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00:11He is a key member of the big league leading Rangers bullpen.
00:15He has two saves. He's given up just three runs in 15 and two-thirds.
00:19He's also a proper Texan after growing up in Southlake, Southlake Carroll, going to TCU.
00:23He is now back in Texas pitching for your Rangers.
00:26There's Tyler Alexander here on the fan, and a good afternoon, sir.
00:29How the heck are you?
00:31I'm great. Thanks for having me on.
00:33Well, it's great to have you. Good to hear your voice again.
00:35And it's great to see hitters having such a hard time squaring you up here.
00:41What's working for you up there?
00:44Well, I would say a little bit of everything.
00:46You know, I'm not a huge swing in this guy, so my goal is to go out there and just
00:49miss barrels.
00:51Filling up a strike zone.
00:53So as long as I can make everything move a little bit every which way,
00:57I have a little bit of success.
01:00Tyler, it's awesome.
01:00Nice to talk with you again.
01:02This is two of now four hooligans that got to chat with you in the clubhouse during spring training.
01:06I don't know if you remember that incredibly awkward but tantalizing interview that we had with you.
01:11Hi, Tyler.
01:12What's up, buddy?
01:13It's been awesome to see your success.
01:15How's it been?
01:16We were chatting with you a little bit about the different roles, right?
01:18There is not any specified roles.
01:20So you've gotten to close, as Gavin mentioned, but you're also just being put in in a bunch of different
01:24spots.
01:24Have you gotten used to that?
01:26Has that really mattered at all to you?
01:28Yeah.
01:29I'm doing things this year that I've never done in my career before, which I've done a lot of things
01:34before.
01:35So it's been fun kind of being thrown into different roles, getting two saves early, leverage situations,
01:44situations where I need to go one-plus times in the lineup.
01:49It's kind of something I've done my whole career, which is a lot of different things, not one specified role.
01:55It's fun getting to do a lot of different things.
02:00Do you ever get used to it?
02:01No.
02:02I mean, you just kind of prepare for any situation.
02:05And when the phone rings, just sort of prepare and, I don't know, try to get out.
02:11Speaking of doing different things, Tyler Alexander joining us, it looks like you're throwing your sinker and cutter more than
02:18previous seasons.
02:19Is that situational, or is that something that you and the team feel like can make you more successful?
02:27I mean, I throw my sinker more to lefties, to righties.
02:32I guess I've thrown that more, too.
02:33I don't know.
02:34They're telling me I need to throw my fourth team more, too.
02:36Okay.
02:38Do you respond with, yes, sir, or are you like, shut the hell up and let me do my job?
02:43No, I mean, I'm willing to take any type of criticism, right?
02:47If they tell me my fourth team plays more, I'll throw that more for sure.
02:51But it's also like ebbs and flows of the season, right?
02:54So if I throw my sinker a lot early, that means that later in the year when I start facing
02:58these teams a couple more times
03:00and they see a lot more video of me, I can mix in more four seams.
03:04And just, it's like what works now might not work in a month or two after the hitters have adjusted
03:10so that I can adjust to a different kind of attack.
03:13Tyler, would you have taken this interview if you knew you had to talk to Eric and Zach again?
03:20If they said, hey, listen, a couple of guys in the locker room, you know, Clubhouse got you.
03:24Would you have said, absolutely not, I'm not doing this?
03:27We're boys.
03:28We're like, I'm a professional baseball player.
03:30I don't have to deal with this.
03:31We really bonded well, Tyler.
03:34Listen, I take a lot of interviews, right?
03:36And the pace at which that interview went was electric and it was fun.
03:43And it's definitely something that I wasn't used to, so of course I would have.
03:50It's fun doing different things like that, yeah.
03:52Well, Tyler, we're all going to go out and get your jersey now.
03:54Thank you, buddy.
03:55We're all going to go out and buy your jersey now.
03:56We do love you, Tyler.
03:57Hey, the 817, and I hope this isn't a butt crack because it's going to be awkward if it is,
04:01but he texted or she said, your nickname growing up was Squirrel.
04:05Can you confirm or deny?
04:06And if that's true, what's the back story?
04:09I can't confirm, yeah.
04:10So I've always been very nickname-oriented, right?
04:14So Squirrel was a nickname I've had.
04:16It's really not that great of a story.
04:18It was just when I was like five years old, my dad thought I looked like a little chipmunk.
04:22So he started calling me Squirrel, and there's not too many people around.
04:28I guess now that I'm in DFW, there's more, but people that still know me as Squirrel
04:33have known me in the baseball world for a very long time.
04:38And it's funny because if you know me as Todd, you've known me in Pro Bowl.
04:43That's what people call me in Pro Bowl.
04:45But if you know me as Squirrel, you've known me probably like pre-college summer baseball
04:52around that era.
04:54So it's funny.
04:55Because I'm seeing Todd the Painter as a nickname here.
04:59Yeah.
05:00Todd the Painter came from when I got into college.
05:04I had long, greasy hair, probably didn't shower as much as I should have.
05:08And my college teammates thought I looked like Todd Cleary,
05:13the painter from the movie Wedding Crashers.
05:15I don't look like him anymore.
05:16I don't have any hair.
05:17I threw out a mustache.
05:19RISD.
05:22There you go, Todd.
05:24Tell that me no shit.
05:25Oh, would that make you love me?
05:28The painting was a gift, Todd.
05:30I'm taking it with me.
05:32Exactly.
05:33That is awesome, dude.
05:35Tyler Alexander with us here at the Gbag Nation.
05:37Okay, so how much money would you have to be offered in order to charge Aaron Judge
05:42at any point during this series?
05:45Me charge him?
05:46Yeah, yeah.
05:47You charge him.
05:48I don't know.
05:49We actually talked about that in the bullpen.
05:52Because he's so tall, I think we could go low.
05:55I think there's a chance.
05:56He's also such a nice guy.
05:58I don't think that he'd throw the first punch, so maybe we could get a sucker punch in.
06:02Yeah.
06:04Good strategy.
06:04So, me charging him, I don't think there's good odds there.
06:08If he came after me, which I don't think he would, you'd have to go low, head out the
06:12knees.
06:12Low man wins.
06:14I mean, leverage, baby.
06:15That's what it's about.
06:18If Tyler Alexander, if you had nothing to do today, which obviously you have a lot going
06:22on, but it's Cinco de Mayo.
06:25You're back in Texas.
06:26How are you celebrating?
06:29I think you just find the best local Mexican joint, get some tacos.
06:37I guess that's about it.
06:38I mean, there's a lot of good local Mexican joints around, so maybe have a couple margaritas.
06:43There you go.
06:44Yeah.
06:45I don't know.
06:46Sit back and enjoy the day.
06:48I thought you had a tradition on Cinco de Mayo, it was like a pregame marg before you get
06:51out on the bump.
06:53Yeah, triple tequila, really loosen up the body.
06:57Top shelf, you know, all the fine fixings there.
07:00Just to get one serious question in, and if anybody wants to clip this and use it for
07:05actual baseball purposes, you do have a lot of young guys that have stepped up and made
07:09some debuts in the pen, like Gavin Collier's been awesome this year, several other of your
07:13bullpen mates.
07:14How's that been to see, being kind of the veteran in the room there, Todd?
07:18It's fun to watch the young guys, because, you know, everybody has such unbelievable
07:22stuff, especially the young rookies when they come up, and it's more so a mental game
07:27for those guys, being able to control your emotions, your breathing, and all that kind
07:31of stuff, because everybody's got the ability to pitch at this level.
07:37So it's been fun watching them do that.
07:40I haven't really needed to do anything in terms of, like, being an older guy and helping
07:44them, because they just go out there and do everything they need to do.
07:49So it's fun watching them have success, and I hope they continue to do it.
07:55Todd, thanks for your time.
07:57Good luck tonight.
07:58Brian and I both, by the way, the older guys on the show, we're both huge Rush fans, so
08:03rock on with the Tom Sawyer.
08:05Absolutely, yeah.
08:05And give them hell, we'll be pulling for you.
08:07All right, awesome.
08:08I appreciate it.
08:09Salute.
08:09There he goes.
08:10Tyler Alexander here with you in the G-Bag Nation.
08:12The Rangers Players Show brought to you by Golden Chamber.
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