00:00Now, here's one we got to talk about.
00:02Now, I'm not one to panic and get really crazy early in the season.
00:05But the reason why I say to myself, hey, Cal Raleigh, what's your level of concern?
00:10Is it worried?
00:11Is it overhyped?
00:12Or coming in, Craig was like, wait a second.
00:14This guy hit 60 home runs last year, almost won the MVP in the American League as a catcher.
00:19There's got to be some fallout.
00:20And most sportsbooks, Craig's, we're telling you, yeah, he might be lucky to hit 35 home
00:24runs if that.
00:25Wait a second.
00:26He hit 60 last year, 145 to start the season and a few home runs.
00:31Cal Raleigh, the big dumper, Craig.
00:33What's going on?
00:33Are we scared?
00:34What's going on?
00:34What are we thinking here?
00:36Yeah.
00:36So the reason why I'm calm on Raleigh is because what did people expect?
00:40Like, I mean, you could not have possibly thought that he was going to repeat the season that
00:44he had a year ago.
00:46I maintain at the beginning of the season, anybody in baseball has told me, Donnie, the
00:51same thing.
00:51The best catcher in baseball plays for the Atlanta Braves, Drake Baldwin.
00:54This is the best catcher in baseball right now, bar none.
00:58Now, as far as Cal Raleigh is concerned, I'm calm because I think that in the end, he'll
01:03put up a decent season, but he's not going to hit 60.
01:05He's probably not going to hit 50 and he may not even hit 40 home runs.
01:09So as the season goes on, he'll be better.
01:13A ton of pressure on Cal Raleigh.
01:15By the way, Donnie, think about his September and then October and then having to go to the
01:19World Baseball Club.
01:20This guy just didn't stop playing.
01:22So it's not going to be a down year for him.
01:24It's going to be a regular Cal Raleigh season.
01:27And I know in the past we've had breakout guys.
01:29I remember many years ago, Luis Gonzalez with Arizona ended up hitting like 60 home runs.
01:35The guy had never hit 30 before.
01:36It was like, we're freaking out about it.
01:38I'm calm, but I would be panicked if I thought that this was going to be the same guy as
01:43last
01:43year.
01:44I just didn't.
01:44So I'm not surprised here.
01:46I was just so amazed like last year, like the thought of like, sometimes you can just
01:50be a DH, you're real comfortable, you get loose, you get to stay in the batting cage
01:53in between innings, check out video and say, okay, this guy can really drive baseballs.
01:58Cal Raleigh plays catcher.
01:59And I always say to him, like, go out in your backyard and squat down for two or three minutes.
02:03Like, I can't even get back up.
02:05This guy was doing it for a hundred plus major league baseball games last season.
02:08Also understand this.
02:09Hitting home runs a little bit different, let's just say in Fenway than it was out there
02:14at T-Mobile in Seattle.
02:15And he hits 60 of those right now.
02:17It's just kind of jarring to see the slow start he's gotten out to.
02:20Now again, heat and humidity will creep in even up there in the Pacific Northwest.
02:23That's slow start for me.
02:25I'm not overly concerned at this point, but again, I am concerned at this point that Cal
02:30Raleigh is going to be able to hit maybe 40 home runs.
02:32But Craig, we talked about it.
02:34Some of these lead up shows, if you were looking at a real sharp number on the board, it was
02:38the
02:38under on Cal Raleigh's home runs.
02:40Oh yeah.
02:40Oh yeah.
02:41No, no doubt.
02:41And so, uh, yeah, I mean, look from that perspective, it does make sense.
02:45But, uh, if you gave me a 28 and a half home runs on Cal Raleigh right now, I'd still
02:50take
02:50over.
02:51All right.
02:52Let's keep it out there in the, uh, American league West.
02:54And we're going to go down and take a look at Sacramento because last year, Nick Kurtz was
02:58nothing short of spectacular.
03:01The one thing I do say, and sometimes you get equated to the NFL, right?
03:04Hey, we can't stop this player.
03:06We can't stop this quarterback.
03:07Well, give other pitchers and the film room and say, how can we attack this kid with a
03:11couple months to spare?
03:12Maybe it's coming around on Nick Kurtz.
03:14He's opening the season here, hitting around 200 and one measly home run right now for Nick
03:19Kurtz.
03:19At this point, the level of concern for Nick Kurtz was, Hey man, it's a young kid.
03:23He's going to have to have his woes sometime.
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