there you go texas rangers manager skip schumacher right here on 105.3 the fan
18:43so
18:43right
18:43so
18:43so
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