We sit down with Red Sox Minor league pitcher Connelly Early.
#mlbpodcast #baseball #baseballpodcast #podcast #redsoxpodcast #redsox #redsoxnation #soxnation
The Pesky Podcast
The Pesky Podcast Episode 136 w/ Connelly Early
video is brought to you by the Boston Sports Entertainment Network. Please consider liking and subscribing for more Boston SportsCon. Shocked to right, slicing toward the pesky pole down the line, and it's got to be on the line. Lie down the right field line toward the pesky pole. Leaping up, and now Paul is gone, that's a home run. They're brought of ourness and team as well. I fly down the right field line headed toward the pesky pole, that one tucked in, and then that ball is going to be against the wall, and then in the second base, the number retired, and the number is never as trying to retire that baseball inside the pesky pole. Welcome to another episode of the pesky podcast. I'm your host, The Rit, with me like always is D-O-G, George Sutherland. Our producer, Brandon, Rob has, well, he has some company over, so he won't be with us tonight, but we are here with episode 136, brought to you by the Boston Sports Entertainment Network, and we are here with yet another great addition to the Red Sox Minor League players that we've been going over this past few weeks. We got Connolly Early, so before we get to you, Connolly, George, what's going on, and how you doing? Brandon, what's going on, man? How you doing? I'm doing good, man. I just launched a new web series today called For Love of the Card about collecting baseball cards, and I'm pretty excited about it, and just, you know, live in baseball 24/7, even in the offseason. That's my life. Oh, man, it's been a baseball card real quick, then putting out there for the schemes card, the one-of-one. To me, that's kind of a hot and cold thing. 30 years, you know, two tickets behind a home plate, but it's 30 years behind the Pittsburgh Pirates' home plate, so that could be good, or that could be bad for you. Yeah, but think of the resale value if you don't live in Pittsburgh and you could just, you know, sell those tickets. Yeah, that's exactly it. Either that or just overall sell the card and have someone else do it. Yeah. So, but, hodily, man, let's sit there and get right into you. What's going on, man? How are you doing this offseason so far? Doing good. Thank you all for having me on. I'm down in Fort Myers right now at the spring training complex. We got one more week here, and then go home for a little bit to hang out with the family for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then back here for spring training. Okay, I've got to ask, so who you're rooming with? I'm room with Noah Dean, Blake Wihan, Matthew Duffy, and Hayden Mullins right now. Okay, okay. Well, through the names, we've already checked off for our holiday offseason list. So, but, Colin, let's sit there and start. Like, what got you into the passion for the game at an early age? Yeah, so I grew up around baseball, so I have three brothers. So, I'm on the third one of four, and I grew up at the baseball field, watching my dad coach and my two older brothers play. So, ever since then, I mean, I've always loved the game of baseball and eventually, you know, decided like, this is something I kind of want to do in college and see if I have a future in it after that. So, I think just growing up around the game and around seeing my brother's play and my dad play, being the competitor I am kind of got me into the sport. So, you know, being with the brothers, you know, and the father and everything, what did you enjoy as a kid more, you know, pitching or hitting? I mean, back then, I was, I kind of like doing everything. I've always loved the pitch, but at the same time, I love playing in the outfield. I love playing first base and obviously being in the box. I think once I got to the high school level, I kind of realized like the batter's box wasn't too much for me. Because I wasn't too great in there, but yeah, I mean, growing up, I loved just playing everywhere, trying to, you know, I mean, grew up at day to eight, I'm playing shortstop as a lefty for machine pitch, you know, just like messing around with everything. It was fun. Yeah, that's cool. That's good. So you're welcome, Virginia. So growing up, was there a, what was your big league team that you rooted for? And, you know, who is your favorite player and who did you try to model your game after? Yeah, so growing up, my family is all split with who our favorite baseball team is. So my, my dad's favorite team is the Cubs. Oldest brother is the Phillies and my second oldest brother is the Red Sox. And then I was a huge fan of the Cincinnati Reds growing up. And then my youngest brother is a big Phillies fan as well. So growing up, I mean, my mom's from Ohio, she was born there. And then my favorite player was Joey Votto growing up. So that's kind of what got me into being a Cincinnati Reds fan. And, I mean, obviously, they had Johnny Quito, Roldis Chapman, like Roldis Chapman when he was a rookie. And he's out there throwing 104, which is pretty impressive to see, especially at that age. And at that time, like nobody else was doing it. So, but for, for pitching, I mean, I, I got to go with probably Clayton Kershaw's who I tried to, you know, who I wanted to be growing up. Um, because he's a crafty lefty able to throw a lot of pitches in the zone and has had a phenomenal career. So that's who I would say I kind of try to face my game off of. Cool. Yeah. So, you know, going back to last year, you were somewhat of an unknown prospect and then you kind of started to rise through the ranks and I think you're starting to get a little bit more well known and everybody that we've talked to, at least from what I'm hearing speaks of you and speaks of you very highly. So what's that process been to kind of like rise through the ranks? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's just been a grind, man. I mean, every day you come to the field with all your teammates who are honestly your best friends. And, you know, you're going, you're going day to day at the field for 10 hours. You know, taking each other's brains about pitching stuff, weightlifting stuff, nutrition. I mean, it's, it's all over even even in the training room, like certain soft tissue stuff you might get done to make you feel better the next day or whatever to get your body to recover a little bit faster. But honestly, like, I don't, I don't pay too much attention to all the prospect stuff. I just like to go out there and play, go out there and compete with everybody else. And I feel like everybody else is pretty much the same way in, in the Red Sox organization. Like everybody just wants to put themselves in the best position to go out there and perform at the highest level they possibly can. So, I mean, just, just going through this whole entire season, it was definitely a lot of like ups and downs in there. Being the first season to pro ball and kind of figuring out how to monitor my body and monitoring. I mean, how, how I am out on the mound will work best for me. So, I mean, it's just been, it was a really good season and I'm looking to build on that this upcoming season. Oh, keep building and you'll get there before you know it. Yes, thank you. Yeah, one thing that a lot of the Red Sox fans, you know, before this year. And when we, before we got a res loan everything, always said that we don't have 15 depth in our minor league farm system. But going down our roster and stuff, you know, just going to this season, for instance. It showed that we had a lot of great minor league pitchers, but they were just in the lower end, low aid, you know, sale on Greenville. And now we're actually seeing the flux go up. And, you know, Portland's got a whole bunch of talent, you know, and you're one of them, then, you know, we got 100 job is who was in Portland and got pushed up. So what what's the pitching. Look like for you guys going this season. The big flux of great arms there in Portland, for instance. Yeah, I mean, I think we have a very deep, like all the teams in our minor league system have a very deep open and I mean, starting rotation as well. I know like, at one point, when I was in Greenville, we had. I think like seven starters going at it. So we had a couple of guys who were piggybacking, which just shows the depth that we, we have like we had, I think we had Stanley go for like four innings or something like that and then had like pie as come in. After him and she'll perform more training. So, I think that definitely shows that we have a lot of depth all throughout our pitching and I mean, as well as hitting to like all of, I think all of our minor league system like in all the teams in the minor league system perform very pretty pretty well this year and obviously like with the Red Sox, we're not always looking at when loss outcomes in the minor leagues we're looking at a lot of like development stuff like guys are going up there. throwing new pitches in games and trying to figure out if you know if that that pitch is going to work for them. So at the end of the day, it's not always about winning when you're down in the minor leagues. It's more about seeing how good you can project yourself to be like to being a big leader in the next year, two years, whatever that is. So yeah, I mean, I mean, the guys that we had in in Greenville and Portland, the two teams I was with, there's definitely a ton of talent there and I know the Red Sox may not have spent a crazy amount of money on pitching in the drafts and stuff like that. But I mean, there's guys, going out there and shelving all the time. So, I mean, we go out there and show what we can do and I think it shows the MLB and everybody else how good we really are. And I also think we did a really good job with the pitchers we brought in in this past draft. I've been down here with most of the pitchers from that draft class and they're getting after it. They're jumping right into it and following along with, you know, what, what all of us are trying to do and trying to take that next step and get us as close as we can to being becoming the become part of the ball. So, at the MLB level. So, I think, I think we definitely have a ton of depth and pitching. What was your, your first spring training experience like being with the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, so I did this, like off season program last year, which I thought ended up helping me out a lot going into spring training because I was a little more familiar with player and coaches faces and could put like a name to a face, just so I could feel a little bit more comfortable going into spring training but spring training is definitely very hectic. I mean, there's just so many moving pieces going on. There's a lot of different timelines and meetings that you got to get to. But, you know, it's, it's, it's really cool when you go out for like your second live outing. And you're facing somebody like Tristan Cossess or Von Grish or somebody like that. Like, when you see somebody like that step into the box, you're like, oh, this is, this is real stuff here. So, that's, that's definitely a great experience from my spring training and then, you know, just trying to become as close as you can with the coaching staff and also as close as you can with all the players that you're going to be with in the upcoming So, I really like spring training because it brings everybody from the whole entire minor league system and major league system together and get to meet a lot of guys get to, you know, pick brains of people who are older than you or at higher levels than you or anything like that. So, last spring training was great. And I'm hoping it's the same way this upcoming spring training to work. So, your path to professional baseball was kind of interesting. You spent two years at West Point before almost going back on growing a child's film to UVA, you know, only an hour from your house. So, you know, you want to talk about that. That's kind of interesting and growing to West Point for two years. How that all happened. Yes, sir. So, one of my older brothers went to the Air Force Academy and he graduated from there. He's actually in the Air Force right now. He's in Korea for two years. I've been stationed in California and I think he's switching roles pretty soon here, but I think he kind of got me into looking into the academies and I mean I have a lot of military history in my family. Like my dad was in the Air Force for five years, went to Virginia Military Institute, Papa, who's my dad's dad. He was in the Navy for a good amount of years and then my mom's dad and my granddad, he was in the Army for a while as well. So, coming from that background and obviously the free tuition that the academies bring to you is definitely very appealing. And, you know, I was kind of looking for something to, you know, take my life in a step that was going to. I mean, I don't know, put, I mean, honestly changed me like put put me in a difficult position and, you know, give me a challenge and, you know, do something bigger than just me so that's why I went to West Point for my first two years. And I honestly loved it there. I mean, there's, there's days that, that you don't really want to be there, especially because there's just a lot of crap that you have to deal with going on a day to day schedule. But, I mean, I love the baseball team there. I still talk to all those guys all the time. So, I was, I was doing that and then our coaching staff left and went to Northwestern and Davidson, a couple other schools that kind of all split up and I had a, I had a pretty decent sophomore season. So, I decided to, you know, throw my name into the portal and see what happened from there. I'm not really sure if I was going to leave or not. And then had a couple schools reach out like UVA and, you know, consider to talk to my family about it. They were very open to, you know, kind of letting me figure out what was best, best for me. And that's kind of the time that I made the decision if, if I'm going to transfer to UVA, I got to be all in on this baseball thing like, it's very difficult to decide to leave West Point with how good it is after, after you graduate from there and being able to serve in the Army and then just having that track record is really hard to beat coming out of anywhere else. So, when I went to UVA and saw the program was ran by Coach O'Connor and Coach Mack and Coach Dickinson, I was, I felt like I was at home and still going to be definitely challenged there and be able to become a better man there. So that's, that's ultimately why I chose that and then was honestly had my, had my mind set on baseball after that. So, plus it wasn't horrible, right? For your folks to come up to see you up in Charlottesville from your house. So, no, yeah, my, my mom was very happy about that only being an hour away. And she's a, she's a UVA grad too. So, I think, I think for sure. Hey, what, you went all around there. Yes, sir. So listening to you talk, I get the sense, you know, you're a competitor, you're a gamer, you've got that kind of competitive chip on your shoulder. Obviously getting to the big leagues is the main goal, but other than that, what kind of fuels you to go out there every day and compete the way that you do. Yeah, so, I mean, I just, I honestly love the game of baseball. Like, like I said, I grew up around it with my brothers. My dad was my coach until I was 12 years old for my travel ball team. And, I mean, I've just, my life is always kind of revolved around baseball. Like my mom was driving us to practice or something like that, driving us to work out when I was growing up. And, you know, I met so many friends through baseball. It's pretty much like a second family within baseball. So, my life's always kind of been around baseball. And, I mean, I'm not looking for that to change anytime soon. So, I mean, just going out there every day and being able to play the game that I love growing up and still do love. So, I think that's what motivates me the most. You know, I feel that, you know, as a lifelong baseball fan and it's always, you know, consumed my summers and been a huge passion. And now this past year, you know, stepping away from what I was doing and getting into this line of work, I feel a lot happier, a lot more content with, you know, the types of things And so, even though I'm not a player like yourself, I can definitely feel that, you know, that that level of baseball you want to be continued we can connect connected to the game in some way. Yes, sir. 100%. Well, calmly, you know, you talked earlier about how great are, you know, not just the pitchers, but our position players are in our Red Sox organization and that's, you know, been in our bread and butter for years. So, this is a two part question and the second part I'm sure you're going to sit there and enjoy to talk about. But first part is who was the, been the hardest person to go against live BP that is one of your teammates. And the second, how was it to strike out Anthony Rizzo, knowing, you know, he's a big league MLB player. Yes, sir. So for the first one. It's, it's pretty tough, because I would probably say either Kyle to you or Christian Campbell. I faced Christian and in college when he was at Georgia Tech and I was at UVA and he actually let off the game with a home run off me. So, that was, that was definitely not a fun start to, you know, me and me and Christians I guess French. But that, I mean, as like when we were going over all of our scouting reports for Georgia Tech, my coach was saying like, it's, you kind of just hope like Christian gets himself out like you're, it's really hard to strike him out like you got to just hope that he honestly makes a mistake and like hits it right at somebody. And then he ended up leading off with a home run. So, so I was a tough start to that outing. But I mean, Christian, Christian has gotten exponentially better since, since college. So, I, I honestly hope I don't have to face them too many times in this upcoming spring training, because those, those ABs are going to be some long ABs and I'm going to have to grid through those. But Kyle, I faced a tone at UVA and usually you would think like a, a lefty lefty matchup is going to go in favor of the pitcher, but I mean, I had a really, really tough time striking out Kyle any time in college or any time in spring training. He's just got crazy about the ball skill and he's not going to give up until, until he's either leaving that box running this first or second base or rounding the bases, whatever. I mean, he's, he's a grinder and he's not going to give up on a single pitch. So, you know, those, those guys who are going to take the, take that bats to deep counts as, as the guys that I don't honestly like to see too, too often in the box. So, I would say Christian and Kyle are definitely up for that. But then for striking out Anthony Rizzo, honestly, I was, I was just so juiced in the moment that I was facing a big leaguer. I couldn't really tell you like, I was acting just because I was extremely pumped to, you know, have that first experience of playing against a big leaguer who's got that name behind him. I mean, just been such a great player for so long. I mean, I grew up watching him with my dad. Like I said, he's a huge Cubs fan. I've been to Riggly Stadium and seen Rizzo play there. So, it's kind of crazy just to think he was even in the box against me when I look back on it. But, I mean, I think I just, I got, I got a little bit lucky because he was coming back from that rehab start. So he probably hadn't seen too much live pitching. But, I mean, it's just a good time anytime you get to be up there on and see somebody with that stature come up to the plate. So, Colin, really quick with Christian that lead off home run. Yeah, how many times has he brought that up to you? Christian's not somebody who's going to ever bring that up. He didn't, he's never brought it up a single time. I think when I met him, like we were talking, honestly, I was, I was thinking he was probably going to bring it up and then, you know, it took, it took three weeks. And then I said something like, Hey, like, you know, you let off with a, with a home run off me Georgia Tech when I pitched against you. And he was like, Oh, really? I think he was downplaying it a little bit or something. But no, he's, he's not a guy who's going to go out there and brag at all. So he's not going to go up there and be like, Oh, man, like I hit a home run off you or anything like that. So, I mean, he's more focused on his work and just getting the cages grinding his butt off every single day. So, I mean, he's, he's not a kind of guy who's going to do that. It seems like when you, when you had Christian Campbell, you see his interviews. You see Roman Anthony's interviews and the way they're talking, the way they're speaking, you would think that they're way older, but then you, like they're 19, 20 years old. Like, but they have all that baseball IQ, all that, you know, respect for the game. And they're just amazing people to sit and watch. And, you know, I'm so glad that the Red Sox, you know, have, have them in their organization right now. A hundred percent. Yeah, we got, we got a lot of talent and it's not just talent that comes along with all these guys. It's so, it's a crazy work ethic out of all of them. And they're very humble guys. They're not going to, you know, go out and push anybody's face or anything like that. And they know how the game of baseball can be and how much it can push you down and how much it can bring you up certain times and how you really just, you know, have to try and stay level headed as much as you can. And take it day by day because, you know, some days is not going to be your day. Some days, it is going to be your day. And, you know, some days when you're watching Roman or Christian, you, you think it seems like every day is their day when they're up to play. But, you know, they know how the game of baseball works and they dedicate a lot of time and effort into the game. So I think they're just like me and love the game and love playing it. Cool. Yeah, so, you know, you're living with no one or a few of the other guys. So, I'm sure you guys in your downtime do a lot of gaming and stuff. But I, I got a question for you. Who's the cook of the group. Um, if it comes to like the grill for making like burgers or steaks, it's definitely we honed. He loves being on the grill, making burgers or steaks or anything like that. Um, Mon's, he mons and, um, Noah don't do too much cooking every once in a while. I'll cook a little bit. Um, but I would say probably the biggest cook in our group is Matthew Duffy, I would say. He's, he's really big about, you know, cooking meals for himself and everything like that. So he's, he's in the kitchen a lot. Um, most of the time it's just ground beef and rice. Like he's, he's pretty clean. So, um, yeah, but I would say he's probably the biggest cook from like in our house right now. I always wonder about the dynamics that somebody always seems to rise to the top of being, you know, at least in front of the grill in front of the stove, you know, so. Yeah, a hundred percent. It's quite ironic out of everybody you mentioned that, you know, you want to think the chicken farmer was going to be the, the one on the old grill. Oh, yeah. He loves to be on the grill. Anytime, anytime he's outside on the grill, he loves it. So. Yeah, I'm sure he's watching this going down. Here we go again. They just nailed me for that one. There we go. Yeah, I mean, you know, hearing all these stories about you guys. And, you know, you talk about the minor league camaraderie. I think that's something that gets missed in a lot of like when people are talking about the big leagues and how the teams needs gel. But, you know, you guys are down there in the minors doing it all the time. And so what are some of the things that you guys do with each other outside of baseball to stay connected to each other? Yeah, I mean, a lot of the day is at the complex or at the field in season. But outside of that, I mean, most of it's either just honestly sitting and watching TV for a break and, you know, talking about whatever if that's baseball, if that's, you know, family stuff, whatever. I mean, we'll go out to dinner all the time to hang out together. We'll go try and do little activities, go play golf. I mean, I went rock climbing with Justin Reamer and Matthew Duffy the other day. I mean, it's kind of all over the place. Like, I think most of us are honestly just looking to hang out and have some quality time together, spent spent away from the baseball field when we do get a chance to have a break. But, you know, any time we can hang out together, it's a good time. And, you know, yeah, I mean, everybody in the minor leagues is chilling together. So, hopefully, whatever we all do make it up to the big leagues, you know, we're already, we already have that friendship and we don't pretty much have to start from ground zero when we're in the MOB. It's, you know, we're already ahead of the curve from, you know, all of our experiences in the minor leagues together. Yeah, I think a lot of people underestimate how important that kind of stuff really is when you put a team together on any level. Yes, they're 100%. Yeah. So, calmly, going, you know, to these games, long bus rides, I know George, I'm probably going to steal one of your questions, but what's the go to for you on on these bus rides that they get you, you know, for you. You know, through them sometimes. Yeah, so I play a lot of cards with the guys. If that's, I mean, that can be at home at the field. If we have a little break, we'll either play. Like game of the soil or game of luck. I mean, crazy, it's whatever it is. Anything with cards. It helps the time go by a little bit quicker, especially on a bus ride. And it's honestly just, it's tough to sit there and, you know, lock into a show for six, seven, eight hours, because these bus rides can get pretty long. So, you know, there's definitely, like, we'll play. Like the iPhone games together sometimes. We'll play cards on the road. We'll, you know, do whatever. And honestly, I'll listen to music for a little bit, try and sleep for a little bit. Really anything to get me through the bus ride. I personally don't like bus rides at all just because it's a lot of, you know, laying down and you can't move as much. Can't move your body around. You feel a little bit stiff getting off for that first day after the bus ride. But, you know, you got, you got to make the most of it because you have nine hours to hang out with all the guys on the bus. And so, you know, just try and make the most of the bus ride. Okay, listen to music. If you could, you're on your phone now so you can't really look. But if you can look on your phone, what's the number one plates on your playlist right now song. I don't know. I'm kind of everywhere with music. Honestly, like, I don't really have to enter the category. But I guess I've been listening to a lot of 3D Oaks revival recently, the country band. So I guess they're probably up there for right now. But, I mean, I, I listened to everything like in the car. I'll be listening to rap music, rock music, reggae country. I mean, EDM, anything really. I like mixing it up and having a different, I don't know, just hearing a different different kind of sound I guess. I don't know. Yeah. So, I always ask this question of everybody we talked to. If you weren't playing baseball, what would you like to be doing? Or would you do perhaps after playing baseball? If I wasn't playing baseball, I would have stayed at West Point and been in the Army right now for sure. Outside of that, if I could do anything, if I had an option to do anything, I'd probably try to be a pro fisherman, if possible. I love to bass fish. I just grew up, like my, my dad's parents lived on a little lake, so I'd always go fishing there. And then, you know, I just like, like pond hopping around the neighborhood or pond hopping around the area back home. And I don't know, some about being out on the water is just very peaceful to me. So that's something that I would love to be able to do if I wasn't doing baseball. Well, some of your off time off in Portland is enough lakes, there's enough lakes should drive away to get you up there. Yeah. Yeah. I need, I need to check some out when I'm up there. There you go. So, you know, so I'm guessing that's one of your, you go to things when you get home, just, you know, go grab a fishing pole and just, you know, go lose yourself. So, everybody has interests outside of baseball. Do you have any, you know, causes or charities you like to work with, you know, that, you know, for whatever reason that you become attached to a close to. Yeah, so I'm actually pretty close with canine companions for independence. It's a group that raises service dogs. So my family is raised five service dogs. So we're puppy raisers for canine companions. And we'll have the puppies from when they're two months old 24 months old roughly. And a couple of those first months is a little bit rough, but just just with all the sleep and everything and how they're still kind of adapting to be at a new home and everything like that. But it's a great time, just having the puppies at home, being able to try and teach them certain commands, taking them to puppy classes and, you know, getting connected with the, with the Richmond area who, like with all the people in the Richmond area who are, you know, puppy raising four canine companions. And I actually did a, did a little project on it for my senior year high school and had like brought a bunch of the chapter over to my high school to meet a bunch of people and kind of just try and spread the word. So I've always kind of held that close to my heart, just because my parents love doing it, and they actually are co parenting a puppy called Palmer right now, who's adorable so I can't wait to get home and be able to see him a couple times before I have to get back to spring training. Oh, that's cool. That's, that's really good stuff. That is really cool. And before I ask you this next question I just want to, you know, commend you guys for that because I, I rescue a lot of hurting dogs that can't hurt because they have a like severe anxiety and separation anxiety issues so anything like that is just really cool to me so that's that's awesome. But I wanted to ask you about food because I don't think a lot of people understand that what you put in your body is at times almost as important if not more so at times then the regimens that you put your body through for example like I used to work in the film industry. And people would ask me well why can't we serve spaghetti for lunch I'm like, because you're working a 12 hour day and you're going to carb overload people and they're going to be useless the second half of the day. So, and you know you're, you talked already that, you know, Blake's on the grill making his steaks, you know, Matt's in the kitchen making his hamburger and rice what's your go to food that you put in your body to get ready for the workday. So I honestly don't eat too much for breakfast like when I'm at the facility, usually it's like a yogurt bowl of fruit eggs, like maybe maybe like some hash browns or something to have a little bit more carbs. Like an apple juice orange juice something like that and then maybe like a bowl oatmeal, but I usually like to keep it pretty light and then outside of that it's honestly a lot of burgers ground beef. Like pasta like Alfredo something like that, because I do have a weight goal like obviously I'm trying to try to put on some weight, because you know masses gas. So, you know, trying to put on put on some weight to hopefully you know see the see the velocity tick up a little bit. That's that's a big thing, pretty much with the whole entire organization you'll see it with a lot of guys that are trying to put on, I don't know anywhere from five 10 maybe 15 pounds. Obviously over over a long course of time but you know just trying to try to snake out a couple couple extra miles per hour on a fastball, just to you know help everything tick up a little bit and perform a little bit better. So that's a big goal of mine and we have like weight game protein shakes at the field that the nutritionists make for us and everything like that so you know every day I'm just trying to try to load the body with a lot of calories. Right on man lately I've been on a deer venison kick because it's a hunting season here in Minnesota but yeah. That sounds like a good one. Yeah Blake Blake can't wait to get home so he can get a ton of venison that's that's his goal as soon as he gets home after this week. I kind of figured it would be with him. It's funny I was talking to Blake's dad and and he's he can't wait for Blake to get home so he can help him on the farm. Yeah I don't know I don't know how much deer you know venison he's going to be eating it unless he's catching some more chickens so. You're actually really really lucky colony because it gets really fun with the interview when you know you post hey we're having such and such come on the podcast then all of a sudden like the players dad. You know your mom their little brothers starting to follow you then all of a sudden you start to dive into okay well what can I ask that you know them and they just open up and they're like oh well how about this or this or this. So you know you got you got a little lucky on that one. Well you know you know it's it's not it's not just family but it's it's other minor leaguers too because when we started doing the clips. You know the first person to react with my first Noah Dean clip on Instagram was this guy right here. Yeah, so it's it's other minor leaguers too you know you get your name out there that way you make connections that way so. Oh or or the player like like Blake said that Drew owns him. Oh god yeah that was funny. Yeah, you're going to have if you don't know about the story, you got to ask Blake about it where he openly admitted live on the air that Drew owns him like he can't get him out like it's horrible. Yeah I think I think that was all the way back to like the first lives that we had after we got drafted. So it's always been like an ongoing ongoing thing between them too. Oh yeah, and he just openly means now he said I stand no chance he knows me he owns me that was it you know. Yeah it's it's it's tough to get a catchers out because they see you so frequently either catching bullpen or they know how your pitches are moving so when they're in the box they they know what you like to go with and they know where it's going so. It is tough again so. One thing one thing I got to ask you is Blake brought this up when he was on here. You know are you experimenting with the death ball. I'm not that's that's not a pitch that I've been throwing. But I know I know there are definitely a fair share of guys who are trying to work that into their arsenal and. Obviously, a good amount of guys have seen a lot of success with it so maybe maybe in the future. I'll look into it a little bit but right now trying to try to stick to the five that I have right now so. Yeah we never heard of it before and he's explaining it to us and I'm like okay well this this question we can ask you know the pitches that come up you know you work with. Because what is that you know. Yeah it's it's it's pretty much just like in between like a slider curve ball kind of thing. And people are trying to classify sliders is just something a little bit different either into like a cutter like more of a cutter shape or more of a sweeper shape more curve ball shape whatever it is so. Guys are just trying to put a another name for another pitch on it. So what are you trying to work on this you know in the off season you know what are your pitches to you know make it better or trying to introduce anything that you really don't throw a whole lot. Yeah so obviously priority goal is VLO for me. I'm trying to get that to take up and then for pitch grips it's it's a sweeper for me. I didn't I didn't throw it too much this past season just because it was pretty new to me and. I didn't really start working on it until I got up to Portland I worked on it a little bit in Greenville but didn't have too much time to really try and showcase it in any games or anything like that and really see how it's working against hitters too much so. I'm really trying to make a big improvement on that pitch and bring that into next season make that make that a difficult pitch for you know hitters to hitters to handle it's just another another tool in the in the tool box against them. Oh, we could win coming in off the water and have luck at the help you. So yes sir. I live 20 I live 25 minutes away so I go I go to a lot of games up there so yeah it's especially in a win especially in the winds blowing in you know. So, so Colin what is your or do you have a you know your your state of the pitch for the game that day. What's your routine from wake up till you know throwing that first pitch. I mean it it changes sometimes just based on how my body feels and what I think I need that day but you know if the game's at 6 p.m. I brought or yeah 6 p.m. probably get to the field around I mean 12 12 31 somewhere around there. It kind of depends if you're home or away if you're home. It's a little easier to get there earlier just because you have access to a couple more things a little bit earlier. If you're away sometimes it like the time for everything gets a little compressed. They usually wake up around in season I'm waking up around like 9 30 10 10 30 whatever it is whatever I really need for sleep that from from that past day. So once I get up you know trying to eat a really big breakfast because I have a hard time eating a lot like right before my outing. So try and get in as many calories as I can earlier in in that morning and then once I get to the field I'll like snack on a couple of things maybe have a smoothie or something like that. But nothing too heavy on the stomach and you know kind of chill out there for a little bit hang out with the guys play some cards. Whatever it is trying to say as loose as possible and then pretty much get dressed. You know start moving around a little bit go to the training room you know get a get an arm stretch get a leg stretch whatever it is and. You know maybe maybe the next little bit tight and got to get a little bit work on that or you know maybe the triceps a little bit tight get a little extra on that. The trainers are really good so they'll do whatever you need and they'll help you out and try and make you feel as good as you can because you know they want you going out there and succeeding as well. So get get done with all that and then you know go into the weight room start moving around do like a jump test just to see what I'm at for that day. And you know do whatever it is to make me feel a little bit more explosive whether that's like some med ball work or lifting a little bit of weights but nothing like crazy heavy anything like that or for any crazy amount of reps. After that it's like have have your meeting with the pitching coach and like they're a catcher and everything kind of go through some of the hitters. And how they think you should attack with your stuff and kind of what you think is what you need to work on for that day. And then once once you got that plan in mind, pretty much head out to the field get your throwing done. Get into the bullpen and go from there. Then it's game time and you're just you're just there to have fun so it's it's a long day and there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. But I mean it's it's the best day of the week anytime you get to pitch so. Okay, you can chance to watch in the world series. Not too much. I haven't been watching. I didn't I didn't watch too much of it but you know obviously clips all the time on on Instagram about it or I'd see snippets of it here and there. Well, I'm going to put you on the spot here because you said you've seen some clips. Okay, out of your brothers and your dad, who would be the hardest on you. If you were Garrett Cole and didn't cover first base. Um, I think they would all be on me. I think my mom would my mom would really be on me as well. Oh really. Yeah, I think I think my mom would get on me probably the most out of all of them just because she's like come on like that's that's one of the most simple things you got to do out there. You've executed the pitch you've been pitching really well like all you had to do is run over first and then he's over. But I mean that's that's just an unlucky moment. You know there's there's stuff like that that happens all the time on the baseball field and. Sometimes you just freeze so you know it's it's a tough time. Like obviously it's it's tough for him, but I mean he was shoving that whole entire game and there's a couple things that then goes away. Of course, but you know it's it's tough to watch as a pitcher and you know all the all the pitching coaches with the Red Sox are obviously going to be big about that trying to make sure we're getting over, you know, getting all that. PFP work in during spring training so we feel as comfortable as we can you know getting off that mountain getting over to first base so. I think that's just a big example for why you know pitcher field and practice is so important for us. I mean it could come down to come down to the World Series when when you got to do it and that could you know be be the game game changing thing that happens so. Yeah it's definitely a tough site but you know it's something that you got to learn from and move forward. I feel like go ahead. I'll say I was surprised, but then I might not be so much surprised you said your mom would be the worst, the worst on you out of all of them. I feel like this is the perfect follow up question for for this after Rick goes after Garrett Cole again but it's something that you see on on Twitter a lot on, you know, not just for the World Series and bigger games but you see even with local markets. The news guys like us saying well like, you know, oh so and so won't talk to me they blocked me on Twitter how am I supposed to get you know play interviews if the players want to distance themselves for me. But then you look at your tweets and they're like, well this guy sucks time to trade in and it's like, you could have just said he had a bad outing you know you don't have to go after guys so like. Once your thoughts on that and you know maybe bettering the relationship between media personnel like us and yourself and other players like it used to be. I mean, there's there's people on the media who, you know, think that they know something that's going on or, you know, know more about the situation and maybe the player knows. Obviously the player is trying to go out there and compete to his best ability every single time. I think that's a big thing like every player like is obviously going out there to, you know, put forth his best not only for him but for the team and for the city for the community that he's like he's playing for. So it's tough to sometimes see like those comments. Like that people are like bash another players are like media personnel bash another players when you know like. I mean it's it's just tough to. Like he's like Derek Cole, for example, like he's he's an elite pitcher. He's one of the best pitchers in baseball right now so it's like how it's it's kind of tough to, you know, see somebody go out there and bash him for, you know, one play when the whole entire season he shelf for the Yankees and. Was an elite pitcher and is going to be an elite pitcher this upcoming year as well so. You know, I mean, it's just it's just understanding, you know, the game of baseball and how nobody's perfect it's people are going to make mistakes and. You know, it's just you kind of. I mean, obviously you don't want to just bypass it and break it up and be like, Oh, like it's no big deal but. I mean, everybody understands that. And then I feel like, you know, with us, with us as Boston fans, you know, you're you're a player but with us as Boston fans anytime's Garrett Cole judge the Yankees group. Like we do we're going to joke about it and they're going to do the same thing to you guys. Oh, yeah. Right. And, yeah, that's just the right. We've talked about it before, you know, we've had a Yankees guys on this podcast. You know, other podcasters during the season and, you know, it's, it's. There's an element though where it's like, and I'm not necessarily talking about, you know, that instance specifically but you see a lot of people just be mean and like go after people for these little scripts and you can't blame someone for blocking you. And it's like, well, of course that, you know, Aaron judge doesn't want to be interviewed by, you know, some big media outlet that said, you know, he, oh, he sucks in the post season, maybe you should just bench him, you know, I wouldn't give you an interview either. But, yeah, yeah. But I feel like as we as, you know, like, I know what pesky string to do and like, built like, like Rick was saying earlier, building these relationships with you guys, I feel like we can change that where yeah we can joke around and have some fun. But we don't need to go out and, you know, blatantly attack people for having bad outings and things like that and then maybe we can kind of restore that journalism player integrity and, you know, interviews and stuff like that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, we just want to, I mean, you know, when we bring a guest on, particularly, you know, minor reason. And, you know, that's like you, it's like, look, you have a story to tell. We want to help you tell it, but let the people who listen to us, you know, find out who you are, you know, like, they know who they know they think they know who we are but you know they want to find out about you what makes you tick. You know, something interesting about it made some kind of connection. And that's what it's all about. Baseball is a game it's supposed to be fun. If you don't want to put it's not going to be fun you probably shouldn't be playing. I just said the guy who's hasn't picked up a baseball glove and at least at least a couple of weeks. Go ahead, Brandon, give it to me brother. A couple weeks George. Well, I did find one on the clause that I had to put it back. The OG thing sticks for a lot for a lot of different reasons, kindly, but you know, but it's okay it's fine. So, you know, your, your approach is good, you know, you're going off a Christmas and then, you know, some time in January I'm guessing you're heading down to the complex again. What's your goal for this year? My goal for this year is, you know, I mean, it's every single year I think it's the same, you know, it's get get the Boston. I think I think that's what everybody wants to do in the organization. And I think that's what is going to drive each of us to become the better version of ourselves. Because, I mean, it's not just me who's out there trying to become an MLB player for the Boston Red Sox is every single person in the organization. So, when everybody's competing like that, I think, you know, that kind of fuels everybody to, you know, take their game to that next level and become even better of a player. Because when you have guys who are going out there and you see them shoved out on the mound, you're like, all right, well, like, I need to do the same thing, you know, like if, if like goes out there and shows for five innings, it's like, all right, let's go like I need to show for five innings. Like if anybody goes out there like everybody wants to compete with each other and I think that's just, you know, the competitive nature that all of us have that's why we play this game and that's why all of our goals is to get the Boston this year. And then if it doesn't happen, it's the same goal the next year after that and just keeps going. So yeah. Cool. Yeah. And it seems like we've seen the debuts, Richard Fitz, in Boston in September and. Freaster. Yes. Yeah. So, like, you know, there's always, always opportunities. You know, and there, and there seems to be always those one or two pitchers that skyrocket really, like, really quick. Like 100 goblins and you, you know, to name two. That really, you know, move quickly in skyrocketed, you know, 100 got the triple way, you know, you, you got the double way really quick. So it shows it hard work determination and a baseball mindset will get you where you need to go. You know, and I sit there and I love love the, you know, scene and hearing. When a pitcher or player just skyrockets, you know, really quick because that shows that you guys are already ahead of the game. That you already are, you know, put into the extra work that, you know, some players might not want to some players, you know, maybe just want to get by, you know, but. But it shows your mindset and your, and your hard work ethic by doing so. So that, Holly, I don't know if the guys that sit there and ask or made mention, but our final question here, calmly, is, is our, is our doobie. It's the hot tub time machine. Okay. Okay. You can go, you can go back in the time to face any. Major League Baseball hitter. Bottom of the night. You and this player. Who, who is it and why? Um. Hmm. I mean. There's just so many answers here that you go with. Um, we've had many different answers. We've had players pick, you know, a kid that, you know, when they were kid, who they looked up to, you know, but Blake flat out said we're not taking a group because, you know, we already know how that's going to turn out. You know, we've had numerous names and it's really fun when you, when we go for the batter side, who they picked that, you know, as a pitcher who they all love to face. Yeah. Um, I guess I'll go with Barry Bonds. Yeah. As long as you're not out there and, you know, was it candlestick? Was that what it's called? Yeah. Yeah. Candlestick, as long as you're not out there, you might have a good chance. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I just feel like, you know, he's got a lot of home runs. You know, he's got a big swing. So, um, you know, it's, it's, I like facing guys that have big swings. Usually if they got a big swing, they hit a lot of pumps. They also are going to punch out a lot. So, um, you know, it's just a mix and match and attack with your best stuff. And, um, I mean, a guy like him who had so many home runs, it'd be, it'd be pretty cool to say that. He struck him out or got him out, um, like in his prime. So that, I don't know. I feel like that'd be pretty sick. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to go one step further. First time I've asked is who's your catcher at this abet? Who are you pegging to be your catcher? I mean, I got to go with Kyle. Kyle too. Call me in college. She knows me from college. She knows me from college, caught me in Portland. Um, got to go with him. Call his catcher. Got it. Got to stick with him. And, and, and, I'm going to sit there and put this out there. He's also going to catch you, uh, and triple away also. So just letting you, just letting you know that when you get up there, uh, this season. And I have a feeling it's going to be early this season. So. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. But, uh, okay, Holly. This is be your, uh, where can they find you at? You know, your socials, uh, anything you want to say? You know, the four is yours. Um, if somebody wants to contact me on socials, probably. Probably on Instagram is the best. Um, not really on Twitter too much. Uh, the only reason why I got Twitter was for baseball, um, in high school. And I don't use it too much unless it's to like repost something of, of me, my brother, or, you know, one of my, one of my teammates, something like that. Um, but definitely probably the most active on Instagram is just commonly underscore early. Um, outside of that, I mean, I'm just excited for this upcoming season. Um, got a lot of guys putting in a lot of work right now, uh, here down at the complex. And I know a bunch of guys who are not at the complex right now and grinding their butt off either. If they were in the Arizona fall league, um, for this past like two months, um, or, or if they've been at home, you know, getting after in the weight room and, um, pushing themselves. So, um, it'll be interesting to see how everybody comes back, uh, this spring training and, um, I mean, looking forward to a, to a fantastic year with. You know, how, how good this, this team is really going to be. Um, I think, I think we got, we're going to have a really good MLB team. And I also think we're going to have a lot of depth in the minor leagues. Um, you know, kind of knocking on the door. So I think we got a lot of talent, um, all throughout and it's going to be fun here. Oh, Tommy, you said, you said about it. We're going to have a great MLB team. Your personal opinion, this is not anything with the Red Sox. What starting pitcher do you want them to sign? Um, I mean, personally, I'm going with, uh, I like freed. Um, I like burns too. I think those are probably the best fits for us, but then again, who, who am I? Who am I? What do I really know? They, they, they know more than me. Uh, they got all the analytics and everything. Um, and they, they, they know a lot more than I do, but just, just from seeing everything, I, I like both of those pitchers a lot. And I, I think they'll be able to succeed with the, with the Red Sox for sure. Absolutely. Uh, George Brandon, some final thoughts. Fair Brandon, I'll just not. I was going to say again, you know, first of all, thank you for coming on. I can't wait till you get to the majors because I'll be in your Instagram. DM is then congratulating you. And, you know, I, I hope that you just continue to rise through the ranks because like I said earlier, you seem like a gamer. You seem like a competitor. I'm really excited to see your career unfold. You know, this has been really surreal for me to be able to interview you guys as a guy who's big into the Red Sox farm system. I'm grateful to RIT and OG for this opportunity to actually come on and talk to you guys because it's kind of almost star striking in a way. You know, when you watch you guys from afar grow and now to actually get to talk to you and ask you some questions. This has just been a surreal experience on all these episodes. So once again, thank you guys, OG and RIT. And that's my final thought. Cool. Yeah. For me, I call it. It's been really great talking to you. You know, you, you, you, one of the, the, the bright spots in the organization, you know, just guys who are working hard to get it done. You know, what's really good is we got some very talented players, but more importantly, really good people as yourself in that category. And I think that's important because somewhere there's a little kid that's going to watch you play and going to want to look up to you. And it's important. They have good role models. And I think you guys like Blake and where you guys are going to be good role models and, you know, good people and what you do. I'm excited to see a pitch at hand lock. I hope for this year. And yeah, that'll be fun for me. So. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. So guys, make sure you sit there and head on over. This will be live on wherever you listen to your podcast tomorrow. So on your drive to work. I heart radio, Spotify, iTunes, this will be released there. Also head on over to our YouTube channel. If you haven't already, give us a subscription BSCN 617, not only all your Red Sox content, but we cover the Pats, the Bruins, and your New England Patriots. Also head on over to our store BSCN 617 dot square dot site. This week, we will be dropping the Noah Dean t shirt. So if you've ever been struck out by Noah Dean, get yourself a shirt. You made the Dean's list. But for the OG for Brandon, for Mr. Connolly early and myself, thanks for stopping by the pesky podcast. I'm going to tell you a 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. - Yeah. Cool. Cool.