00:00Let's talk with Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumacher. Good afternoon, sir.
00:07Good afternoon. How are you guys doing?
00:08Man, we're doing great. And I know this is kind of a question, kind of just a statement,
00:13but baseball is a crazy game, huh?
00:17Yeah, I'm glad I'm talking to you this morning and not yesterday morning.
00:20I have a much better spirit right now, that's for sure.
00:23Well, you should have known it was going to, well, maybe not the no-hitter,
00:26but you should have known that it was going to play out like this
00:29because now the last three Tuesdays before you came on with us,
00:33y'all have won three in a row and outscored your opponents 27-11.
00:37And the last four Wednesdays, you've been on the show.
00:42Y'all are 4-0, including last week's ninth inning comeback.
00:46So just saying, if you win again, I think you should be on the show again tomorrow.
00:51I know. I remember talking to you all in Colorado
00:55and exactly what you said happened.
00:57So whenever you guys want to call in, I'm totally going to pick up this phone call.
01:02Okay.
01:02Boom!
01:03You know what? We're going to have to try and see how we can get this squared away.
01:06I like this.
01:07Now, I love that.
01:08Now, I know it was just one game and season stats still have a way to go,
01:12but with somebody like Evan Carter,
01:14how big of a difference can that one game make
01:17to really get any player or him specifically going in the batter's box?
01:24Well, you're hoping it's one day, one message, one word sometimes
01:28that gets somebody to click and get him going.
01:31And we need Evan to get going.
01:32He's one of the best center fielders in the league defensively.
01:36We know the talent.
01:37I mean, you guys have seen it a few years ago and what he did in the postseason.
01:41The talent is in there.
01:43He's still super young.
01:44But I keep saying this, and I'm probably overdoing it sometimes,
01:49but Brandon Nimmo has been the best thing that I think has happened to Evan Carter
01:55as far as, like, what he should look like moving forward in his career
02:00as far as the preparation with the adversity, how to get through adversity,
02:04how to treat your body, how to get your body right for the next day, pre and post.
02:10He's been amazing for Evan.
02:12And Evan's grinding right now.
02:13He is working as hard as he can pre-game and post-game to figure this thing out.
02:18He took a lot better batch last night, obviously the huge triple.
02:22You saw the speed.
02:24He's been stealing bases at a high clip without getting caught.
02:27And then the homerun power is in there.
02:29But, you know, being more consistent like Brandon is the goal,
02:33and I think hopefully something like last night triggered something
02:37to where it can be more consistent moving forward.
02:39You know, Skip, I was watching, maybe it was about three or four days ago,
02:43I heard Mike Bassick say on the broadcast, he was like,
02:46I just want to see Evan Carter get a little mean up at the plate.
02:49And I just, like, I know exactly what he was talking about.
02:53Is that something you ever look at a player and you're like,
02:55I just kind of want you to just get mad at the ball?
02:59Yeah, you know, I had a former manager that always told me that anger builds adrenaline
03:05and you want to find something during the game, before the game,
03:09to find that adrenaline boost.
03:11Some guys write stuff on their bat like Evan did last night
03:14to, like, remind themselves to get some sort of edge,
03:17to get it going and not just be comfortable.
03:20And I think, you know, you have to find that certain edge over 162,
03:24and it's not easy every single day to find it.
03:27But I think Evan is trying to find what that looks like as an everyday player.
03:31Do you have any players or have you had any teammates
03:34that kind of went into Jordan mode
03:36where sometimes they had to make up an antagonist to get them mad,
03:40but hey, it did the job?
03:43Well, I mean, if you, you know, the finals right now in basketball,
03:48the MVP of the league always talks about trying to be somebody on the field
03:53as soon as he crosses over and into the court.
03:56Jordan was like that.
03:58Kobe with the, you know, the Black Mamba, the whole deal, right?
04:01Like, there are players that try to find a way to be somebody
04:06as soon as they cross over the line.
04:09And I think trying to be, trying to find that edge every single day, again,
04:14is what you have to try to do and be delusional at some times,
04:18like I said before.
04:19Or it does matter.
04:20It really does.
04:21And try to be, you know, this kind of, this guy that,
04:24this ultra, like, belief in yourself every single day,
04:27no matter what happened the day before, is real.
04:30And the only way to do that is to out-prepare everybody, out-work everybody.
04:34And so you know going into the game that you have nothing to lose
04:37and let's just throw it all out there and find that true edge mentally,
04:40you know, to get this thing going.
04:42You know, over the last two days,
04:44does a night like last night change your perspective from the night before?
04:48Or does it make you want to drive your point home even more?
04:51Like, I look at my kid and I'm like, you got an A.
04:54See, I knew you were capable of something like that.
04:57Is that how you kind of feel after you see one night lead into what you saw last night?
05:03As far as Evan Carter's concerned?
05:04No, just overall with your team, going from no hitter
05:07and then you have the output that you had last night.
05:11Yeah, I think, you know, I was really proud of the group coming into the stadium yesterday,
05:18not sulking, there was no carryover.
05:20It was a new day.
05:22A loss is a loss.
05:23I know we got no hit.
05:24Nobody wants to get no hit or lose the game.
05:27Both happened.
05:28So what did that look like the next day?
05:30And I was really proud of the coaching staff and the leaders of the group on the team
05:36of showing that, like, you know, it's a new day.
05:39Hey, we got to figure out how to win today.
05:41Let's figure out what we did wrong and move forward.
05:43And I felt like the guys were in a really good spot coming off of a really, really tough night.
05:49And it showed what kind of team we have and clubhouse we have, you know,
05:53when there was a lot of adversity that happened the night before.
05:57So, yeah, I was really proud of them.
06:01Now, can we keep that edge tonight and try to win, you know, game three of the series?
06:04Anyways, that's the goal.
06:06And, you know, hopefully, you know, these guys come in a really good spot again tonight.
06:10Is there any chance you were about to say when you asked the bed?
06:16Oof.
06:17That's for you guys to say.
06:18Okay, all right.
06:20It sounded like you were about to say that, and I was like, oh, no.
06:25I'm proud of them.
06:25That's good.
06:26That's a good thing.
06:28I definitely said some things post-game the other night that was not good for radio,
06:32but we're good now.
06:33There you go.
06:33There you go.
06:34Get that out of the system.
06:35Does an eight-run inning when you're on offense ever feel long enough?
06:40Or is it like, oh, man, that just flew by.
06:42I want more of that.
06:45Well, I think it was just good to see the guys, you know, take a deep breath.
06:51Brandon Nimmo getting the base hit, you know, was huge to really the third hitter of the game.
06:56And then Jake Berger, you know, a couple games ago had bases loaded a couple times,
07:01didn't come through.
07:02I know that was weighing on him.
07:03He gets a big base hit with bases loaded.
07:06And I think it just kind of freed everybody up.
07:08And it was good to see guys, you know, having fun again and smile and realize that, like,
07:12they're really good players.
07:13And, you know, they still have it in them.
07:15It's still early in the season.
07:16And there's a long ways to go.
07:19So it was just good to see, you know, that inning unfold.
07:22And then, you know, the middle innings, we struggled.
07:24The starting pitcher was still out there, which, you know, credit to him that he still lasted
07:29as long as he did.
07:30And I wish, you know, we could have added on, which we did later.
07:33But it would have been nice to keep adding in those middle innings.
07:36Now, speaking of starting pitching, I want to go to y'all's starting pitcher last night.
07:42You've talked a lot about what you think the future looks like for Jack Leiter.
07:46This might be simplifying it too much, but did you feel like his matchups against
07:50Jordan Alvarez, who's been a beast this year, kind of defined his season?
07:55Because you get a strikeout, you get two strikeouts bookended by the three-run home run.
08:00Does that not kind of feel like what Leiter's season has been like?
08:06Yeah, a little bit.
08:07I mean, the one thing Jack is not afraid of any hitter at the plate.
08:13Like, he is always going to be on the attack.
08:16It's just where is, you know, certain pitches just leak over in the wrong times
08:21or he gets behind the count in the wrong times, and then a crooked number happens in that inning.
08:27And then it doesn't tell the full story of that outing, though, right?
08:31Like, you can see he's so dominant for three or four innings, and then, you know,
08:35the three-run home run happens or a couple walks happen and then, you know, a double or whatever.
08:40And it just really stinks because the line doesn't really dictate what that outing really is.
08:47It happened in Detroit.
08:48It happened in, again, last night.
08:50And so you look up and you're like, oh, man, the line doesn't look great.
08:54However, if you're watching the game, the majority of the game was really, really good.
09:00So how do we get away from those, like, one big innings and eliminate the three-run home run
09:06and just get the solo home run, and all of a sudden his numbers look a whole lot different,
09:10and we're talking about, like, an all-star caliber pitcher, which I think that's going to be in his future
09:15soon.
09:15Is that kind of what you're getting at when you talk about Jack, to a certain extent,
09:19is still learning how to pitch?
09:21And what else goes into that?
09:25Yeah, I think it's just the nuances of the game.
09:28You watch, you know, Evo.
09:29Evo will throw his split 2-0 for a strike.
09:32He'll throw a split 1-0 and get weak contact for a strike.
09:36It's just not, you know, grip it and rip it and blow it by you,
09:39which Evo used to do, you know, early on in his career.
09:42Now he's pitching, and he's been pitching, you know, for, gosh, what is it, 16 or 17 years.
09:48It's just not the young Evo where it was just, you know, I'm going to get my fastball
09:51and throw it, you know, 98 miles an hour by you.
09:54I think that's the next step for Jack is, like, can I throw my changeup at any count
09:59to get weak contact early in the count?
10:01Can I throw my cutter in the same way?
10:03Can I eliminate the 3-2 counts, you know, to these hitters or the two-out walks
10:09or the back-to-back walks and stuff like that that really has hindered him
10:12in some of those starts.
10:14And I think that's what separates, like, the Evo and the young pitcher.
10:18And I think that's what Jack is going to get to.
10:20And the great news is you see Evo sit and DeGrom sitting right next to Jack
10:26in between starts, every start.
10:28And if you saw it inside our clubhouse, in the video room next to him,
10:32just, you know, walking him through different scenarios.
10:34So Jack is going to get that, you know, become Evo, I think, one day
10:39in early, sooner than you think.
10:42I'm not going to lie, Skip.
10:44Every time I see those three sitting next to each other, I'm like,
10:46that must be the most fun, like, talking, pitching,
10:49and just listening to those guys has got to be an absolute blast.
10:52I'm a little jealous of it at times because it looks so awesome.
10:55I can just imagine what that conversation is like with those guys.
10:59Speaking of DeGrom, last, what, two games, 10 runs given up,
11:03wasn't the best against Houston, but he also just three hit the Cubs,
11:07so that was awesome.
11:08Is there any big adjustment for DeGrom,
11:11and what are you expecting tonight from him against Houston?
11:16Yeah, well, I think you're going to see, you know, the ace Jacob DeGrom tonight.
11:22I think, you know, this is what, you know, Jacob DeGrom is built for.
11:26Like, you know, I know we have a, you know, four-game set or whatever,
11:29but, like, the 1-1, you know, series is tied,
11:31and, like, we need him tonight to, like, you know, really, you know, come through for us.
11:35I think the Jacob DeGrom of, you know, I think missing middle up has been the issue
11:42in the Anaheim series and then the Houston series.
11:47He's really good when he's, like, hitting the white line at the bottom.
11:50Yeah.
11:51And he's dominant.
11:53So if he can get back to that, which he's making the adjustment,
11:56and, you know, let them, you know, throw inside a little bit more,
11:59I think is going to be also on the table because he's just been so good at, you know,
12:03kind of just down in a way, just painting that white line early in his career.
12:08And now he has other weapons.
12:10He can use the two-seamer, you know, more effectively inside on righties.
12:14And this change-up is one of his better-performing pitches,
12:17if not his best-performing pitch.
12:19You know, can we up that usage a little bit?
12:21And then the four-seam inside on the left-handers is going to be key as well
12:26because, you know, sometimes these pitches that are going into lefties,
12:31they just leak in the middle and up, and I think it's not just being driven inside
12:36to the lefties.
12:37And I think that's when he gets into a little bit of trouble.
12:40But I think those are the adjustments that he was trying to make, you know,
12:44in the bullpen sessions in between.
12:46And hopefully, you know, we see the really good Jacob deGrom tonight.
12:49Skip, our friend and producer Alec Medford loves event shirts,
12:53and tonight is Skip Schumacher concert T-shirt night.
12:57What is, A, the greatest concert you've ever been to,
13:01and do you have a concert T-shirt collection?
13:05I don't have a concert T-shirt collection.
13:09This is a first for me.
13:11My mom is really excited about this concert T-shirt.
13:15We have to get a few for her to send out.
13:18I went to Chris Stapleton way back when,
13:21when I didn't even know who he was, in Mexico, Puerto Vallarta.
13:24Wow.
13:25He was an opener for all, for Luke Bryant way back when.
13:30I didn't even know who he was.
13:31And he and his wife went on stage.
13:32I'm like, oh my gosh, who is this?
13:35And it blew my wife and I's socks.
13:38We couldn't believe what we were hearing.
13:40And then now he's Chris Stapleton.
13:41So that was number one.
13:42And then when I was a kid,
13:44I grew up listening to like Rage Against the Machine.
13:46Yes.
13:47And that was, yeah, so that was an insane concert
13:50and probably the best one when I was a kid.
13:53Well, the next time you see Mike Bassick,
13:56he went to see Chris Stapleton in Tennessee over the weekend.
14:00So maybe y'all could have a little chat about that.
14:02I think Laney Wilson hopped up on the stage with him.
14:05But Chris Stapleton can sing and play some guitar, man.
14:08Thank you very much.
14:09Oh my gosh, he's incredible.
14:10Yeah, no, thank you guys.
14:12Yeah, and hopefully we'll talk with you again tomorrow.
14:14We'll see.
14:17I'm in.
14:17Let me know.
14:18Let's go.
14:19There you go.
14:20Thank you very much, Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumacher.
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