- 2 days ago
Caleb Durbin had a horrendous start to the season. After meeting with swing coach Lorenzo Garmendia, the third baseman is on fire. Lorenzo joins the show to discuss his work with Durbin.
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00:00It couldn't have been more of a disaster.
00:01The beginning of the season, Caleb Durbin was just as lost
00:05as he could possibly be at the plate.
00:07And then came a story that was leaked out about how Caleb Durbin
00:11had gone away from the Red Sox, away from their whole driveline,
00:17hitting, batting coach chaos that was going on there,
00:21people getting hired, fired, leaving.
00:23And he said, I'm going to find my own guy.
00:25I've been told about this guru, about the Yoda of hitting,
00:29the man who will teach you the way.
00:32And that gentleman's name is Lorenzo Garmandia.
00:35He is from Gradam, G-Swing, and Waltham.
00:37And ever since, Caleb Durbin has stepped into this man's dojo.
00:42Now he is one of the hottest hitters in baseball.
00:46It is truly a great story.
00:48And Lorenzo, he joins us right now.
00:51Lorenzo, how are you feeling like watching this massive turnaround
00:55from your guy?
00:59Well, first of all, thank you for having me, guys.
01:01And I hope my wife's listening.
01:03God, she's going to feel a hell of a lot better about me now.
01:06What an introduction.
01:08My God.
01:09But you've got to feel good.
01:11I mean, because it is true.
01:12And I'm honestly not exaggerating when I say that before he went to go see you,
01:18I mean, we all know how lost he was.
01:21But since then, Ken, you've got the stats.
01:24Don't you?
01:24Well, since he bottomed out, and I believe, Lorenzo, you correct me if I'm wrong,
01:27this is about the time he went into Gradam G-Swing for some work.
01:30He was hitting 163.
01:32May 26th.
01:32Okay, yeah, and he got benched.
01:34May 26th.
01:34He sat out for a few games or benched, whatever you want to call it.
01:36He was hitting 163.
01:37Since May 28th, in 36 games, he has hit 297 with eight homers, 10 doubles,
01:43a triple, 23 driven in, and an OPS of 921.
01:46And he's striking out now only 12% of the time.
01:49That is a total overhaul.
01:52And more important, he's using the whole field now.
01:56Yeah.
01:56Yeah, he is.
01:57He's playing smart baseball.
01:58He's at-bats.
01:59Like, we were talking about how yesterday there was one at-bat that he had
02:03where he started off, like, going bunt, and it was, like, a check swing.
02:06And then two pitches later, he was, like, well, this is the pitch that I want.
02:10Hits the two-run homer.
02:11And it was one that was outside the strike zone, but it was right where he's,
02:14like, basically golf-swinged it out of there.
02:16But he knew exactly what he wanted.
02:19I know this is going to be an oversimplification of, I'm sure, what you do.
02:23But can you kind of give us an idea of what Durbin looked like when he came in
02:28and some of the things that you told him to get him to where he is now?
02:34Well, here, the first thing I said is, you know, and guys that I've worked with,
02:38and again, you know, Durbin's been a great story.
02:41Obviously, thank you, you know, for the opportunity to help him.
02:43Carlos Narvaez on your team, you know, I work with him also.
02:47He hasn't had as much playing time, so it's a little bit more difficult to get
02:50the adjustments with him because he doesn't play.
02:52But, like, if you did your homework, you know, I really helped Buki in June of 2019.
02:57Christian Vasquez was a guy that we turned around that could never hit.
03:01And then, you know, obviously he had a great 2019, 2020, and he's still playing.
03:06So, you know, that was also really good stories.
03:08And I've done it with over 55 major leaguers of the top guys in the history,
03:13not in the history of baseball, but in baseball.
03:14Really good hitters, big-name guys that I think a lot of you guys know.
03:18And so the first thing that we want to do is,
03:21the two most important parts of hitting is you've got to stay inside the baseball
03:24and you've got to let it travel.
03:25And if you don't understand those concepts, it's going to be very difficult.
03:28Now, how you go about it, that's the, call it the art, the science,
03:33the secret sauce, all mixed together.
03:35So the first thing I wanted him to do was stop trying to pull the ball
03:38and stop hitting the ball on the ground.
03:40Easier said than done.
03:41But obviously, you know, we understand the diagnosis and we have the fix.
03:46And that's the first thing I attacked.
03:48He was getting pitched.
03:49Everybody knew already in the league that he couldn't hit the sinker.
03:52So guess what he's going to get?
03:53The sinker.
03:54And then the sinker was, you know, going to be either a swing and miss over the top
03:58or a ground ball to third or short.
03:59And that's the first thing we addressed and obviously fixed right away.
04:03So, I'm sorry, go ahead, Ken.
04:05I was just going to say, have you, how much have you been working with Caleb since?
04:08And have you been over to the facility?
04:10And how's that all going?
04:12So the first, obviously, because it was so, you know, it was so bad.
04:17I was there pretty much every day and I would travel.
04:19So, you know, this is something that I'm used to doing.
04:20And we have close to 30-something locations.
04:24Not only Walt and we have Middleton and I have gradums in about eight different states.
04:29So wherever there's a gradum and if they're playing, I'll travel to it.
04:32You know, I kind of kill two birds with one stone, take a look at the location and then also
04:35work with the player.
04:36And so pretty much for 30 days, I was, we were working a lot.
04:42Pretty much every day, I would be there.
04:44I would go to BP.
04:45I wanted to see everything on the field just to see how he felt.
04:49And then from there, we talk after the game.
04:50So if I'm not there, we talk.
04:53If I'm there, obviously, we're working.
04:54And if it's an away game and, you know, I start seeing something that I don't, you know,
04:59I think could be a problem, then I fly it.
05:01What is he saying to you, like, during all this?
05:03Like, as his numbers start racking up, as the home runs and the ball starts going over the wall a
05:08lot more,
05:09like, is he sending you texts after games or what is he saying afterwards when he sees you in person?
05:15First of all, phenomenal human being, great work ethic.
05:20It's a, he's a sponge.
05:22You know, he absorbs everything and just the work ethic and the time he puts in, which is not easy,
05:28guys.
05:28I mean, you know, we're working 10 in the morning and, you know, he doesn't finish.
05:31Think about it.
05:32He probably doesn't get home.
05:33I could probably say it's about 1 or 2 in the morning, then after the game, the media and all
05:36that.
05:36So it's a lot of hours put in.
05:39Obviously, he's seen the results.
05:41So, you know, think about it.
05:43You go to the doctor and you felt terrible and now he makes you feel good.
05:46You know, how do you feel about everything good?
05:48So the confidence level, which that's the, you know, I always, people ask me, well, what is it?
05:51Is it mental or mechanical?
05:54It's always mechanical first and then it turns mental.
05:56Are you surprised?
05:57Are you, I'm sorry.
05:59Sorry.
06:00No, go ahead.
06:00Fix the mechanics, then we fix the mental.
06:02Are you surprised that the power has come with it?
06:04Because he does.
06:05I mean, eight home runs is no joke.
06:08Yeah.
06:09I mean, hey, I don't know if you got stats in front of me.
06:11Look at Christian Vasquez's career before 2019.
06:13I think in his whole career, he had five and in 2019, he had 19.
06:17So, you know, I've seen the movie.
06:18I know what to do.
06:19You know, we're very good at what we do.
06:21And we know how to address certain issues on the player's swings and what they're trying to accomplish.
06:26I could tell you this.
06:27The last thing I told him was to pull the ball.
06:30And now look how he, you know, he pulls home runs.
06:32There you go.
06:33So, if you want a little secret there, like, the last thing we worked on was pulling the baseball.
06:38And now we've got eight home runs and, you know, to the left side of the field.
06:41Lorenzo, could you make someone who is total trash competent, like, if I was to show up, because I'm obviously
06:48never played the game at any kind of high level,
06:50like, someone who is, like, laughably bad, who could barely swing a baseball bat, like, could a couple, could a
06:58little couple, like, couple lessons with you turn me into somebody
07:01that could make me the king of my beer league team?
07:06That's a great question.
07:08Man, I'll tell you what.
07:10I mean, obviously, I feel very – here, you know, I don't know.
07:13You know, I think I told you guys in the first interview, I never played baseball in my life.
07:16I know.
07:17That's insane.
07:18That is insane.
07:19We've got to be pretty good at what we do.
07:20So, I feel like that – I feel like I can get you to hit and that you're going to
07:25see that, wait a minute, I can really do this.
07:28And I think that confidence also helps.
07:30Can I make you – like, if you're in the first grade, can I take you to second or third
07:36grade?
07:37Absolutely.
07:37If you're in college, can I take you to Ph.D.?
07:40Yeah.
07:40You know, if you're a JV guy, can I get you to varsity?
07:43Yes.
07:44Yes.
07:44You know, it all depends.
07:46This was a great story told to me by an NBA player.
07:50In the world of athletics, some guys are born in the garage and some guys are born on the 20th
07:54floor.
07:55What's closer to the penthouse?
07:56What if I was born with brain damage?
07:58Like, what if I literally could barely swing a bat?
08:03Let's just go run and kick the ball.
08:06All right.
08:07How about a catchy nickname, Lorenzo?
08:09How about Dr. Barrow or the Mechanics Messiah or the Swing Llama?
08:13Jeez, Ken.
08:15Or Dalai Lorenzo or something like that.
08:17Something like me.
08:18I don't want to give away where I park.
08:20The funny thing was, like – and again, I've been at it so long.
08:23So, here, I'll give it away because it's Boston and I love the fans.
08:26I love the city.
08:27I park in the corner.
08:29There's a gentleman that owns the gas station there.
08:31It used to be a sitcom.
08:32I don't know what it's called now.
08:33It's a no-co.
08:34Like, think about it.
08:34It's like not even a block away from the stadium.
08:36Like, right there.
08:36Yeah, yeah.
08:38And I get – you know, I go there to park for BP just to make sure that I can
08:41see everything.
08:42And he has a spot for me.
08:43And he calls me the Swing Whisperer.
08:45That name has been used before by other people.
08:48Man, I just get you to hit.
08:49If you're not hitting, I get you to hit.
08:51And that's basically it.
08:52Like, I'll find out why you're not hitting.
08:54And then we will address that.
08:56And I'll make sure that you're going to barrel some baseballs.
08:58And you're going to be able to, you know, drive the baseball.
09:00And more important, at that level, at the major level, the kind of pitches that the pitchers are attacking you
09:06with that you're not able to hit.
09:08Have any other players since your success with Caleb Durbin reached out from the Red Sox?
09:15I haven't checked my voicemail.
09:17Have you raised your prices?
09:22No, we're good.
09:24We're good.
09:24I haven't checked my voicemail.
09:25Maybe I need to check my voicemail.
09:27All right, man.
09:28Well, Lorenzo, it's a great story.
09:29It really is.
09:30Because, I mean, when that story first came out that Caleb had gone outside the organization, you know, it didn't
09:36make the Red Sox look very good.
09:37Because it's like, how do you not have the best of the best?
09:40But now we absolutely know why.
09:41Because, obviously, Durbin got great advice from whether it be Mookie or Narvaez or whoever spoke to him.
09:48You know, he said that this is the guy that's seen it's worked.
09:50So, Lorenzo, congrats, man.
09:52It is, you know, keep whatever you're telling him.
09:55Keep whispering.
09:56Keep doing it.
09:56Yeah, because he's jacking him.
09:57So, as Red Sox fans, we appreciate it, Lorenzo.
10:02Thank you, guys.
10:03And, obviously, the team is doing well.
10:04So, that's a good thing to see.
10:06They're winning.
10:06They're on a good streak.
10:08Hitting is contagious.
10:09You guys have heard of that.
10:10Well, if the worst hitter starts to hit really, really good, it starts getting contagious.
10:15And, again, couldn't have been a better guy.
10:17You know, very tough for him.
10:18Guys, think about this.
10:19I don't think the average fan knows this.
10:21Like, think about it.
10:21He comes to a big city.
10:22Played in Milwaukee.
10:23You know, not that one of the biggest cities for baseball.
10:27Comes to Boston.
10:27Like I told you, you guys are classy, ruthless, and it's awesome.
10:31You know, love the atmosphere there.
10:33And, all of a sudden, he starts struggling like he did.
10:36And the makeup on the kid.
10:38And he's not a kid.
10:39Obviously, he's a grown man.
10:40But, you know, because I'm way older than him.
10:42The makeup on him is phenomenal.
10:44Great person.
10:45You want to go to war with him.
10:47And I don't use the word war lightly, especially where we're at.
10:50But if you want someone in the foxhole, I'll take him and Narvi every day.
10:54Yes, when I see a guy in a Red Sox hat vomiting in front of Loretta's, the first word I
10:58think of is classy, the way you describe Red Sox fans.
11:02No question.
11:02All right, well, Lorenzo, great stuff.
11:04Thanks for coming on, man.
11:05We'll keep up with you and keep track of how everything's going.
11:07This has been great.
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