We sit down with Red Sox Minor league utility guy Drew Ehrhand
#mlbpodcast #baseball #baseballpodcast #podcast #redsoxpodcast #redsox #redsoxnation #soxnation
The Pesky Podcast
The Pesky Podcast Episode 135 w/ Drew Ehrhard
following video is brought to you by the Boston Sports Entertainment Network. Please consider liking and subscribing for more Boston SportsCon. Shot to right, slicing toward the pesky pole down the line, and it's got to be off. Lie down the right field line toward the pesky pole, leaping up, and that ball is gone. That's a home run. The rot of our nested team as well. I fly down the right field line headed toward the pesky pole. That one tucked in, and that ball is going to be against the wall, and in the second base, number retired, and the wrong base never is trying to retire that baseball inside a pesky pole. Welcome to another episode of the pesky podcast. I'm your host, The Rit. With me, like always, is Rob, our producer, Brandon. The OG is in no man's land with no internet, so he won't be with us tonight. But as always, we are brought to you by the Boston Sports Entertainment Network. And before we introduce our guests and get break down and see how our co-hosts are doing, let's sit there and go for a quick word from our sponsor, Castorano Baseball Development. The man is amazing at what he does. He brings the family environment to the game of baseball. Are you tired of being overlooked by college recruiters in professional scouts? Are your metrics so low that your bat speed doesn't sell you? Guess what? We have your solution. We have our dynamic bat speed accelerator training program now available. Bye, us. Yeah, that's Fabian Castorano. Drew, you might sit there and work with him before in the Red Sox minor leagues. But before we get into that, Rob, what's going on, man? How you doing? Pretty good. Just another day. Just worked a long shift at work, happy to be back and talking with the boys about baseball and excited to have Drew on. Brandon? I'm good. I'm kind of going back on my word a little bit. I told myself I wasn't going to sweat too much over the soft season, but now that Rokey's officially being posted, I'm watching Twitter like a hawk. So, but I'm doing good. Okay. I'm sitting there excited. I'm going to talk Red Sox baseball. We will guys have a Red Sox baseball podcast. But, dude, we got these minor league baseball players lined up for interviews. We've already hit Noah Dean. We've already hit Drew Erhard's son like we hunt because he owns him. We got we got Drew Erhard this week. We got calmly early coming up. We've got, you know, Richard Fitz coming up. Man, it's just a stacked overall performance here. But let's get, let's go to our guest. Drew, man. What's been going on, man? How you doing? Doing great, guys. Thanks so much for having me on and really excited. Well, I'm going to go break it right out right out from the door. Last week, we had Blake Wihan on and we were talking for a little bit about how you own him. When it comes to some live BP, you know, a simulated game, I think it was in spring training. He said it was. So, Drew, what was your approach with Blake, you know, first time facing him? What did you do to make sure he, you know, didn't get you out at all? Yeah, I mean, I didn't really know Blake when we first got picked up. But now as we've kind of come along these past like year and a half, I mean, he's been, he's such a great guy, man. One of my best buds, love to do love the dude to death. And I remember that time that I faced him. And I, like I said, I didn't really know him too well at the time. But I just see this big, absolute unit of a body. I mean, I don't know if you guys could tell through the camera, but Blake is a big, old country boy, big country strong. And I'm like, goodness. And then when you get in the box, what's really special about Blake that I learned when I faced him and when I was catching him when I've caught him a lot, he gets such great extension. And as a hitter, it just feels like he's reaching out about halfway between the mountain home plate when he's releasing that ball. And as a hitter, that is extremely, extremely uncomfortable. So it took me a couple pitches to figure that out. And I'm like, man, that fastball is going to really kind of get on me. And then kind of like Blake said, I think I may have found a couple of those off. So we tried some of his other pitches and he got me to two strikes and I go into my two strike approach. And I'm just kind of foul and stuff off, foul and stuff off. And then just kind of waited for him to make a mistake. And I think he left. I think it was a heater. I think he left a heater that had a little too much of the plate was able to get some barrel there. And from then on, I mean, we still joke about it to this day. Yeah, man. I honestly think I made the comparison of Devers and Garrett Cole, you know, between you two last week. But I honestly think until he's able to strike you out, every father's day he should be sending you some sort of card. Like personally, I'm here for it. I would that would get a kick out of that. That would be hilarious. So, but man, first off, you know, our belief in city with Mikey two guns, Mikey, what's going on? Man, how you doing? Thanks for stopping by. Rob, what's going on, man? Well, the question I want to ask you is essentially catching. Obviously, one thing I want to know is obviously in the minor leagues with the new rules, obviously, they have you could challenge the pitches now with framing. What goes into with framing pitches and what when you have umpires behind the plate, do you feel like sometimes they're a little bit too generous on the framing? Or do you feel like when it comes to framing, what's your technique to framing certain pitches? Yeah, so, you know, it's that's the whole challenge system started in AAA. I actually haven't been able to get much of experience from that yet, but I have talked to guys that were in AAA doing that. And it's pretty cool. And I mean, from a framing standpoint, I mean, our biggest thing within the org is keeping strikes, man. And we should know the zone the best. We know when the balls are going to be there, when they're not. Some of those ones, especially the big thing we work on is that low ball, man. We want to try and dominate the bottom of the zone. That's kind of the toughest for the umpires to really get a look at as they're looking kind of with that down angle. We feel that's the spot where we can kind of like frame or steal the most of them. But yeah, a lot of our big or core three things are owning the zone, dominating the bottom and protecting the 90s. So back to your point about the challenging system. I mean, the fact that we are just always trying to know where the zone is when we get that one that we're like, man, that was, that was in the zone and they don't call it. It should be pretty easy for us to kind of, you know, give the old tap to the helmet and we should be able to get that call more often than not. And another thing I want to actually to, when it comes to catching, is there any particular, I know like certain pitches like you go to a certain stance? Is there a certain thing when it comes to catching like position wise that you feel like you make adjustments throughout the game? Is there a way because I know some people do the one leg out, some people do the crouch? Is there a certain way that you catch that you feel the most comfortable in? Yeah, I mean, when I got picked up, I mean, I'm not sure how much you guys know. I had my six years in college. I was mainly an infielder. I mean, there was my fifth year that I caught about 50% of the games, I would say, but I really, I got picked up to catch as an infielder. So I had a lot of learning to do a lot of catching up to do, but everyone was great from the catching coordinator to all the catching coaches and even the catches around me. They've been nothing but supportive. So I've really had to adopt that kind of one knee down. That's what we all really kind of go with. And I just kind of, I really pride myself on how I go about my business in the bullpen. I try not to take just like, oh, I'm just back there catching a bullpen. No, I try and use that as like, okay, I'm in a game right here. Work on the framing, work on the receiving, doing everything I need to do. So then when it comes game time, I'm ready to do what I need to do. And when it comes to the different pitches, as I've been working along through myself and talking with the coordinators, I've come to figure out for me. I typically go whichever way the pitch is breaking. That's usually the knee that's up. So I get that righty slider. A lot of times I like to go with the right knee up. I feel most stable. I get that lefty slider. I usually go left knee up. That just kind of helps me be in a more like stable position. I'd say when the pitch is kind of fading away from me to where like my open body is, I feel like I get a little too much body movement going. But when I got that knee up to the side that is breaking, I feel much more stable and a quieter body and that helped me usually get some more pitches. All right. So I want to stick with the minor league. The challenge system for a second, because Rob Manfred has come up and said that they are going to try the challenge system and spring training. See how it goes. Can you give us a hint as MLB fans what to expect from this system? And is it good or bad? What do you think of it? I mean, I think it's good to have it to where you can challenge. You have certain amount of pitches just like we kind of challenge like in regular plays like out calls at first, first and second base all around the diamond. Being able to have that challenge there. I think it's good. I mean, I'm a big fan of like I truly believe like this is an imperfect game. I mean, players are going to make mistakes. Coaches are going to make mistakes and umpires are going to make mistakes. I think that is what makes this game so beautiful is that it is an imperfect game. I know it can be incredibly frustrating at times. I mean, we all know that firsthand how frustrating it can be when umpires seem to miss calls and that kind of stuff. But I think that kind of adds to the beauty of the game, but being able to have some, some leeway in there in certain situations where it's like, okay, I really needed that strike call. And I know it was a strike being able to tap helmet and challenge that. I think it'll be really good. Drew, you were part of the, with the 2023 Greenville Drive Championship team. Correct. Yes, sir. So, I became really good friends with Joey Stock. Him and I actually do a podcast together raising your stock. Of course, you know, he retired from, from playing professional baseball and stuff. But what was that championship team like because, you know, it seemed like you guys didn't miss a beat. You guys had, you know, well, we've dubbed them. The fantastic for now, but you've had, you know, you had three of them in there boom, you know, moving up and then like to be replaced. Bam, you guys didn't miss a beat. So, you know, can you talk a little bit about that, that season there. Yeah, so that was obviously that was right when I had gotten picked up. I had signed my free agent deal a week after the draft. So I go down to the complex, trying to just kind of learn the ins and outs of pro ball at that point. I was a lot older than a lot of the guys that got picked up since I had like, I had the six years of college so it was a little bit more of a mature figure around there. Still learning the ins and outs of pro ball. And then that FCL season ends and they really liked the way I was kind of handling my business so they send me up to Greenville to kind of help manage the bullpen in that sense get a taste for affiliate ball. And man, being around some of those guys was absolutely incredible. Like you said, got into, I had met Roman a couple of times beforehand, but being able to play with Roman. Awesome dude awesome baseball player. I got really close to Kyle man Kyle is just an absolute beast, one of my favorite human beings he calls and checks up all the time I love chatting with Kyle. And then Christian Campbell, absolute freak man, I mean just an absolute dominant baseball player, incredibly great human being and that entire team seeing being able to talk with a lot of those guys that have been in professional baseball being a guy that was really cool. I spent a lot of time in the bullpen which always stocked and some of those dudes and their great dudes love all those guys and yeah, that team was that team was legit especially the week before playoff started we went to Aberdeen and got swept. And that was kind of like a, oh goodness moment like this might be a, this might be a quick, quick postseason run but then man, those guys were able to flip a switch and just dominated the entire way through and it was incredibly incredibly fun to watch and be a part of that. Yeah, now you, you've seen, you know, and we've all heard Roman Anthony's work ethic and his professional, like, he, people don't understand how young he is, but how mature he seems to be in the public. Then on the flip side Christian Campbell baseball is in his, you know, blood with his family his brother is just as, you know, as good as he is and everything. And which one did you see put in, like if you had the pick put in more the work. Who was there first who was there last. You're really putting me on the spot for the hell on. Man, I can truly like, envision like both of them, like really getting after what sticks out about Christian a little bit more is how dedicated he was to the bat speed training that we were doing. And that has like, I mean, it has made him even more special than he was in college. I mean, his power numbers is slugging just shot through the roof as soon as he started doing that with the red socks and man, it was, it was really special. I have to imagine that was kind of the same when Roman got picked up. He was a young high school kid and then he gets in with all the bat speed training that we like to do with the red socks and man it's, it's really special just watching them both work about how they go about their business and such a professional manner. And I have a feeling they're going to be playing this game for a really long time. Ron. I wanted to ask you something you mentioned about like the free agent process. Do you want to first, you said six years in college, can you break down the difference of what you feel, especially playing college ball for so long with the difference from college ball. And obviously professional ball was. And then what was it like signing? Obviously the deal was the process with that. Yeah, so I mean, college is, is always going to hold a special place in my heart, especially for me. I went to the University Tampa where my dad played, he ended up, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame there just before I went to UT. So I always knew I wanted to kind of follow in the family legacy, younger brother had to go and be superstar, big D one Oklahoma state. But no, it was really great going to University Tampa. For those six years, it's going to be something I treasure for a really long time. And then the free agent process, like I finished my six years of college. I really hadn't heard much. From a signing standpoint. So I was like, okay, I started, I went up to Cape Todd and was doing some coaching up there and hyenas. The draft kind of came and went, and I was like, all right, so that's it. We're going to, we're going to go this coaching route and then like a week after the draft, I got a call. Said, Hey, we got a spot for you as a catcher. It's yours if you wanted and I jumped on and I ran with it and it's been a blessing ever since. And then another thing to I want to ask you with with the catching, obviously, well, how was the transition from moving to the infielded catching was it something that you obviously, obviously, like we said earlier about footwork was it something that you put in like. Is there certain things or certain techniques you have to use becoming a catcher any workouts and any particular things that got you ready to become a catcher. Yeah, I mean, I had remembered and about halfway through my college career, I told my head coach that I was interested in potentially doing some catching at one point and he was all for it. There was, I spent, I think my fourth year. Catching a bunch of bullpen catching all the inter squad games. I think I caught one game that year. And then my fifth year of college, I was one of our main catcher is me and one other player like kind of switched off from time to time. And then my sixth year I was kind of back to the infield, but I think playing the infield is really good for just my hand eye coordination. I kind of, I would say my week spot and catching is blocking. That's really tough for me because I have such I have the infield hands. My hands always want to come up. I just want to kind of catch anything as opposed to really kind of wearing it off the chest protector, which is kind of a blessing and occurs. I say I do a better job than some of the catchers at doing the picks and the paddle blocking because I have that infield background, but when it comes to kind of just trying to take one right off the chest as much as I want to let it hit me right there in the chest. My hands kind of naturally want to come up like I'm feeling the ground ball and some I've been working hard to correct and it'll be a process moving forward for sure. So, Rick talked a few minutes ago about work ethic, but one thing that I noticed about you specifically with work ethic when I was looking into your numbers and some of your story and stuff. I realized that you don't get a ton of playing time but when you do, you play very well so tell me about that focus in between the playing time that you get how do you stay focused and ready for when you do get called on. Yeah, I, and it was actually made pretty clear to me when I got called off like I'm kind of that last man in in 2023. It was like hey, we're going to get you in here we like what you're about, there was really no guarantee on the whole playing time side of things. We're going to get you in we're going to try and make it all work out and we're going to kind of see what happens and I said that's all ever needed I just wanted to. I just needed to get in the door that was all I ever wanted and I knew I'd be able to show them what I was about once I got there and that's kind of what I've just taken with me I mean. Kind of like I said earlier I had kind of turned the page on my whole playing career. I thought I was I was done and I was going to go into coaching and now I kind of have this second life I get to actually I get to keep playing I'm living the dream now I get to play professional baseball it's what I've thought of since I was four years old. So I kind of just I really try and take that mentality with me to the baseball field every single day like dude you're this is a blessing you get to play baseball for a living you're playing professional baseball you've dreamed about this for so long. So I mean kind of no matter what happens if I'm if I'm in there I'm going to give it everything I got and if I'm not in there okay and it's time to just go to work and be ready for the next time I get called on it's just kind of keeping that mentality of always being ready and just remembering how much of a blessing it is to be here and I want to make the most of it. So sticking with that like how much work do you do in the cages and stuff like that or what do you do to stay in shape and stay focused in between your playing time. Yeah I mean it's a lot of a lot of cage work I mean it's easy to kind of especially when it gets into the dog days of summer it's really easy to just kind of go through the motions when we go through our hitting routines but I really try to remind myself like hey I can't let myself slip because if I end up getting that opportunity and I don't make the most of it who knows when I get that opportunity again. And then on the defensive side being a catcher being kind of new to the position kind of like I talked about earlier is every time I step in that bullpen. Yeah, I pretend there's an umpire behind me I pretend there's there's some base runners on base and I'm trying to make sure that I'm really like locked in I'm trying to frame the pitches the best I can keeping everything in front. And that's just is going to make it that much easier when I get the opportunity in the game to really just transition over. To transitioning over to catcher. Was there anybody or was there several players that you know that you've kind of like watch. Okay this this is how they do it this is how they don't for one. And two, you know last year was your first spring training. Did you get to sit there and meet and pick the brain of Jason Veritek who possibly could be one of the greatest catchers ever to be able to just you know get advice from. To the first point I mean I actually I during the season like I try and watch longer quite a bit I think long does a pretty good job on the receiving end. I like kind of the way he goes about his business. And then obviously I think one of the best in the game is room you toe man he does an incredible job back there with everything that he does. And then to the Veritek standpoint I mean this is a memory that I'll never forget I during spring training. I was backing up a big league game. And I forget who started the game and then a sub when I think long started and then a sub went in. And then three of the other backup catchers kind of just like they took off so now I'm like the only guy there and I'm thinking that's it's whatever he goes down and Veritek I remember him looking at me and he goes get ready and I was just like. Oh my god like Veritek's told me to get get ready to go catching a big league spring training game I was star struck but then I went out there and I mean I felt I was really happy with the job that I did out there but what is just so surreal to me is I had Veritek in the dugout like any time like I made a good move or I made a good block I hear Jason Veritek saying I had a boy drew great stop great great work out there and like. Just hearing that guy tell me that I was doing a good job was just so surreal and I mean he was nothing but completely supportive during all of that it was such an incredible experience he's truly not only just an amazing catcher but he's an amazing coach amazing man. It was really that's it was a really cool experience that I think I'll never forget. Yeah well watching you catch it kind of reminds me a little bit of Christian Vasquez who you know used to catch for their bad socks and to me you're kind of built like him you know. But it's just amazing how you know easily you're able like Brandon said just to go in on a whim you know cold most times and be able to you know go in there and just you know spark a fire or continue. You know a hitting streak or you know get get driving the run easily. Yeah absolutely I mean I just kind of back to that point I just remind myself like how much of a blessing it is to be here and I just want to be ready any opportunity I get because any opportunity could be your last. I want to ask me something to about like being growing up obviously developing and becoming a catcher was there any catcher that you modeled your game after that growing up did you idolize any catcher then there is there any player in like any catcher at all that you thought hey let me model my game after this is I want to copy their routine and kind of develop myself into who I mean as I was growing up like like we kind of talked about earlier growing up I was a big infielder so I had infielders listed for days I mean Dustin Pedroia was a guy I wanted to be as a second baseman that's what I played a lot of my time in college S was a second baseman I was like Pedroia I want to be freaking Pedroia that guy is one of the best of the best. From a catching standpoint growing up man I remember watching Verite and that guy was good he was solid back there he was I always try to lean towards the guys that are like the true leaders and really embody like that captain and the leadership and the quarterback role of being a catcher and I felt like Veritek always did a great job of being that guy and like I said like these days that I'm watching I mean I think Ramuto is one of the best to do it. Wong does an awesome job on the receiving in love watching him what he does and watching him work. That was would be the big guys I would say I really try and try and model myself after. And then I also want to actually with catching also with the pitch con being integrated in a major league baseball and baseball as a whole. Is there anything when you get new pitchers in the game do you guys have to change your pitch com like like I know like obviously they're set to certain buttons is there a certain way to change them or is they just like implemented as soon as the other pitcher comes and they have one said and you just switch yours off. Yeah they did the pitch com thing again that was a triple a and big league thing we actually didn't do that in double a but I did I remember seeing the guys do it in spring training and I do think it's just kind of like a quick setting like in between pitchers like I think it just kind of flipped a setting and you know where all those buttons are but I remember sitting in a catcher's meeting during spring training and they were like talking about it and they were practicing it hitting the different buttons and then you got to switch modes for this and then you got to switch modes for defensive positioning and it seems like it takes a lot of studying and really knowing what you got to do and being on top of your stuff to be to be able to manage all that especially now with the pitch clock and being under being under time you got it's tough to you don't have much time to make a mistake there you got to be really on the spot with what you're doing. Last week I had a good talk with a we hunt about mustaches and we talked about how you know the the stashes are making a comeback and you seem to be having that as well so what inspires you the look that you have. Actually funny enough I just I was really really bushy like probably just a couple hours before this but I got to the point where it was so bushy that I had I had trimmed it all down and every time I trim it down funny enough it's all the same length. The mustache is always thicker than the rest of it so I just I don't know I've never been much as soon as I started growing kind of the beard. I haven't gone back I can't remember the last time I clean shave my whole face. I don't think my girlfriend would be a big fan of that she's a big fan of the beard so she says it stays it stays but I also I love going the mustache route for playoffs man I think it's a great look. It's a lot of fun doing that with all the guys. I can't do clean shave and either just something rubs me the wrong way. No can't do it. Well Drew this is our city says bro looks like Piazza. I mean that's some high praise. That guy wasn't too bad. No no not not too shabby in either of his careers for the Dodgers or the Mets so. But Drew pictures so you know great amount of pictures there in Portland we've actually had plenty of them. We have had a hundred Dobbins we've had Hoppe we've had brand we've had CT I don't know if you got if you were up there when Theo Deminger was on Portland and stuff. So what are some of your favorite pictures that you love to sit there and catch and you know just have great conversations with. I mean all those names that you named are just a blast a catch and a blast to just kind of have fun within the bullpen man those are all it's been a truly an honor getting to know a lot of these guys spend a blast. Dobbins like you said man he the record speaks for itself and that guy is just truly dominant he's elite. He is very he's meticulous about how he goes about his business it's always funny catching his bullpen if he misses his spot by this much I still think I'm touching it. I think it's a great pitch I just see him over there kind of shaking his head and I'm like man that was a great pitch he wasn't happy about that one he's just that's kind of how he is he wants everything to be perfect and that's what makes him. I mean being so elite he's so dedicated to his craft. Another one that comes to mind Isaac coffee. I mean the guy that's not going to blow your doors off but guess what he's going to locate everything that he wants to throw he's meticulous he's focused. He knows what he's doing up there and he's just always always putting in the work always trying to be better. And just crafty trying to figure out different ways to get hitters out from it completely it's not just a hey here it is trying to hit it no he's just he's going to paint this corner he's going to set you up to go to this bitch. That pitch fails he knows exactly what pitch to bounce back after that. I mean he's always a couple steps ahead which is really fun from a catching standpoint to and how pinpoint those guys are man. If I know exactly where it's going to be it just makes my job a whole lot easier trying to frame it I know how it's going to move I know how to get around it and those guys those guys are really special. Yeah and those two pitchers you named are complete opposites you know pitching wise because Dobbins it seemed to me like the longer the season went last year. The the higher his velocity got you know especially when he went up to triple way. And then you have the master painter you know painting the corners you know at at will like it's it's completely opposite but that's what you need you know in a rotation there you can't have the you know the same thing going out there night in and night out. Absolutely yeah and it's and that's especially what I saw a lot in Portland I mean yeah big Hunter Dobbins heart throwin over the top and you got coffee that kind of drops it down and then you even mix in the lefties we brought up Connolly early later in the season. He did a great job up there we got Blake up there who was phenomenal I mean just. It gets really easy when pitchers kind of just all the pitchers kind of start looking the same I mean it's just you kind of once you start getting the feel for it and you see it as a hitter enough times you can kind of adjust even if you had a guy up there throwing 100 miles an hour if you just see it over and over and over again these are elite elite hitters man as much as their elite pitchers there's elite hitters who once they kind of see it enough times their eyes start tracking it a little bit better they get the timing down. You know how to get the barrel to the ball and they can make contact and it's those pitchers and those rotations that have so much diversity and have so many different ways of causing problems for hitters that they don't know how to solve. And that's what gets the most success I feel like. I want to actually when it comes to pitch calling is there anything that when you look at other teams and when you look into their scouting reports like what's the process of going through like scouting reports is there certain things that you look at certain and repertoire or do you look at certain pitch mixes to get certain guys out. Yeah I mean that's it's been so cool that's a big transition from college to Pro Bowl is the amount of information we have about who we're playing is just insane I mean I know what these guys are taking O.O. more often than not I know what these guys are chasing with two strikes more often than not I know exactly what pitch they have the highest width percentage on I know what pitch they have the highest barrel percentage on. And having all that information like I might disposal I mean it's like it's like flipping to the back of the textbook and seeing all the answers for the test I mean if the pitchers that don't use this information I think are crazy I mean it's telling you exactly what these hitters are doing hitters fall into routines they fall into patterns just like pitchers do. So if you know what those patterns are going to be man it's should be easy to exploit until they show you that they can make an adjustment and then once they make that adjustment. It's like all right it's back to the drawing boards figure out how we got to get them out after that. And another thing too I want to ask you when it comes to getting runners out obviously what pop time and everything and throw in what's your biggest adjustment to obviously being behind the plate obviously between the lefty and a righty is there certain ways of getting guys out that you kind of look at when people are stealing bases is there a certain way like you approach that. I mean it's just kind of it's kind of just really it's all about the big thing is putting the throw where it needs to be in my opinion I mean yes I want to get it down there as fast as I can but if I get it down there as fast as I can but I'm throwing it to where my second baseman has to jump where he's trying to dig it out of the dirt like that's going to be a lot of a problem if I really want the best chance. I got to just try and be a clean release get it out of there with some below and just putting it at a good spot for my middle infielder put a good tag down if I'm kind of just spraying it all over the place because I'm trying to get rid of it too quick. It's not really going to do the job at all but if I get myself a good throw and maybe sacrifice point zero one of a second on the release I mean now it's just a matter of if we got him or not it matters if he got a good jump how fast he is how quick my pitcher got it to me and all those other variables but if I can't make the throw right on the bag we're not going to have a shot at all no matter what. Last week Blake told us about a pitch called the death ball and I was just wondering with all these new pitches being invented and thrown with the break and the speed what's it like trying to stay on your game to catch all these new pitches. It all circles kind of back to just being like locked in and focused in the bullpen I mean all these new pitches and they just come up with them just one day like I have guys that show up to a bullpen one day and next thing I know they're signaling to me a splitter and I'm like I've been catching you all year I've never seen you throw a splitter he's like yo I'm going to start learning to throw today. Okay all right to lock in here I need to see because all these guys I mean while everyone may throw a fastball they throw a slider they throw a sweeper they throw a splitter every guy that throws it it's going to be a little different especially what I've come to find as the cutter the cutter the slider and the splitter like all every pitcher can try and throw it the same way it's all going to move a different way so learning the shapes on those guys and catching them over and over again in the bullpen this is really going to help me be able to call it efficiently and being able to receive it in the best way possible. Being it being out there in the bullpen. I've I've said there and talked to plenty of people I've watched games. They're always out there doing some whether it be trivia whether it be I seen him play botry ball. What are some of the you know funnier moments out there in the bullpen that you've seen. Well I can tell you one thing for sure is we would I mean our big thing was we like to have in bullpen questions we would have every night we'd come up with a bullpen question and it's something that usually is able to just divide the bullpen into two parties 50 50 and then let the baiting the debating I kind of go on and I feel like the king of asking those questions was CT Christopher Troy man he he would show up to the bullpen some nights and he would just have the biggest smile on the face and he said you guys aren't ready for the bullpen question tonight and he would hit us with the bullpen question and I mean just the entire bullpen breaks in the two parties and we just were debating the entire time. I know it's a lot of fun man being down there it's a different side of the ball game that I hadn't been used to like I said college infielder I mean I was never really spent any time in the bullpen very much but now doing this and seeing that side of the game it's special and we've made a lot of memories down there. What's one of the best questions that CT brought to the bullpen. Oh man I should. I can't even I don't even know if I can think of any sometimes some of them are probably not for viewer audience appropriate but I remember some of them were but I can't think of any right now at the top of my head but there were some funny ones. I wish I could. I want to ask you more of like a personal question growing up obviously what was your favorite team and who was your favorite player growing up and exactly who inspired you to play baseball. I mean I think obviously the biggest influence in my baseball journey has been my dad above and beyond he played a UT he was actually drafted by the Yankees he played in the Yankees organization growing up so growing up and knowing that my dad played for the Yankees from a pretty young age I was kind of I was a Yankees fan I mean the captain how can you not be inspired by that guy the guy was a leader on the field and that's what my parents always tried to instill in me was to be a leader on the field on and off the field actually and just trying help try and help the team in any way possible and then as I moved up like I mentioned earlier Pedroia man I was a I was an undersized kid growing up in the way that Pedroia was undersized and still was able to dominate MLB was just incredibly inspiring to me I'm like if that that guy can do it man I mean there's some hope for me there too so Jeter Pedroia coming up I mean those I would say are the two big ones that jump out of my head for sure. Two great players for sure great middle and fielders of the 2000s I also want to talk about what Rick was saying also about like the bullpen trivia obviously during rain delays is there anything that you guys do to keep the vibes going obviously because sometimes rain delays can be like two to three hours and you're just sitting there. Yeah I actually I can only remember I don't know how many rain delays we had this year but they always I was always trying to look for something fun to do but they were like I was just going back to the locker room. That's kind of the difference between that was another difference between college and pro ball like I remember in college we did one one time where our two tallest pitchers from the bullpen put the shortest player on their shoulders and they're doing jousting at home plate. You don't really see that too much in in pro ball but I remember that specifically from college that was a lot of fun. I get the sense that you're you know you're a grinder you're a gamer you bleed baseball but I want to ask you what are some of your favorite things to do outside of baseball. Oh outside of baseball I'm a big fisher fisherman outdoors men honestly all around I do I've grown up hunting grown up fishing I'm a big I'm a big weight room guy I believe the gym provides a lot of opportunity for baseball players and then obviously for non baseball players I'm a big big gym goer. And I get into the video games a little bit I pride myself on my Fortnite skills a little bit not to brag too much but I do I do like to dabble at that late at night and not too shabby. Who's better you are you are Noah. I don't know if I've played with Noah yet I've heard that he's pretty good we're gonna have to put that to the test we're gonna have to get back to you on that one because I don't know I haven't seen him play but he's gonna have to be pretty good to be able to take me down. Well he's he's actually pretty pretty well him and I swapped from gamer tags and I'm a little bit below his level which I thought I was I was okay but apparently not. Alright then I got I got some I'm gonna have to hit him up with some challenges here. I also want to ask you to what was the difference obviously with the traveling obviously with college ball when you guys travel compared to pro ball was there any big difference that you noticed about travel days at all. You know I actually when I was I mean obviously in college ball it's all the guys were a little more packed in so I mean there's a lot more like gaming going on and they play mafia mafia was a big thing. Well when I got to pro ball and then like all the you got the two buses and everything's kind of spread out everything seemed to be a little more mellow but funny enough when I left Greenville and then probably like a month later my brother Zach ends up going to Greenville. I end up talking to him after the season and he's like hey like how how much fun was it playing mafia on the bus in Greenville I'm like I never I never remember playing any mafia on the bus in Greenville and he's like oh man we played it. He said that they played non stop from Aberdeen to Greenville which is like a nine hour bus ride he said not for one second mafia like stop for anything they played it the entire way through for nine hours which is just mind blowing to me that they were able to go for that long and play mafia so I think that was that was pretty funny to hear which I actually I sadly didn't get to experience. Damn that kind of sucks. I also want to ask you when you travel to is there anything that like do you have any essentials that you bring with you to help you get through the road trip and then is there anything that you feel like it takes a while because I know some of the bus rides like you said be long is there anything that you bring exactly to help get through those long bus rides. Make sure to bring a pillow. I always have to have a pillow actually proud myself I actually sleep pretty well on planes and buses I do a pretty good job of being able to sleep. Make sure I've got the pillow I even go I have a regular pillow and the neck pillow. I have to have the headphones ready and I think those are like those are the big things I remember in college I would always bring a portable charger but now I feel like all the buses were on have the outlets anyway so that's a bit retro. But yeah no I think those are the big things is just kind of being comfortable having some comfortable shoes usually have a hoodie on there because it will get those buses can get cold and then they get hot and then they get cold again and I'm like taking off the hoodie putting it back on pretty much nonstop the entire bus ride. So with that with bringing the headphones with you what are you watching and or listening to on those rights. Oh it really depends at the time I mean I I've gotten through some some Netflix shows on buses I'm a big big movie I love watching movies. Sometimes I'll get bored and I'll flip on some music just to kind of switch it up a little bit but usually just try and like mix it up I'm not. I struggled to just kind of keep doing the same thing like they played mafia for nine hours I would have been like an hour and I'm like okay I gotta do something else. I gotta switch it up for some sort even if I came back again like I'd have to back to like being on the phone like I would do a movie and then maybe listen to some music for a little while then watch a couple episodes of a show and just kind of keep everything on on a rotation. I don't know that I've ever done this on this podcast but I got walls of movies behind me. That's so I feel ya. Big movie guy. I worked in film for 10 years before I started doing podcasting so okay. Yeah that's awesome. Well Drew since since you know the headphones that were brought up. You're on your phone so it's kind of hard for me to ask but maybe you might know. What is the number one song on your playlist? The most played song on your playlist. The number one song on my playlist I feel like going to be honest is probably a worship song. I feel like I kind of I really my music kind of I is pretty diverse but like morning times like morning times I usually start my day with worship music kind of helps me be in a really good headspace. And then by the time I get to the gym I go a complete 180 and I'm hardcore rock when I'm in the gym. I need some music that's going to help me like try and run through a wall. And then then when I kind of just have like the chill vibes go and I usually go country. I'm a big fan of like old country too like George Strait that kind of thing. Not that I don't like the country these days but like I'm a big like old 90s country kind of guy. Oh my goodness my step son. He's 19 but we say that he has like an old soul like inside him because he's like George Strait. He's like listen to the old stuff. I'm like man I'm like and here be upstairs blasting it think nothing of it. I'm like does he know how old he is like. My parents do the same thing I'll put on like an old like George Strait song and they'll look at me and they're just like how do you know this song. Like they're like we barely know this song and somehow you know this song and it was back in their day so. Yeah I feel that I've been told by my parents and other people that have an old soul too. I love the oldies man it's good stuff. Yeah he was the Johnny Cash and all that stuff and I was like dude you're 19 you know. They're on some paper something. I want to ask you when it comes to especially like travel days like I said is there any go to like meal or go to restaurant that you have that's your favorite spot when you do travel. It's tough to be Chick-fil-A man. I'm like I'm born and raised down in the south. I mean Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-A is kind of a kind of a must kind of a go to in my opinion. And then also what I want to ask you baseball related being a catcher now do you see when you have the live at that's or you have any at that's you see any differences when you're at the plate and do you change your approach now that you kind of like have the catcher's mind in your mind. Yeah I definitely think my approach has evolved a little bit ever since I started catching because I've always done a pretty good job of trying to think along with the pitcher but now that I've really gotten into it with the catching and I've been talking so much with like pitching coordinators and pitching coaches really trying to see what kind of like a whole mo with pitching is these days. I feel like I do a pretty good job especially like I know how the catcher I know how I would try and set someone up so when I see a pitch that I'm like oh okay I just took a slider off. Maybe that set me up for this next pitch I feel like it has really kind of helped me kind of help think along because I think it's all a chess match. So being able to kind of think along how they think I think has really helped me out for sure. For a live batting practice and stuff. Who was one of like you're back there catching you know and it could be any pitcher but who was one of the hardest batters to try to get out you know during a live BP. I think I remember one that stands out was actually I mean it was Roman it was Roman and I was catching David Sandlin who I mean Sandy is elite I mean throws gas throws nasty breaking stuff and I remember I was catching Sandy while Roman was hitting and kind of back to what Blake was saying I was calling just everything I mean we're trying fast ball up Roman fouls it off I'm going change up off the plate Roman spits on it on a great one. Let's go back put sweeper Roman hard check takes it and I'm just like what do I throw this guy right now I mean and I can like see it on Sandy's face too he's like man we've thrown him everything like what do we throw here. And then we I think after just like a long battle of three to I'm like oh the one thing we haven't called is like the 12 six curve ball I bet you we can freeze them up right here. And sure enough we call it and he takes it he doesn't really like freeze up on it and it's at the bottom of the zone and make a great move on it. And I'm like oh I think we got him and we go back and we check the hit tracks or the rap soda and we look at the digital strike zone and I mean it's just barely underneath the zone like the fact that he had the eye to see that and he didn't like man that was a strike it was more of a yep that's right below the zone like and just being able to see that I was it was impressive to see at him. So talking about catchers and you're someone who came into you know catching later in life you mentioned you were an infielder before. But I don't think people realize how taxing a season of baseball is not only on the human body but on a catcher's body specifically so for any young catchers out there what's some advice that you have to keep your body ready throughout the season. Yeah like I said I'm a big advocate of like baseball players need to get in the gym and I think that really helps especially catchers for sure like as tired as we may be being able to get in that weight room and go through your mobility stuff every single day doing like rolling out on foam rollers and then like getting getting through some workouts every day some days a little more intense than others maybe some a little bit lighter but being able to say in that weight room to help keep the body like trying to keep muscle on because for me specifically I know like my weight drops rapidly as the season kind of goes on being really good about being in the weight room being really good about nutrition is going to go a long ways for young catchers for sure. So I want to ask you who was your favorite roommate that you've had so far being part of the Red Sox organization. I've had some freaking some really really great ones and I mean I had for right off the bat was Kyle Teal and I mean I'm in there and I'm like oh gosh I was the free agent sign and here comes the first round draft pick and man he's such a lovable goofball. I mean that's just the best way to describe him. He's a lovable goofball. I love the dude to death being in there as some some crazy crazy stories about how he I mean he's always moving around he's again he's such a he's just a nut for the game. He loves it so much and he's always thinking about it. He would ball up balls of socks while we're in the hotel room and he's trying to he's doing his throwdowns trying to cut the light by the door. He was just I mean he's always and he gets up. He bought a little fish and rod because we went and fished out and like one of the back retention ponds and Fort Myers and he got a little fish and rod and he was using that to take his swings in the mirror in the hotel room and he's just such a nut for the game always thinking about it he just loves us so much so that was pretty pretty cool to see him doing all that and then I had Christian Campbell when I was in Greenville and I mean he was he was a little more like to himself but he's such a great like when we would come back after games so we would talk about everything and just some of the stuff that he's able to see that like kind of can kind of fly under the radar sometimes he would pick up on things and I'm like man I can't believe you caught that that was pretty good so I would say those are the two big ones that took out the most. I want to ask you to when it comes to catching and doing the catching drills is there any drill that's like your favorite to do it or what one is your favorite and which one is your least favorite because I know catching drills are probably a little bit more hard on the body than obviously other drills. The blocking drills are the worst by far above and beyond having to practice blocking is just tedious and it's kind of brutal I know it's part of the job and it's something we got to work on so we definitely go through it and I go through it with a smile on my face but definitely the blocking stuff is the most brutal. What I like that we do a lot is we do a lot of a lot of wristweight stuff and then we have a bunch of different training mitts that we use kind of trying to promote catching balls in the pocket and what not I think doing some of those gloves, especially with the wrist weights to to really kind of help I think those are the best ones that we do because then you take you take the wrist weight off and you put your regular glove back on and it feels incredibly light it's like using the kind of like a weighted bad you swing a heavy bat around for a while and then you pick up your bat and you're like wow I have just insane control over it right now it's kind of the same way with a catching drills that we do I put on my regular go after and I just I completely dominate the baseball after that. And then I also want to ask you when it comes to like preparing your glove is there anything that you do differently where your catcher's glove compared to your infield glove because obviously having a catcher's glove is breaking in and it's very important because you're going to be using that more frequently than like an outfielders govern infielders love I would say. Yeah it's just I'm a big I'm big old school when it comes to that I just I believe in the power of playing catch just taking it out there and playing catch with it. When I get a new glove I make sure I'm always using it when we do our catching drills even if it means I have to clank a couple of them I mean the only way to really get it broken is by using it it's not going to break in but I just said to my locker so and I take it while we're using drills I try and play catch with it anytime I can I take it down to the bullpen use it there. It's just big for me just kind of just using it and then just kind of form it the way you need to trying to create that pocket and the shape that you're looking for and just kind of go from there. What's what's your favorite minor league ballpark or just favorite ballpark in general that he played in so far. Definitely Duncan Park Hartford yard goats that that stadium is absolutely elite I feel like that was like I haven't really seen any AAA stadiums and I mean I haven't seen a ton of major league stadiums but I mean I feel like that stadium could compete with a lot of them it was a really beautiful stadium. Okay we're going to go around the pole you know we're going to sit there and each of us ask one more question and then we're end with a big question Drew. First off comparison what championship was met more to you to win. The Greenville drive one or becoming a national champion. That stuff and it's going to be I mean I've got to say the college one because as special as that Greenville one was there. I feel it was more special for the guys that have been there all season long I mean really going through the nitty gritty part of the season like I kind of felt like I skipped right there kind of to the end and just got the dessert I got to reap. Kind of the rewards of all of it while as much as I appreciate it being there and I felt like I worked hard and I was helping out in the bullpen a lot. It was great but I mean that 2019 national team at the University of Tampa was truly special and those are still some of my best friends to this day and always will be and how hard that team had to work to get to that spot. It was something that was truly truly special. I got like kind of like an interesting question for you. If you were commissioner for one day of Major League Baseball or baseball in general minor league baseball what is one thing that you would implement into the sport. Cheerleaders. I would like to get some cheerleaders out there for sure. I would put I put the true air hard commissioner stamp right there on that one get some cheerleaders out there on the dugouts for every game. I have absolutely no problem with that. I feel I feel the fans would enjoy that one. Years down the line when people look at the back at your baseball card what's the one stat that you want to jump out at people and go wow this guy was really good at. Wow that's a great question. Honestly I would say and I've kind of like had this for a long time I wanted to be low strikeouts. I want people to look at the strikeout and be like wow that guy did not strike out because I pride myself on just I want to put the ball and play no matter what and when I get to two strikes. I'm a big I mean I spread out pretty wide I choke up on the bat I put it right there on my shoulder and I want to put the ball and play I've always been taught good things happen when you just make contact and you put the ball and play I mean stick guys still got to field it. Sometimes got to throw it first so that's big for me I want to keep the strikeout slow and have people really be like wow that guy didn't strike out a lot he really was dedicated to putting the ball and play. And here it is through the question the last question we asked hot tub time machine. Okay you can go back in the time to face any major league pitcher in any time bottom of the night you versus them who is it and why. Because then I would want to get a hit off of them or I just want to see this guy seeing how bad he could carve me up. Whichever way you want to take it but we're going to take Blake off the page. You can't do it you can't just keep doing that you got to go get after Blake you can you know I want to go see all Nolan Ryan. I want to go see Nolan Ryan I want to see how special that was because I have a feeling that's that would be a real special dude now I wouldn't go try and fight him like Robin Ventura. We learned that that's not the way to go about that but no I'd love to see that about what I'm full I mean I would love to see him trambering the heat on that. Not only that would you be in a catcher this to be back there and try to catch him too. Yeah like that's some hot heat coming in there at you. A hundred percent yeah that would be on either side of the hitting side of the catching side I mean to have these sixty feet six inches away from Nolan Ryan would be incredibly special. And just hope that he that he's having a good day and he likes you. Yeah yeah for sure so but drew a thanks for sitting there and coming on. You know please tell everybody where they can find you at. Yeah I mean I'm I'm hearing Tampa I mean are you looking for like social no social media social media do not get do not give out your address. Social media I'm pretty sure I'm at your hard Instagram on X on all the platforms is just going to be my name so you find me at your hard pretty much just about anywhere. Okay well Drew thanks for coming on guys make sure you sit there and our episode will drop live on Apple Spotify iHeartRadio tomorrow so make sure on your way to work check us out for a quick little you know snippet on the drive there. Make sure you head on over to BSE and six one seven dot square dot site check out all of our merchandise. I am working and it's just been approved by Noah Dean. We are going to be throwing out a Noah Dean shirt. So a little snip preview it's it's based around the Dean's list. So Noah proved it so we're going to be putting that one out there. But for Brandon for Rob myself and for Drew. Thanks for stopping by the pesky podcast. I'm going to tell you story. I'm going to tell you about my town. I'm going to tell you big fat story baby. I talk about my town. Yeah down by the river. Down by the banks of the river. [BLANK_AUDIO]