- 13 hours ago
Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker joined the show and broke down yesterday’s matchup with the Pirates. Schumaker discussed Evan Carter’s home run robbery, Kumar Rocker’s performance, the team’s mental approach after a long road trip, and more.
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00:00it is texas rangers manager skip schumacher good afternoon sir how we doing man we're doing good
00:08and i gotta know does kamar rocker now owe evan carter like a nice steak dinner or what is the
00:15protocol after that insane home run robbery yeah i i don't think a hug is enough right i think you've
00:23got to do something like a dinner or i'm not sure if there's gonna be something on his chair when
00:27he
00:27shows up in the locker room today but what an unbelievable play that was so what we saw the
00:33reactions i saw the reaction for rocker what i think really people should go back and see
00:39is the pirates pitcher in their bullpen and just how sad he looked when evan carter made that catch
00:48what was your reaction keeping in mind this is a family-friendly program language wise
00:55yeah um i'm gonna try to keep that uh to myself of uh you know but we were all um
01:01you know it's just a
01:03it could have been a completely different emotion if that ball goes over the fence right and i think
01:08that's what uh probably their their bullpen uh was thinking as well as our dugout was thinking but
01:13um again the way he timed it up um the the jump was perfectly timed the jog or the light
01:20you know
01:20kind of sprint to the fence uh you know was perfectly timed up everything has to be lined up
01:26and i said this you know before a couple of interviews ago that i think every fence should
01:31be five to six feet because i just love that play i like it when we're catching it but i
01:36think it's
01:37that everyone loves the home run but i also love the rob of the home run and um it's just
01:41a fun
01:42exciting play uh in in the major leagues and we have so many gifted athletes uh especially in center
01:48field in the game today but i think more of those plays would be pretty cool to watch matter of
01:52fact
01:52uh skip kevin and i both at spring training asked evan carter what what he liked more the diving catch
01:59to grab one or to to go up on the wall and get one he was like there's nothing better
02:04there's nothing
02:05better than going and stealing a home run from somebody and then getting to see the look on their
02:09face afterwards no doubt and uh because not only is it a you know great moment for you but it's
02:16a
02:16great moment for the team um and it's momentum changing and however you want to all the you know
02:22cliche terms but it really is true and by the way you don't get hurt as often when you you
02:27know jump
02:28and rob a home run like you do diving on uh you know on turf or whatever it is too
02:32so i'm totally okay
02:33with the robbery of the home run that is a good point i had never considered that before and i
02:38know
02:38we can talk about the effect in the bottom of the fifth and we should talk about that but i
02:42wanted
02:42to talk about the effect on rocker in particular who at that point in the game hadn't thrown a lot
02:48of pitches and it's one of those things where like numbers don't always tell the story and it feels like
02:54if that goes over the fence and you're just looking at the stat lines you might be like oh man
02:59that
02:59wasn't my favorite uh start for rocker but when he makes that and then rocker gets to go back out
03:05there it looks like it was a heck of a start funny how this game works isn't it yeah i
03:11know i um yeah
03:13but rocker i will say that the um he was on the attack all night he walked what one guy
03:18um he was
03:19on the ground all day long all game long and so like yes the home run might have changed the
03:26stat
03:26line a little bit but i will say the way that he handled himself after that first inning with back
03:31-to-back
03:31hits a stolen base kind of an overthrow to center field and then you know wild pitch and you know
03:37there's things could have gotten out of hand quick the most impressive part was him you know dialing
03:43it in calming down um and really letting us get back into the game that was super impressive so i
03:49know
03:49there was a rob of a home run but there's so many other things that happened yesterday um that i
03:54was
03:55really impressed with just maturity wise that i was watching on the mound i am we were kind of curious
04:00as kevin and i were talking before the show this morning just kind of when it comes to leashes on
04:05these pitchers sometimes evaldi you know we you know what you have in him to grom you're still kind
04:10of learning with the younger pitchers if a home run like that happens does that make you go well you
04:15know that was a good day for him but it's time to go to the bullpen now i'm just kind
04:19of curious on
04:19on how that affects something like that for you yeah so there's um a number of things to think
04:26about the first game of a series coming off a long road trip a much needed off day i think
04:32for
04:32everybody mentally and physically back at home um which was you know huge in a number for a number
04:38of different reasons but you don't want to go to your bullpen you know in the fifth inning on the
04:43first day of a of a home stand um with you know a number of really good teams that are
04:48you know coming
04:48in by the way the pittsburgh pirates are pretty good as well yes yeah and the last thing i want
04:53to
04:53yeah is cover five innings or so uh you know from our bullpen because they've been doing an
04:59excellent job but you just don't want to continue doing that so even if he hit the home run i
05:04think
05:04i probably would have let him go out there to to um finish the fifth inning and then you know
05:09we'd
05:10have to have probably a discussion to see what happens you know after that but because his pitch
05:14count was so low uh we might send him back out because of the righty lanes that were in the
05:20righty
05:20hitters that were behind him that he had success with you might try to steal another inning and allow
05:25your your team to get back in there as well so uh luckily i didn't have to think about that
05:30um too
05:31much but uh it definitely was uh you know in discussion of like okay you know this happens
05:37you always think about three to four hitters ahead on kind of the what if so you don't get caught
05:41and so you have to you have to game plan accordingly but luckily uh the catch was made and an
05:47easy
05:47easy decision to send him back out see this is what i'm talking about yeah mike bassick used to
05:51be on our show with us for about six years and i was telling him yesterday i love it when
05:55skip gets
05:56all baseball-y uh because this is where i really do enjoy you you know breaking down those things
06:01the the other thing too i wanted that one more thing about that rob of the home run how important
06:06is it for your dugout to recognize those moments those kind of momentum shifts and and and say okay now
06:13we have to take advantage of that and can you recognize that in the dugout that they see it
06:20a hundred percent i think um you know the momentum from a really good uh play like that it's not
06:27surprising when the offensive uh part of that inning you know kind of clicks and gets going and there's
06:33multiple hits and there or is a big walk or big stolen base or you know whatever i i do
06:38really feel
06:39like um there's times in the game where momentum can shift one way or the other on their side or
06:45our
06:45side in almost every single game based on one pitch or one play and that definitely happened last night
06:51um i actually evan was coming up in that inning i thought he was gonna you know hit a double
06:56or home
06:56run as well right so um you know i felt it i know the players felt it and uh so
07:01it was again just a
07:03giant play for the uh and a really good time for it right after you know losing the last two
07:08games
07:09in seattle coming home off day and then start a you know big homestand winning the first game was
07:14important man when you talk about coming home and getting that day off after logging 4,700 flight
07:21miles in the last week and a half 10 games in 10 days a franchise record 16 road games in
07:27the first
07:2822 games how nice especially when you won is it to be back at home it's definitely nice i mean
07:36you
07:36know for the players uh you know get back into their their homes their families their own bed see
07:41their families you know they're uh sleep in their own bed uh go out to a dinner whatever reconnect
07:47however you wanted to do it and spend your off day you know play golf whatever i went i actually
07:52went
07:52surfing at the waco surf ranch an hour and a half away so i mean there's yeah yeah so there's
07:58there's
07:58things that you know everybody wants to do to just kind of get away a little bit and then you
08:03know come
08:03back and be ready to rock today but i thought everybody came in refreshed re-energized and um
08:09and it was a really good start to to uh hopefully a good homestand i'm kind of hoping they've changed
08:14it over the years but did you ever see that road in waco that's just called new road and think
08:20what
08:20are we doing guys i have not no i was in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden
08:26you know this
08:26beautiful surf ranch was there so no i haven't seen it but uh but it was a good day it's
08:32legitimately
08:33called new road and that's bothered me my entire life so uh back to baseball questions though skip
08:38there was a i was our friend dave raymond brought something up on the last game against seattle i was
08:44i was watching and he was talking about tommy lasorda and how lasorda always wanted to win the last game
08:50of a road trip and and send you home with you know your the wind in your sails that was
08:54the
08:54conversation they were having and i was kind of curious because you put out what would be look
08:59like one of your best lineups for that game is that something uh that goes into your mental
09:04building when you're looking at a road trip is that something that matters to you too
09:09yeah always you know when i was in st louis um i was you know conditioned to say happy flight
09:15which was meant you know the last uh um game of the series or last uh game of the road
09:21trip you
09:22wanted to have a happy flight going home which means you just won the game um and that was like
09:27you know before there was hashtags that was literally like on our shirts when we were playing
09:32in 2006 seven and eight you know early on that the happy flight was like the talk of the dugout
09:38in the
09:38clubhouse on those day games before you left so absolutely you know we're i'm not uh trying to
09:44get guys you know days off right before you know we leave on a from a road trip that i'm
09:48gearing up
09:49to try to win that last game for sure um you know we had it all we had we felt
09:54like you know
09:54really good chance it just didn't happen but it's definitely in the back of my mind i we also
09:59discussed this morning josh young looks like he is in a great headspace right now and as a manager
10:05you're kind of you're going through the journey with these guys and when they're not doing well
10:09you're kind of you're trying to figure out how to help them into it what was what was that like
10:13early with him and where where do you see him right now yeah i think people have to remember
10:20that you know all the players that are in the clubhouse with me and you know some of the new
10:25guys and the coaching staff it's a clean slate and you know i you know i know what the numbers
10:30are
10:30you know the previous year with everybody but this is a new year and it's you know time to you
10:36know show
10:37us what you have and produce and perform and you know all that is is real but the flip side
10:42of this
10:43is i'm trying to you know get to know them empower them motivate them whatever that means
10:48and so does our staff and that's our staff's responsibility to get guys better you know uh
10:53you know either on the physical side or if they need a day off or whatever you're just trying to
10:57get to know these guys and ever since uh you know jj kind of had a um a day off
11:03in baltimore and you
11:04know just kind of relaxed a little bit and you know it felt like just not trying to get a
11:08hit every
11:08single um at bat or every single pitch and trying to get you know four hits you know per at
11:14bat i
11:14think he's lowered his chase rate remembered like who he was as a player got pitches inside the zone
11:21and he started winning um pitches inside the strike zone i think it's there's no not rocket science
11:27right when you swing at strikes you're most likely going to be better off when you swing at balls it's
11:32going to be tough to get a hit in in this league and uh to his credit he has done
11:36a really good job
11:37especially you know the last you know three weeks or so using the middle part of the field you see
11:42the you know and then he'll when he needs it he'll click one full side and hit i mean he
11:48had a home
11:48run center field in seattle so he's got the power but he's also becoming a really good hitter uh back
11:53to where he was a few years ago and it's just it's great to see you know these guys get
11:58through some
11:59adversity get through some funks and come out on the other side of it you know with all the work
12:03they're
12:04putting into because this group puts in the work there's no doubt about it and uh for them to have
12:08success they earn that and deserve it you know talking about that chase rate we were discussing
12:12that earlier in the show the last two weeks his chase rate on the first three pitches has dropped
12:18in half which feels like a pretty astonishing drop not only can that be helpful for him but
12:24how much more does that make the pitcher work just every single time he's up to bat
12:32for sure it's a fine line you want them to come inside the strike zone but you also want the
12:37pitch
12:37count to to grow right so if the guys are inside the strike zone like a couple of the seattle
12:43pitchers
12:44were then you got to you want to be able to move the ball forward um unfortunately some sometimes in
12:49seattle we won't be able to move the ball forward uh you know on a consistent basis like hard to
12:55you
12:55know get hits and collect hits and all that stuff because they were really good pitchers
12:58uh but we didn't chase and i think that was a really good um theme throughout the the road trip
13:04and jj was you know at the top of that and i think there's some guys that when they struggle
13:09they just
13:09go outside of the zone when they're hot there and they're moving the ball forward inside the strike
13:16zone so that's um again it's not rocket science you know our hitting group is uh that's like the main
13:22message the main theme since uh spring training started was win the strike zone and um and so far guys
13:28are
13:28doing a good job of that we have faced some really good pitching by the way especially on that road
13:33trip so um you know hopefully this translates into something on this homestand i was hoping you could
13:39expand a little bit more you've talked about how you love the battle in this team going back to that
13:44friday game against the dodgers three runs in the ninth that sunday game against the dodgers two in
13:49the eighth last monday four in the eighth last wednesday three in the ninth on thursday four in the
13:54ninth the ability to score runs late in the game against those leveraged pitchers and how that's
14:02come about and how that feels like it's going to be vital for the team this year yeah i don't
14:08i don't
14:08think we allow ourselves to you know ever give up and i think that you look you try to figure
14:13out what
14:14the identity is you know in spring training but you don't really know because so many guys are getting
14:19at bats or you know getting you know playing time and then when you start the season you try to
14:24figure out what is this identity of this team going to really look like and what are they going to
14:28be
14:28about and what i am the most impressed about is there's just no quit there's no fight i know teams
14:35and managers will say that all the time but this is it they have proved that over and over again
14:40and they have fought back into games they made other teams bring in their high leverage relievers
14:45um and then not only maybe we lost that game but we might have won the war for later on
14:51you know
14:52maybe the next series then that team can't use their leverage against the team coming in and so
14:58they maybe they lose that game so all that stuff is uh it correlates and um and so you know
15:04when
15:04we're watching it we do feel really good about the fight till four nine innings um and these guys have
15:09done an excellent job of of having that energy and having that confidence that it's nine innings
15:13we're playing nine innings as hard as we can well as always we appreciate the time congratulations on
15:18the win let's pile up a whole bunch more of those on this homestand sounds great thanks guys there
15:25you go skip schumacher manager for the texas rangers
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