00:00We are fired up to welcome onto the program Mr. Jacob Young of the Washington Nationals.
00:04I'm going to say it correctly, power-hitting Jacob Young.
00:07What's up, man?
00:08Thanks for joining us.
00:09How are you guys doing?
00:10Thanks for having me.
00:11Hell of a walk-up song there, Jake.
00:14I get a lot of comments on my walk-up song, honestly.
00:17More than baseball, bro.
00:18It's strong, dude.
00:20Let's talk about the run you're on right now, dude.
00:23By my math, which may be incorrect, I got three jacks in the last four games.
00:27Is that right?
00:28That is correct.
00:29How does that feel?
00:31Yeah, what's it like when you're just seeing everything?
00:34No, it feels great.
00:35I always wondered, you know, not being the most powerheader of my whole life,
00:39you know, how does it feel for some of these guys who are at 60 a year,
00:42what that must feel like.
00:43And I imagine it probably feels like this, but they do it for a full season.
00:46So, you know, it's fun to experience.
00:49But, you know, it's good to be at home and kind of against the Mets,
00:53the team, you know, you play a lot and you need to win the games again.
00:56It's nice to do it.
00:57You all sitting at 500 right now.
00:59Your bats have been amazing.
01:01I mean, what's going on that you all, so many guys are hitting, not just one, two,
01:05but a multitude of guys are hitting the ball very well.
01:09Yeah.
01:09I mean, I think it goes back just to a lot of our game planning,
01:12a lot of stuff we do before the game even starts.
01:14It's, you know, our hitting coaches are great.
01:16We kind of get us ready and understand the plan and we're just going out there
01:19and executing it kind of the best of our abilities.
01:21And you're right, it's not just one guy right now.
01:23It's a bunch of guys, some guys at the top that have been hot kind of the whole season
01:27with Woody and CJ.
01:28And then, you know, some guys at the bottom, you know, that kind of set the table for them
01:33or find different ways to get on base and steal bases.
01:36So, dude, we know that you've been an elite fielder, right?
01:40That has been part of your game.
01:42But what, you know, we were fans of the old organization.
01:47Brian and I were both friends with Mike Rizzo.
01:49I know, I believe you felt very fondly of Mike Rizzo.
01:52What has changed, though, with the organization now?
01:56Like, we hear about all the different focuses and the velo
01:59and kind of looking at the numbers in a very different light.
02:01Like, how different does it feel and what has gone well?
02:06Yeah, I mean, definitely, you know, all the love for the old org.
02:10I mean, they gave me a chance to be up here.
02:11Rizzo, I'm still, you know, still a great relationship with him.
02:15But, you know, I think the new thing is a lot of new energy
02:18and just a new focus on different things.
02:21You know, not one way is right or wrong.
02:25But with our younger team that we have, I think kind of bringing in
02:28some of this new school stuff has kind of just energized a lot of guys
02:31and, you know, brought some new kind of things that guys can focus on
02:34and kind of take advantage of.
02:35And I think that's kind of where we've started to excel,
02:38especially on the offensive side.
02:40Jacob, I played football against a lot of my friends.
02:43And if I knew a little stuff about them,
02:45I would try to irritate them with it or whatever.
02:47But at the end of the game, we were friends.
02:49Your buddy hit you the other day.
02:51How was that conversation afterwards?
02:53Yeah, it was a quick text for sure to him.
02:57What did the text say?
03:00It was a gif.
03:01It was a gif.
03:02I'll just leave it with a gif.
03:04It was a gif with him.
03:06Did it have WT in it?
03:11They had some weapons in it.
03:15But he's a great guy.
03:17We've been friends for a long time now.
03:18And he was just really apologetic.
03:20He was happy to hear it wasn't serious.
03:22And we're all just competitors.
03:24I understand what he was trying to do.
03:26And he knows that it could have been a lot worse.
03:29So luckily, we're not really in a bad spot with it.
03:32And now he owes me a nice dinner in New York.
03:34So it's not too bad.
03:36I love that.
03:37So dude, you hit back-to-back jack Saturday, Sunday.
03:40You get drilled in the ribs Monday night.
03:42What?
03:43Did the home runs going back-to-back feel better?
03:47Or did getting drilled in the ribs hurt worse?
03:51Oh, man.
03:52I think the home runs felt better after they told me that, you know,
03:56nothing was broken and I was going to be okay.
03:58The home runs definitely felt better.
04:00And I haven't got hit like that since I played football back when I was
04:04probably, you know, middle school, high school.
04:06And the wind knocked out of you.
04:08And I've never been hit like that in baseball.
04:09So it definitely was something that I'm hoping does not happen again.
04:13But definitely happy it wasn't serious.
04:16We are too, dude.
04:17You all have this mentality, why not us?
04:20We had a guy, Rev T, were calling here and said about the team,
04:22the commanders, all the time.
04:24What goes into that?
04:25What's the feeling behind it?
04:28Yeah, it's definitely something where, you know,
04:30you try to cancel out all the outside noise,
04:32especially coming into the season, coming into spring training.
04:35You know, it wasn't, you know, the most positive for this year.
04:37And I think being a young club, we had a lot to look forward to.
04:41A lot of us, you know, are trying to make a name for ourselves or trying to,
04:45you know, break into the league for the first time, some guys.
04:48So I think there's a lot of, you know,
04:50personal stature up there trying to just kind of gain that confidence and
04:55understanding that if we kind of can do that, we can surprise some people.
04:58And, you know, the why not us thing is fun.
05:00You know, there's 30 teams and someone surprises somebody every year.
05:04So, you know, why not us this year?
05:05Talking with Nat center fielder Jacob Young on an absolute power tear right now.
05:10And the Nats are playing great baseball.
05:12Dude, you've been in the bigs with the Nats for, this is your fourth season.
05:18And I very much believe this is the latest in the year you've been at 500.
05:24I mean, you guys are 25 and 25 through 50 games.
05:27You're about the third of the way through.
05:28Like this is a meaningful milestone.
05:30Do you allow yourselves to think about that?
05:33Especially a guy like you that's been around for some rough seasons or,
05:37or do you have to keep it, you know, one, you know, next game one day at a time
05:41kind of thing?
05:43Yeah, I think it's a little both.
05:44I mean, it's definitely nice, you know, losing, losing stinks.
05:48No one, no one ever, you know, never, no one ever wants to be in a clubhouse
05:51that that's losing.
05:52So I think just the energy of a winning clubhouse is honestly something that just
05:57kind of has been firing us up, knowing what that feels like now and understanding
06:01how much better and how much more fun it is, you know, to come to work and to have
06:05such a long season when you're playing good baseball.
06:07But it's also one of those things where you're not, you're a third of the way in
06:11the season almost and we're not nearly, you know, where we want to be.
06:13So it's something that, you know, it's off to a great start, but, and I think
06:17there's a lot of things we can clean up to even make it better.
06:19So I think it's exciting to kind of, for what we've done so far, but it's also
06:22exciting, you know, for what's coming and, you know, how we can improve and
06:26possibly, you know, keep on shocking people.
06:28And baseball and all the sports today, there are a lot more analytics and
06:32technologies that can help people out.
06:34You look at the new things that they're trying here.
06:36Have, do you see the, the, the help that it gives or the change that it's
06:40giving you for sure?
06:42I think the biggest thing with all that kind of analytics and stuff is it just
06:46kind of gives you something like a true statistic, you know, to kind of show
06:52maybe what people have always said in the past.
06:54So it's hard to argue with a computer.
06:56We kind of say, so, you know, if the computer is telling you something that's
06:59kind of deficient or whatever it is, it's probably always been deficient, but
07:03they never really been able to explain it.
07:04And now with, you know, a lot of the new technology and stuff, they're able to.
07:07So I think that's kind of the nice thing as a player is that you're really
07:10able to like hone in on maybe what you're struggling with or what could be
07:14better or maybe what you're doing really well.
07:16So you can continue to do that or, you know, fix the little things that you can
07:19become even better.
07:20I mean, obviously there's a lot of baseball left, right?
07:23I mean, over a hundred games left, but I mean, you now have more homers this
07:27season than in your other three combined.
07:29Was there one specific thing?
07:32Was there one, whether it was a metric or, or some pitch you were looking for
07:37more or are you knew you were going too early on something like has something
07:41specifically clicked that you worked on for the power or was it more just, you
07:47got some pitches to hit?
07:48Yeah, definitely.
07:50In the off season.
07:51I mean, it was no secret.
07:52I hit a lot of ground balls my first few years in the league.
07:55It was something we wanted to work on.
07:57So it was really just, there's two main focuses is just trying to hit the ball in
08:00the air more and, and trying to get a little more bat speed.
08:02Um, two things that, you know, everyone knew I was kind of deficient in and trying
08:07to find a way to fix that.
08:08So we really honed in on those two things in the off season and we're continuing
08:12into the season and kind of, you know, you don't always get the results right
08:16away when you work on something like that.
08:17But, you know, I've been lucky enough to kind of get some results as I've also
08:21been continuing to work on it.
08:23Dude.
08:23So I got to ask, cause I know a lot of baseball guys do, maybe it's more pitchers
08:27cause they have more off time.
08:28Are you a golfer, especially growing up in Ponte Vedra?
08:32Yeah.
08:33Yeah.
08:33Growing up, not, not as much.
08:34Uh, I mean, I played a little bit, but I played a lot of every other sport.
08:39Uh, you know, I was always fast.
08:40I never understood why I ever played golf, but as I got older, I love it.
08:44Uh, I play it all the time.
08:46Um, not as much in season, uh, being a position player, we don't get the same
08:49time that the pitchers do off days, but, um, definitely in the off season a ton.
08:54And then whenever I can, you know, find an off day on the road and, and we have
08:57some time, uh, definitely get, get some rounds in.
09:00So what's your game like?
09:01Hmm.
09:02I'm very mediocre.
09:04Um, I was, I had some good, yeah, I had some, I had some really good, I had some
09:09really good, uh, you know, months.
09:11Um, and then I felt pretty good when going into the soft season, I was playing
09:14pretty well.
09:14I had a kid, uh, so I didn't play as much.
09:17Um, so I haven't played as much lately, um, with, with a baby around and be able to spend
09:22time with her and in season.
09:23So, you know, that's, that's been not as great, but I get the privilege to play some pretty
09:28cool courses.
09:29So even if I don't play too well, it's, it's fun to kind of go out there with the boys
09:32and
09:33just, you know, being, being some really sweet courses.
09:36Stay away from Zim.
09:38Yeah, I know Zim, Zim can play a little bit.
09:40Oh yeah.
09:41I know.
09:41I'm not playing that game.
09:43I, uh, I have two daughters and when my baby girls were born, I bet that added about six
09:49strokes to my handicap.
09:50Now I eventually worked it back down, but the time goes away, man.
09:55So it does, it's worth it, but it does.
09:57The other thing growing up in like the Jacksonville area, do you grow up a big Jags fan?
10:03Yeah, I'm a huge Jags fan.
10:05Still am.
10:05Uh, number one, definitely my number one, like fandom team.
10:09Um, I tracked them harder than anybody.
10:12Uh, so, you know, it's been some rough years in the past growing up, but I'm thinking we're
10:16kind of on the up and up.
10:17And so I'm, I'm pretty excited, uh, for these coming years.
10:20What do you think about Lawrence?
10:21See the guy?
10:24I'm going to continue to say, yeah, you know, I liked what I thought at the second half
10:28of last year.
10:29Uh, I think Cohen's, if anyone can get it out of him, I think Cohen's the guy to do it.
10:34So, uh, I'm excited.
10:35I think, you know, we're, we're still pretty young team and, and, uh, it's kind of like
10:40here, honestly, our, our, the GM over there.
10:42And then you got Tiboni over here, you know, they're both young guys that kind of a lot
10:46of energy and, uh, it's kind of, it's kind of a fun thing to hopefully it's the start
10:50of something for both sides.
10:51So dude, you guys have a day game today, four o'clock getaway day for both you and
10:55the Mets.
10:56Are you aware that there's like a, a fan group trying to get a, uh, a tarps off tonight
11:02going for, for today's game?
11:05I had no, I did not know that.
11:07Uh, I honestly saw, I saw the Cardinals thing, um, a couple of days ago.
11:11I think that's where it kind of started.
11:13Uh, it's pretty fun to watch, but I had no idea that was coming to the Nats part.
11:17Now it's kind of cold, so I don't know how successful this will be, but apparently seventh
11:22inning stretch section two 38, all the boys are taking their shirts off.
11:27Oh, I love that.
11:28I'll have to, you know, hopefully, I mean, it might be rainy and it's definitely going
11:32to be chilly.
11:33So I'm glad it's them, not us, but, uh, yeah, no, I'm looking forward.
11:37If they want to do that, we love the energy.
11:39So you, you, you'll have to look, I guess, to your left when you're out there, um, and
11:43yeah, and we'll see if they succeed, man, but they have, they have your blessing.
11:48You're encouraging.
11:49Oh, I'm in.
11:49Yeah.
11:50Let's get it.
11:51As much energy as they want to bring in, let's do it.
11:53I'm in.
11:54Well, listen, man, we really appreciate you making time.
11:56Congrats on the recent success and the baby girl and all of it.
12:00Um, I've always enjoyed when I get to chat with you, so I'm wishing you a ton of continued
12:03success, JY.
12:04Thank you, man.
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