Gwynn & Chris On Demand
Bryce Johnson talks about joining a team in the middle of a heated playoff race
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And Bryce, the thing that caught my eye right away watching you play earlier this week here in San Diego against the Nationals, you're really, really fast. This is something I'm sure you're aware of. Were you always like first time you ever had a race in the schoolyard? Did you win? Like were you just fast right out of the gate or is it something that's developed? No, I think, you know, I don't think anybody touched me growing up when I was no on the track. As a matter of fact, growing up, my first sport was football and I played receivers. So I had to be fast kind of, I guess. Bryce, one of the things that I've learned about you in your short period of time with the Padres is you just start switch hitting until you were in college. That's a pretty unusual considering that a lot of guys start off pretty early. But just tell us a little bit about your journey and switch hitting and kind of figuring it out as you went along. Yeah, grew up. I could always switch it. My dad would always, you know, swing me to the other side, natural sides of our head, but he'd swing me left handed and, you know, we kind of fool around. He'd throw and, you know, I developed a swing that he noticed. Not obviously, you know, growing up, I never, you know, hit left handed or anything, but he'd noticed it. And then high school came around. As a matter of fact, I tried out my, I think it was my junior year on varsity. I told our head coach, John Popo, like, hey, do you mind if I go up here? It was just a quick little scrimmage exhibition game before our season started. You might go up here and hit left handed and try it out. And he said, yeah, that's fine. Went up there, struck out on six pitches left handed and told him I'm never going to do this again. You ain't got to worry about it. And then obviously went to San Houston, you know, never thought about doing that ever again. Went to San Houston. And then my sophomore year of college, our head coach, Matt Dagg, at the time, had a huge glass window that you could see in our cages. And we were just about to leave for Christmas or about that summer. And I was in there fooling around once the guys, and I was hitting left handed off the machine. And obviously, somehow was at that time, you know, crushing the ball off the machine left handed. He saw that, called me into the office before fall practice started and said, Hey, you know, I saw you hitting left handed. And he goes, do you you know, you want to try this out? And I go, you know, I've tried this before. And you know, it didn't go well. So he said, let's go ahead and just try it, you know, button with my speed and everything just getting down a line and all that. And I said, that's cool. And we went all fall kind of most of the time working on the bun. And then about halfway through, I started taking live babies and stuff, swinging. And then we developed a swing and, you know, ever since then, we took it into the that season and two days before our first game, we called me in and said, Hey, are you sure you want to do this? And I said, yes. And we have ran with it since then. Switch with the left handed. That's a good story. Bryce Johnson is with us, the switch hitting outfielder for the San Diego Padres Bryce. Yeah, I know you've been in the big leagues with the Giants. So this wasn't, you know, that eye opening for you. I mean, I'm sure you're very excited when you got the news to come to San Diego from El Paso. But you're you're stepping in right now for a pretty good player, Fernando Tatas Jr. There aren't too many guys anywhere that could, you know, step in for that. What did the Padres tell you about what they're hoping to get and kind of how they want you to go about, you know, playing right field in the, you know, in the interim without, you know, putting too much pressure on it all. Yeah, you know, obviously you can't replace the Tatas. That's a one of a common player. But no, I just do, you know, I talk to Shilt and, you know, we just, I played my game kind of like how the last couple of games have been going, you know, whatever I can do to help the team win, move runners, you know, use my speed and then obviously defense first for me. So play great defense on where I build it, you know, do what I do out there. But yeah, it's just, you know, be myself be who I am and continue to just, you know, help whatever it is to help the team out. And that's, that's my job. And that's what I'm going to just continue to do. Bryce Johnson joins us here on Quinn and Chris, one of the new Padres outfielders. And Bryce, just talk a little bit about having to toggle between roles and, and some of the difficulties doing that at the big league level, you know, obviously when you're down, you know, playing triple A, you're playing every day. Now you're coming off the bench. Right now you're getting a chance to play a lot, obviously with Toddy down, but just talk about having to navigate being in and out of different roles in the situation you're in at the big league level. Yeah, I did a lot with the, with the Giants. I did a lot of that coming off the bench starting, you know, once or twice a week and then, you know, coming off the bench. It's, it's a tough, it's a tough role. I mean, you got guys, you know, throwing a hundred now, coming out of that 10, you don't see many guys, someone below 95. So you got to be ready. And I always say, that's probably the toughest job, you know, on the baseball field is, you know, coming off the bench cold, you know, six, seven, eight inning, you know, ready to pinch it. And it's, it's tough, but, you know, that's the, that's the job we signed up for and all that. So, you know, being a role player, you got to, you know, take it and run with it, you know, get your work in during the game before the game. No, you know, know what's going to happen to it. Or hopefully, know what your role is going to be going into that game. And, you know, you just take that and you just figure out what you got to do to get ready for that game. Bryce Johnson with us. The Padres gets set to take on the Boston Red Sox. And you're getting to play tonight in Fenway Park. I don't know that you got to play there when you were with San Francisco. I mean, this is one of the most famous baseball arenas in the world. Right field, you got pesky's pole, you got a short little fence there that if you jump over, you could wind up in the stands. How excited are you about tonight and how much preparation is there going to be just to make sure you're comfortable out there? Yeah, I actually was here back in 2016 with the Cape Codley. We had a little, you know, showcase here, a little, you know, a little small scrimmage stuff like that. So I kind of, that was a long time ago, but I kind of, you know, get the feel of what this place looks like, you know, feels like obviously, you know, not a packed house, but I can't wait for that. But yeah, I think it's just, you know, enjoying the moment, looking around. I mean, this is what you play for is to be able to play in stadiums like this. You know, and yeah, I just plan on having fun with it and just enjoying my time out there. Last one for me, Bryce. I mean, the last three games have been pretty exciting, considering all of the different things that goes on. You know, very few have, have been on the field when things can get hectic like that. What is the number one rule for you when bench is clear, dugouts clear, the bullpen's clear. What is the number one rule when you get out there? So it's funny. This is the second time it's happened to me where we've kind of cleared benches like we did. And I was actually down in the tunnel in the cage getting ready for my AB. So I wasn't like in the twice now where I haven't been in the dugout when it's happened and I have come running out when it's already happening. I'm like, trying to make myself look like I was actually in the in the scuffle. So it's hoping one of the days I could get out there, you know, on time and make something happen. But, you know, it's cool. It was exciting. That was, that was really, you know, fun to be a part of and see it and, you know, having, you know, many at the home run right after, you know, just saying everybody in a frenzy. But it was, it was really cool. What did that tell you about your new teammates, Bryce? I mean, I thought that game made a loud statement to everybody that, you know, first, don't mess around with the Padres. Second, if you do, you might have to, you might get, you know, it get burned, you know, man, he comes through. I mean, the timing of that couldn't have been written any better by a Hollywood script. Yeah. I mean, Manny said it all the time too. He tells us we hear him talk about, you know, everybody here has each other's backs and, you know, seeing that happen, you know, having so far back in those situations and, you know, him coming through after that just shows, you know, how tight this bond is here and how close these guys are. And I'm just, I'm just happy to be a part of it and just get, you know, taken and run with it and have fun. Well, we're happy you're a part of the two, Bryce. Thanks so much for spending a little time with us. Enjoy the, the weekend in Boston, back to Dallas, which is, I guess, probably a little closer to where you grew up, right in Texas. So that should be a fun trip for you. Well, and then we'll see you back in San Diego. But keep it going, man. Good to have you aboard. Awesome. Thank you guys. I do it while making coffee. I do it in the car. I do it when the kids are asleep. What are they all doing? 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