The guys sit down with Red Sox 50th overall draft pick Payton Tolle to discuss his career in baseball along with the Red Sox draftng him.
The Pesky Podcast
The Pesky Podcast Episode 139 w/ Payton Tolle
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 to the line and it's got to be. Lied down to right field line toward the pesky pole, leaping up, and that ball is gone, it's a home run. A lot of our nascent team as well. I fly down to right field line headed toward the pesky pole. That one tucked in, and that ball is going to win against the wall, and in the second base, number retired, and a run by a zebra is trying to retire that baseball inside a pesky pole. Welcome to another episode of the Pestee Podcast. I'm your host, The Rit, with me like always is the OG George Sullivan and our producer, Brandon. We're here with episode 139 with our special guest, Peyton Tolle, brought to you by the Boston Sports Entertainment Network. Before we get to our guest, man, I'm going to wind it after that for a while. We might need to dub audio with this soon. But George, what's going on, man? How are you doing? Doing well, doing well. A little busy getting prepared to take a much needed vacation, but you'll see my smiling face over the next few broadcasts. I'll just be doing it from the road. So just getting ready, getting ready to hit the road. I'm Brandon, man. What's going on, man? How are you doing? It's going good, man. You think that the off-season, you go, "Okay, I can breathe a little bit." But then you go with content ideas and stuff, and then the free agent and trade frenzy, it's like there's almost more stuff going on in the off-season than there is during the actual season for guys like us. So it's been pretty crazy, but crazy good. I actually love the off-season because of the reason we get to break down, sit down with the plethora of guests that we have. We've had Noah Dean on, we've had Drew Earhart on. We got the kick and farmer, but we hung calmly early. Now we're going to go right to our guest, the 50th overall pick in the 2024 draft from now. Peyton, you and I are going to have some sort of differences because I'm a Longhorn fan. And you got drafted from the great college TCU. I won't hold that against you yet, but we'll just go back to the stat book or something to that Friday night or something. But hey, I won't say anything else other than that. So Peyton, how's it going? How's your off-season coming along? And what's this been going on for you? Oh, it's been great. I'll also say probably the best intro to a podcast that I've ever seen. But the off-season is going great. Just came back from Fort Myers, been doing the off-season training program down there with the guys and getting to meet guys like we hunt, like Connolly and Dean. All those guys were down there with us and that was a really neat experience just because for guys like me and a bunch of other new draft guys, I think we had two or three pitchers that went up and played. Played after the draft, but for us and other guys, I just kind of sat there at the complex. It was really neat to see those guys and we got to talk to them a lot, got to ask a bunch of questions and they're really open to talking to us too. Overall, it's been a really good off-season. I would say it's a little different. I don't have to worry about finals next week. I don't have to worry about homework or anything like that. I just met with a couple of guys from TCU today and they're like, "Yeah, we got finals coming up." I'm like, "Couldn't be more thankful. I don't have to worry about that." But it's been great. It's been a great experience so far. Yeah, so like we said, we've had on a lot of people that were down there in Fort Myers with you. And one thing that Noah's been talking about, Colin, he's been talking about, Drew, is the closeness that you guys get down there. So what was that like being down there with them compared to how close you were with some of your teammates at TCU? It's pretty similar. Being down there, you get, I don't want to say you're forced to hang out with each other, but you get done with the off-season program about one or two in the afternoon and you have that time to hang out outside of baseball, go golfing, just hanging out, watching college football. So it's very similar just, you know, you're trying to escape from that baseball world for a little bit. And yeah, I mean, it was a lot of fun because you get to talk to people that you never thought you'd ever talk to. And like one guy, or get Whitlock, talk to him, great guy, like just super open and was open to answering all the questions that we had. So it was, it's a lot of fun. It's cool that you can just, you know, right there. Now, you know, whatever level you go through next year, the likelihood that you know somebody, you have that familiar face is high. So it's definitely a special experience and, you know, it was good to have that. Now, when you said golf, you mean golf golf or because I know a couple of you guys down there play disc golf. I'm in the golf golf right now. I shouldn't say I'm into it. I'm attempting to do golf. But I can't get with the Frisbee, the disc golf yet. It's a little different. I've tried it a couple of times before. I'm like, this is a little different to me. I want my buddies is like super into it. He's like, I got my putter disc and my driving disc and my 50-yard disc. That makes no sense to me. Like, let's just get a Frisbee out and use it. That's a different sport. But doing golf golf, it's been a lot of fun. You know, you get out there with the guys. You get a little chippy out there and, you know, 18 holes and you get tired of each other kind of quick. Some words fly. Some people get called some names. But in the end, it's all fun and games. So, yeah. So, you know, I was looking when we lead up to today to come on and getting taken 50th overalls. That's pretty impressive. Did you have any idea that the Red Sox were really looking at you to go like in the second round? Or, you know, have they been sniffing around? Or, you know, were there other teams that you thought were slightly more interested than you would probably end up going there? Yeah. It was, I would have to say, the draft process was very interesting because I had absolutely no idea. And I remember talking to my agent. He's like, "Well, it's pretty close to a 50-50 shot whether you go day one or not." And I'm like, "Okay." Like, it felt like I was in a good position for everything. But, you know, there's a scout. He's West Virginia right now, Chris Riley. And, you know, I got to talk to him quite a bit. I met him a few years ago. My mom talked to him at some thing I was at. They became good friends and talked for a while. So, I knew him and he was a great guy. I got to talk to him quite a bit. But even talking to him, I was like, "I just have no idea what's going to happen." And the only time I knew anything was about 15 picks before me. My agent texted me. It was like, "The red socks are kicking the tires on you." So, like, I'd be prepared. And then he called me and said, "Do you want to be excited?" Or, "Do you want to know?" And I'm like, "I want to be excited." I want to be excited. So, that was about five picks before the red socks picked me. And then, I mean, after that, it was just dream come true after that. Were you home or you were in school? I was home. I was home. It was me, Dad, Brother, and some family friends. So, we tried to play it off as just a spaghetti Sunday. And we're just going to have dinner. We're going to watch the draft. We're going to not expect anything if it happens tonight, great. But if it happens tomorrow, also great. But it happened and just being able to share that moment with everybody was really special. Awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. So, obviously, like you were saying, high-pick last year, you haven't been with the organization long, but what's your first impression of the pitching program that Bailey and the others have put in place? I'm loving it because we walked in there and they said, "We're going to be big and we're going to throw hard." I'm like, "I think I got one of those down. Let's start throwing harder." So, it's been fun. It's been a lot of different stuff. I've been throughout high school, throughout college. I've been pretty stock when it comes to throw in with driveline balls and different drills. I've pretty much just been long-tossed and figured everything else out. It's been fun to get in and to try new things. It's been a lot of fun. Justin Willard has been really smart. He's really passionate about what he's doing. It's been good. It's been fun to try some new things out. I'm excited to see how the progress keeps tracking. A lot of people in the Red Sox, the fan base, we don't know how to develop pitchers because we don't have a very good track record. We always traded for them. But you being drafted 50th overall, the last time that Red Sox did that was 2017, and that was a young man that we are really good with. Mr. Halcomania, himself, Tanner, Hal. There's a lot of similarities to you too. You guys are both big guys. It's funny how we see this Andrew Bailey-Breslow. Everybody, okay, now we're starting to draft pitchers and you are the first of this regime. How does that make you feel out of all the pitchers coming along? They drafted you as the stepping stone for them. It's fun. I mean, I try enough to think that much of it because we're still, you know, now we're all at the same spot and we're all on the same starting block. And the work is still going to be done at a high school coach. They called me after and I was expecting like, "Oh, congratulations. Like, it's awesome." And he called me and just like, "Great job." But like, this isn't the end goal. Like, the end goal is to, you know, get up, get the big leagues and make a difference. And that's really, you know, what I want to do is just, you know, focus on what I need to do to get better and what I need to do to make it up to the Red Sox and to put, you know, myself in the best position and win World Series. And, you know, to be told that, you know, kind of the front runner of that, like, I'm here for it, but it's also, you know, there's so many other guys that, you know, you guys like Shay Sprague, Steven Brooks, Ben Hanson, so many other, all the pitchers in this Philadelphia trail, like all the guys in this draft, you know, it's, it's, we're already ready to, you know, start going. And it's, it's, it's fun, you know, maybe someday I would get a cool nickname, like, Hal Comania, or, you know, it's, but, uh, but yeah, for right now, okay, we just paid and told it, but, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's fun. It's, uh, it's a exciting time to be a part of the organization. So, well, we'll, we'll pay. We're not going to tune our own horn here, but we're going to two door and home. Uh, you know, we actually came up with the name Hal Comania for Tanner, how Jonathan Pappabon helped us get, get that way. So don't worry, you know, George and I, uh, and Brandon, we're going to sit there and keep an eye on you. We'll, we'll, we'll, we're going to be getting you a nickname here as soon as, as soon as one springs up. That sounds good. I'm, I'm excited. As long as it's, you know, family friendly. Yeah. I don't care. Yeah. That's the first, that's the first, that's the first effort after that. You know, depending on how, depending on how you feel about it, you know, we can go have done that road too. Oops. There he is. What was that? You probably got a call or a text message. Yeah, you're good. Yep. Hello. Yeah, we can hear you. Oh no. No, no, you, I did something wrong here. Which is, I don't think he can hear us. Oh no. You're good. No. We can hear you. I, I cannot hear you guys. Okay. I just, I just private chat and I'm so hopefully you can. Somebody, somebody just tried to call me. Yep. Yep. There we go. We're back. There we go. As soon as someone tries to call you, it takes, it takes away you from the screen and then it takes away, uh, your microphone where you can't hear us. Uh, so my bad. I mean, I should, I should've done it on my computer. It happens all the time. Don't worry about it. So. Yeah. So, you know, since you've gotten down to the complex, what are the things that the organization is working with you on? Are they trying to take it with your delivery? Uh, you know, you get a pretty good fastball and a, and a decent slider. You know, they're trying to get, you know, like, develop a third pitch or, you know, you know, what, what kind of things are they working, you know, to make you better and, you know, maybe you're thinking a little bit differently when you take the hill. Yeah. I think, you know, one thing is, you know, kind of not really touching the fastball, kind of letting the fastball be the fastball. But, you know, adding those other off speed pitches is going to be, I think what's going to really take what I have higher. And so been working heavy with the change up and, you know, heavy with a, with a sweeper and trying to figure out which one, what kind of works for me, what grips work, uh, how am I going to use them? Like, so it's, it's very, uh, it's a trial and trial and error process and just trying to figure out what is going to work. Uh, how comfortable am I going to be with something and, um, you know, I think we were on our like third, third change up grip and second sweeper grip and just trying to, trying to figure that kind of stuff out just to, you know, take whatever I have and take it to the, take it to the next level because, you know, it's, it's, it's one thing going from big 12 hitters or even you go back to American conference hitters to big 12 hitters and how big 12 hitters into professional hitter, you know, throwing 75% eaters is not going to work. It's going to, it's going to take a lot more than that and, uh, adding those off speed pitches is going to, you know, be what drives that force, but not a whole lot of mechanical stuff. Maybe a little tweaks here and there of just trying to be on time, but, um, but yeah, really, really trying to hammer those off speeds. So. Cool. Awesome. So I'm going to switch it up a little bit here. You got to talk to me about what's behind you because that is probably one of the coolest things that I've ever seen. Oh, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's our bat wall. So me and my brother for about the past 10 years have been, uh, working and, you know, every time we break a bat, it goes up there, which is probably not a good thing. That probably means we're making terrible contact and getting jammed too much or hitting off the end too much, but, uh, it's, it's, it's been, it's been a fun process with them all and it's, you know, it's something to show that shows hard work and, uh, a lot of money spent on bats. But, um, my dad, uh, he's a very handyman and a lot of these bats here are bats that he made, um, outside in our shed and, um, he does a little, uh, gets the bat and spins it and it, at first, it took him about eight hours to build a bat and now he can do it in three. So, uh, he's been, he's been doing that for a few years now and it's been, uh, it's saved us, saved us some money, but, uh, and I'm like, you gotta, you gotta start selling these and he tries to, uh, it's just hadn't quite taken off yet, but, you know, it's, uh, it's going to, it's going to. You gotta try stuff and, you know, he's, it seems like he's pretty talented and I gotta say, you know, that doesn't necessarily seem like a bad thing to me because it's a, it's a wall of remembering to learn from your mistakes. Yeah, exactly. You know, and I bet every one of those bats that, that, that's a hurt hand right there. Just, you got singing. Oh. But, uh, yeah. So now, so now on the opposite wall as a full-time pitcher now, you can start collecting bats that you broke. Yeah. You know, the opposing hit is just, even if they just splinter pieces just like stick it in the back pocket and, you know, another trophy for the wall. Oh, yeah. I think that's what's gotta be next, but, uh, I'll, uh, I'll try to get my first one and then we'll see if I can really, if I'm even going to be able to do that. It might just be one dad up there, but it'll, it'll be the coolest position in the house. Oh, yeah. Instead of going like this, when they want the ball, you'll be like, you're that bat. Yeah. I'll give you, I'll give you $20 for that broken bat right there. And that's way overpriced. Just be like, I'll give you 20 bucks for the bat and all my dad make you another one. Exactly. Yeah. I know a guy. Here we go. I'm going to run up to the con course and enter the free bat giveaway. It's the broken bat of the game or something. Yeah. Jokes aside, jokes aside, pumping your dad out like that. Like you give me that broken bat and my dad will give you a few more. Like that's a great way to get his business out there too. That's, that's what, yeah. Yeah. Got to get the name out there. Absolutely. I like that. I like that. So. Well, uh, sitting there getting the brand out there, you know, we're going to take a brief, uh, a little time out to throw out our sponsor, uh, castor, you know, baseball development, make sure you go out, check them out. Uh, you know, and we're going to play the video first. Are you tired of being overlooked by college recruiters and professional scouts? Are your metrics so low that your bat speed doesn't sell you? Well, guess what? We have your solution. We have our dynamic bat speed accelerator training program now available by us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's Catherine, a baseball development. Uh, man, they were talk a little bit about them. Yeah. I mean, they're, they're different. I mean, they believe that they can help you when your time, uh, they maximize your, your times because they, they understand that, you know, you're busy. Uh, they can do it remotely, which is different from most places. You have to usually get, you know, hopper, hopper bus, hopper train, hopper car, you know, a fly. Uh, it, but these guys are really, really different. Uh, they found, you know, they, they advertise themselves as being family friendly and valuable when you have time to make you better. So they're very. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So Peyton, let's, let's talk a little bit about, uh, you know, we could talk about this college, you know, what you call a state and stuff. You know, you, you were a, you were a two way player there. And, you know, so what did, what did you like better? You know, in high school and at what you call a state, you know, because the Red Sox, they already stated that they're just going to solely keep you as a pitcher and stuff. So, but, but. If you want to pick up a bat, don't, you know, always throw that out there every now and then be like, Hey, you want me going and pinch it for the guy? I, you know, I can do it. Yeah. I think, I think my hitting days might be pet behind me, but I have said like, Hey, I can go, I can go take live BP out there. I can, I can go try to show those guys what's up, but, but I don't, I don't know. It's, uh, it was two way was a lot of fun. And if, you know, it was exciting to be able to do that at, uh, Wichita State and, you know, having a coaching staff that was open to the idea then, you know, it was, you know, it was, it was obviously with, you know, like, same age as Jack Heckler, you know, they own, but, you know, you haven't really, you had those two way guys in the past, but, you know, you see show, Hey, you see Kaggle, you own go and it's like, you start. Okay. Like this two way thing is like it, it's more doable than, you know, but we once thought and, uh, but I, uh, I really enjoyed doing it. And I was like, I'm going to ride the two way train as long as I can. And, you know, it just happened that TCU would, uh, you know, you know, take the step back from, from hitting, but, you know, it was for a good reason. No, like, obviously I would not be here today if I was still hitting. I don't think because, you know, hitting, hitting is fun and, uh, it's, it can be, uh, it could be, could be mentally draining sometimes. I'm sure some hitters would say the same about pitching, but, uh, but yeah, I mean, which stuff today was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that it was a perfect opportunity for me to go somewhere and make a difference early. And, you know, it was, uh, which it was incredible for me. The people there was incredible. And like I just, I couldn't have seen it going any other way. If I went to some bigger school early on, it just, it wouldn't have worked out the way it did. Um, but yeah, super thankful for my time there. So what are your thoughts on probably the best two-way player, you know, whoa, like, what are your thoughts on him on the unbelievable stuff that he's been able to show that he can do? I mean, I don't know what there is to say about him that hasn't been said. It's, it is, it's ridiculous. And it's just kind of one of the things like you just watch him play and it's just waiting for what, what is he going to do now? And I think it's, it's, it's going to be more exciting. I'm sure he'll start pitching, you know, after, because he had TJ and stuff. So whenever he's pitching again next year, it'll be interesting to see how it, if it will, if it's hitting, it will stay the same. If like one will dip because, I mean, back two years ago is just to lead it both. And, you know, it's to be a guy that has done both at a college level. It's like, I couldn't even imagine doing both. Like that is so much stress in your body and stress mentally. It's, it's very, it's just so impressive. And you just got to sit back and watch and just eat popcorn and enjoy the show. So, yeah. So when you were growing up, you know, who was your favorite player in your favorite team? Who did you try to model your game after you, you know, some of those two adding stances or, you know, how they throw or things like that? You know, who's your guy growing up? So being from Oklahoma, I grew up with those, you know, those 10, 11, 12 Rangers teams. And my guy was Josh Hamilton. And I thought, I thought he was so cool. I just don't believe like, you know, if he could go back and redo it, he'd be one of the best players to play the game. And, you know, he was a guy that I loved watching as far as pitching side goes. Like, that's also like prime mad bum. Like, you got him, the Rangers guys, Derek Holland, CJ Wilson. And then, I mean, it's just, there's a lot of those guys that, I remember, I would do the little over the head like Derek Holland did. And it's, you know, it's, well, say it's like, oh, Bill, it works for him because it works for him. That's not me. But yeah, like there's David Murphy, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler. I think, I think at some point I could have named that entire lineup for that one of those teams. But that was kind of my team growing up and, you know, it was a lot of fun to have that team close by and then having the success that they did. But yeah, I think the Rangers team and then it just turned into a love for baseball after that. A love for, a love for every team except the Yankees is what I would say. It's going to be a lovely one, Boston man. It worked out. I tell you what, it, that was the one of the first things I said after I got drafted. I was like, I can officially hate the Yankees and I, I loved it. Yeah. So, you know, talking about the love of baseball because, you know, we talked to you before the podcast. So you pulled some stuff on here already about, you know, just loving the game. It doesn't have to be Major League. What's the coolest baseball thing that you've ever witnessed in person? Mmm. Man, there's been, there's been a lot. I think it's been, I think it's just like, there were a couple of games at TCU that, you know, obviously we didn't, we didn't make to play off or anything. But like, those, those first weekends of, I think it's like a 15, 15 and those, 13 and those, whatever. Really good start of the year. And kind of the games that we walked off, I think three or four of them. And it was like, like walk off opening day. We had, this is, I don't know if this is, this probably was like, okay, that's just a dumb baseball moment. We had the walk off drop third strike. And it was one of the most incredible, craziest things I've ever seen, because he strikes out. Swinging misses all those way too high. And there's Jack Arthur. And he could tell it was way too high. And it kind of like stands, I was like, run! What's going on? It's just mass chaos everywhere. But that was a really fun moment. That was, and then I had my freshman year, we had a walk off home run against Kansas, so it's really neat. And then, but I mean, there's so many little moments is like, if I go back and look at a picture, like, this is what happened not that play, or like, this is the game that this happened. So there's, there's a bunch of moments. Like I was at back in COVID, we went to the game seven Dodgers Braves. I was in Arlington and Cody Bellinger hit the, hit a home run in the seventh. And like, that was a neat experience to see all that, but it was my first game where we were up in Boston. I probably rambling right now, but it's, I could talk about this for days, but up in, up in Boston is the Friday night game against the Yankees. And Judge hits a home run to go up in the Red Sox come back. It, it was never a hit a home run, I think, but it was such a fun. That was a fun experience just first time being in Fenway. And it's, I mean, I would, I could, I could name moments all up and down my life that were, that were, you know, just special to me. So that's what being a fan is all about. Oh, yeah. You as a player as well. We just love the game. Absolutely. Absolutely. So spring trains, you know, it's going to be your first spring training with the Red Sox. Yuri was down to Fort Myers, but I like talking to people, you know, Noah and calmly and then they all, all were like a little star struck. You know, see, Chris sale down there, you know, you know, pitch. So, so, so who, who's the one guy that you think if you see a spring training down there that you know you're just going to be in all to see. Mmm. Man, I mean, I, I show up pretty good. I, I usually, I was like, it's, I got, we met G Leto was down there in Fort Myers. It was kind of a, you know, you see him on TV, but then you see him first cycle. That's just big. So that was, that was kind of a cool one. Man, like I think if, I mean, if Deborah's, or he, oh, Janda ran, walked up to me and was like, Hey, you're in my spot. I'm, I'm not free. Like, he might be one that, he might be the one that I'm like, Oh, that, that's going to be really neat whenever I meet him. But, but yeah, it, it, I'm really excited. I think it's going to be fun just to, you know, I don't know how much, you know, big league guys and mainly guys overlap, but to kind of be able to watch them work how they, how they handle their business is going to be, that's going to be something I'm looking forward to about spring training. So, man, Peyton, and you're talking about current, you know, I'm thinking, what are you going to do if you're out there throwing and, you know, Pedro comes up to you like, Hey, what, what, what would you try this? Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. That, I, I'd probably, I was, I was starting to get someone over words, but having, having D'Angelo, so we have D'Angelo Ortiz with this. And he was on FaceTime with Big Poppy and I looked over shoulders like, Dave, what's up? But like, if he came up and talked to me at first and I'd be like, Oh, Mr. Ortiz, sir, it's very nice to meet you. But it's, I mean, it's going to be, it's going to be a whole lot of fun because from what I can tell, you never know who's going to show up this spring training. It's true. So, what do you do to, what do you do to them? Why, what, you know, off the field, you know, what's your, what do you like to do, you know, game hunt fish, whatever, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think recently it's been, the golf has, has kind of taken up time. I mean, it's attempting to golf, but it's, it's been taken it up, but I like cooking. I'm a cook. I like, I mean, I've gained 40 pounds because I can cook a little. Yeah, I can't. I can really read a box. I'll tell you that. There's some good box news out there, but like cooking. I'm, I'm a huge family guy. I'm a huge people guy. I like hanging out with people. I can't sit in the room and look at a screen for four hours. I gotta, I gotta have some people interaction. So there's a, you know, a lot of things that I do is like, you know, I'll go over my buddy's hospital, play ping pong or play pool and just hang out for a couple hours. But, like, as far as like actual hobbies go, like I've tried fishing, just not that patient of a person. Although it is a lot of fun being out to be shard went out there and went, went fishing a few times. I'm like, okay, it can be relaxing. If I try to relax other than that, I'm not patient enough. But, but yeah, I think just kind of just, it's just like people. So I like, maybe that's my hobby is being a people person. So it doesn't matter what that man. That works. I can tell you guys from being from a family of hunters and fishermen. It is not a patient. You know, it's, you gotta have patience. If you don't have that, find a different hobby. Yeah, it tests you. It tests you for sure. It's like, we went up, we'll go up and in high school, we'll go up a couple times and go shoot guns at the land that we, my dad, dad's family has. And it's like, I'm tired of waiting. Let's just shoot. Like, I just want to shoot something like set up some cans or something. Yeah, not a, not the patient kind. So, so switching back to baseball for a second for the fans out there so they know, you know, you kind of knew the organization. So for the fans, what is your game like you strikeout guy ground ball guy. Um, I would say it has morph, you know, early, which I'll say it always kind of just to get soft contact and get out. However, I need to. But, you know, this past past year at TCU, it definitely turned into being a strikeout guy. And, you know, I'm just trying to, I'm going to compete. You know, it's, I like to say that the way I pitch is a little bit of a, I'm going to, I'm going to give you the chance to hit it. It's just your job to just your job to hit it. So, I like competing. I like going right at guys and that's kind of what I like to sell myself as is just, you know, I'm going to compete. And the other thing too is like, I hope whenever you guys watch me pitch, you have as much fun watching me pitch as a, as much fun as I'm having out there pitching because it is so fun to me. And it can be frustrating at times, but like at the end of the day, it's, it's baseball and I'm having a ball out there. So it's, I'm really excited to, you know, pitch in front of fans again. It's been a while. It's just, but it's, I'm excited about it all and, but yeah, that's, that's, I mean, I guess I could go further into it, but that's a little snapshot of what you're going to get. So, yeah, and I can tell you from the fans side of it, I am going to have fun watching you pitch. I watch so much minor league baseball. It's not even funny. Actually, when it comes to the socks. So I'll probably watch it on the end, maybe even texting you afterwards. Yeah, that's perfect. That's perfect. So, Payton, who was the hardest person in your career so far that you've had getting out or tried to get out? This is going to be an interesting one. It's not going to be Brock Rotten. He's, he's with the Mariners organization now. They play, I play with him at Wichita State. Switch hitter. You know, he's, he's another Oklahoma guy, but he was up there, Wichita State with me. And I say him because every single time we face him in an inner squad, me and him, I couldn't get him out. I, I could get him. I could get him to hit ground balls. I could get him, but just somehow he wouldn't get out. And it was so frustrating because we go back in the locker room and he's like, got to you again today. I'm like, yeah, dude, I get it. Like, it's cool. Like, great. Good job. It's your job. I want you to do good. But he, he, he just, he was so hard to get out sometimes. But as far as like competing against, they work up like a spiker man at OU. He was, he was always a tough out. He had some long ABs with me. And those were, it was like, dude, you could have, he had a little backside single. It's like, dude, you could have hit that on the fourth pitch. But you're doing it on the 14th pitch. Like, just, just, all right. Like, let's just, let's just get on base. We're going to get on base. Um, but there, there's a bunch out there that I'm sure that I'm, that I don't think about that they could, uh, like Lenny Ashby. And he was at, he was at New Mexico and he was at a Kansas and faced him multiple times. And every time I faced that guy, he was hitting the wall or he was, you know, waking up the apartment building across the street. And it's, he, it's like, it's just weird. It's like, I do good against the earth. The whole, the whole rest of line up that he comes at the bed. He could go ahead the ball hard. It's just the weird thing. But, uh, yeah, I'm not, I'm not afraid to admit it. You know, there's some, there's, there's those guys out there. I mean, it's like, for, for whatever reason, it's just somehow goes down the middle for him. But yeah. Who's someone in the organization that you're looking forward to having some live BP against. Speaking of the Angelo T or T8, he talks a little too much. It talks a little smack that I'm ready to, I'm ready to have a lag like BP against him. Christian Campbell is a guy that I'm really excited to watch hit. Uh, you know, I, I like, uh, being down there with him. He, I'll sit there and no talk. He talks to me and Chase Bragg about, they'll, I remember we were sitting at the tub one day and he was like, so what do you like to throw first pitch? Like, no high. I know what's up. Just like, what do you like to first pitch? Like, that's baseball player right there. Like, that is exciting. And so he's one that I'm, I'm ready to see with my eyes and. But yeah, I mean, I think that there's, you know, like Zach Earhart, he's at a, he's at a cool mistake. So I got to face him already. Um, and he almost, he almost got me once. But, uh, it's, there's, there's a lot of guy, the list will go on live with guys that I'd like. All right. Like, we'll start to talk his Mac back and forth. It's like, oh, these will just settle this on the field. Like, let's go. One on one. Let's go out there right now. But yeah, I think, I think D'Angelo, that he might take the cake right now. We'll just, we'll just go out to the action going on that nothing better than that. So given all that you've accomplished and some of your experiences, you know, uh, you went to college or switch schools, you get drafted by a major league organization, or would you tell you 12 year old self. Tell you what 12 year old me was a little bit of a case. And it took, it took a while for me to, to get around to really loving the game. And I think I would tell them what my mom always told me is like, one play with joy. And to show people why you love baseball. And I think it would take, it would take the pressure off him. It would, it would just go out there and have a great time. You would have fun with his friends. And like it would, you know, go into that, like, I remember multiple times in middle school and then first two years of high school, like, you know, it was all paid and gotten, well, paid and got mad and threw a helmet and it's like, there's no need for that. Like, I understand you're not happy, but like, take a step back and use some perspective and realize that, yeah, you went over four with four Ks and you're not good at hitting but, but we're going to live and we're going to wake up tomorrow morning and, you know, it's, it's going to be the same thing over again. But yeah, I think that's the biggest thing is just enjoy it. And that's probably what you get a lot, probably the cliche answer, I guess. But like, that's, I remember being a little head case and I wasn't having fun with baseball and it was whenever I kind of had that switch mentality of like, this is a game I love at work, work so hard for it and like, I'm getting in my own way of whenever I get frustrated. So, yeah, I think that'd be the advice, long winded answer, I guess. No, I think it's a really good way of looking at it, because it's a game. If you enjoy it, you're supposed to have fun playing it. So, yeah, it's crazy. I'm somehow professionally getting paid to pay to play a game that four year olds play. That's, that's wild to me. Well, on that note, you know, like we were talking earlier about, you know, the love of the game, the aura, the ability to have this game that is so different from every other game because of all the little nuances. So, like, what do you think it is that, you know, fans like myself love and fans like yourself and people who are able to continue to play this game at a higher level like, what is it about baseball with all those little nuances that just reels the true fans in and makes us love it 24 7 365. I mean, I think it's that, I mean, it's a little, there's a little bit of that drill and rush that you can get from it. And, you know, it's that having being down three runs with, you know, bases loaded two outs and don't know what's going to happen next. Like, it's very suspenseful in that, you know, each pitch, heart keeps beating a little bit faster and whenever you understand baseball, whenever you understand what's going on, it's, it's that much more exciting. And I think that's probably the biggest reason for it. Like, with baseball, you know, I was saying earlier, like, the only time that you don't have a chance to win a baseball game is whenever the last strike is thrown. So that first out is caught, like, from that moment, you didn't matter if you have a 1% chance of winning, like, you can be down to your last out and still have a chance. And I think that's, it's so unique, like you don't, you don't get that football. You get, you know, you get 15 minutes and, you know, you could be down a touchdown with two minutes left and not get the ball back. So, so it's, it's, it's just special in that aspect and there's, I mean, obviously there's a lot of rules and stuff about baseball, you kind of have to understand in order to get it. But it's, but I think that's why, you know, people that do love the game keep coming back to it. But I think that's one thing that like not a lot of people understand, even though we have a pitch clock now, it's not a run out the clock scenario like in ball or basketball or anything. And, you know, I'm not, I personally am not a big fan of their sports, but I don't knock anybody who is, but like, to me, I look at it like, you know, in football, you know where the down line is, you know where the goal line is in basketball, you know where the half court is, you know where your basket is and hockey. You know where your goal is and yeah, with, with baseball, it's like all you have is the diamond. And you got to make everything else go. Yeah, absolutely. That's, I haven't, I guess I haven't thought of it like that. I guess it's, it's, you know, you never know what's going to happen on a baseball diamond. It could any, anything, anything could happen. So Peyton, who's your biggest inspiration, you know, with baseball? Man, I mean, I think there's been a ton of coaches that have pushed me, but I mean, I think, you know, I had my high school coaches there with me all four years he retired. It was a day after I had my final game. So we kind of finished out high school together and he was a, he's an incredible man, like was in the army, army ranger, you know, could kill a man with his pencil if he wanted to, but had huge You know, loves, loved us, loved my family, love baseball. And I mean, I remember with being in high school and were it's Sunday after every single Sunday afternoon. It was like, all right, text coach drumming that we're going up to the field. And the only reason he wouldn't go up to the field is because he was, his Packers were playing and like, that was like, that's coach drumming in this Packers time like we don't, we don't deal with that. But he was just, he always fought for me so hard and he was always on my side and he was always right there with me. He's like, I remember, it was a time where he was like, you know, he's like, look, you got to go to college. Like, you know, you got a couple of looks for the draft and you're, but you're not going to go early. Like, you're going to go late. You've got to go to college. You need to get bigger. You need to get stronger. It's like, he was one of the very few people that I listened to all of his advice. And he was a genius too. Like, way too. Like, he once tried to show me like the circumference with pie and all the numbers and everything. And he took me to the basketball court and did all that stuff. I was like, okay, coach drumming. I don't understand what you're saying. Let's just stick to baseball. But, but he, he's probably the person that has really pushed me the most other than my parents. But, you know, he was always there. He's like, he's like that, that second, second dad to me. So he was always really, really pushing me and he pushed my brother to. If you weren't playing baseball, what would, what would you think you'd be doing? What would you like to do? I mean, I have always felt like I could, like, my dream post baseball is to be some sort of, like, broadcaster, or like, like, I want to go back and do sports broadcasting school. Like, I think that would be so cool. Like, I would have to be in sports. I would have to be doing something that's not sitting down. Like, I think that that would be so fun is to, you know, get hooked up with TCU, get hooked up with Trust State, even like a high school or something like in travel around with them. Do play about play for games and, you know, I think that'd be the life. Talk, get to talk about baseball all the time and, you know, it'd be very, that's a, that's a, that's a passion for mine. It's just being, you know, obviously I've probably talked a little bit too much on some of these answers, but, you know, it's, it's just part of what I do, I guess, but I think it'd be, it'd be a lot of fun to do that. And I think if I wasn't in the position I am today that I would probably be fighting to do something like that. One of the things we do here is, it's different from others is that we let you be you. Okay. And we want to talk about, you know, people, they know about you as a player. They see the staff know what it is. You can look that up on baseball reference, right? Yeah. No, who was this paid, who's this paid and totally guy and what makes him tick. You know, why should I follow him? And that's, that's the thing that, you know, we try to, you know, try to let you be yourself and talk about all the things that you want to talk about. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's, it's, I wish I could, I wish I could say, oh, man, I'd be in the NFL. I'd be the greatest titan that ever lived. But no, it's not really. That's not really what I, you know, what I love to do. So it's a, it's a baseball for me. So. Yeah. And like George was saying, you know, we don't care how much you ramble. We love to get personal. We love, you know, let the real you come out. And you know, even myself working with these guys this last year. You know, I spent seven years in radio and then 12 years in the film industry. And it was fun. But like, there was something always drawing me back to baseball. So this last year working with these guys, it's like. It's been some of the funnest times in my life and, and I have a blast with it is, you know, as much as I'm sure you guys do coming on and talking to us. But this next question I got for you. I asked Noah Dean this a couple weeks ago and it was one of the best responses when we got on the show. So I'm going to ask you the same thing. The day comes, you get the call that you're going to the show. What's the first thing you do. I'm calling my dad. I think I'm definitely, I'm definitely calling my dad and then, and then saying that. I can, I can cover, I can cover steaks tonight. We'll go get it. You can go get a nice steak and, you know, a nice bottle scotch or something. But yeah, I think probably the first thing I did was probably cry. But yeah, yeah, I guess we'll figure it. We'll figure that out whenever that day comes. So I'm interested to know what Dean said. It says it's not what he said. It's what he didn't say. Yeah. So he basically, he kind of said the same thing as yours and call the parents and then he kind of positive and goes. And then the wife. Well, yeah, we're, we're working on that one, but I, yeah, it's, yeah, no, it's. As of right now, it's called that first call that. And the good thing is like dad and brother are always together. So it's like, you call dad, Charlie's going to be there too. So little brother is going to hear just, just as soon as dad is. So put me on speakerphone. Yeah, I got something really important to say. So, so Payton, I see the hat. Now, is that a Ford Bronco? Yeah, Ford Bronco. I've got to ask you. What do you think of the new body style compared to the old body style? I, so I had a 1990 Ford Bronco is my first car standard. Oh, man, that thing. It was a tank and it had a problem, a new problem every two months, but it was incredible. I loved it. But the new ones, I, I, it's, it's not the Bronco two, which is good. You know, that little, little small guy. I do appreciate that. There's, there's some ones out there that I think that people have like kind of done up themselves, kind of, you know, painted it different, lifted it different. And, you know, I think it's, if I had the choice, I'm going with the classic. That's what I'm doing. But I don't, I don't hate it. I don't hate the new ones. So also, maybe that's like the safe answer is I don't hate it. So, but, you know, it's, it's not, it's not going to be, that's, that's not my, my cup of tea, you know, I'm, I'm a classic guy. Well, Peyton, we're going to sit there and, and, you know, go right to the final question. So hopefully no, no one's, you know, told you what the question is, you know, we love to hear the response. So we're going to go hot tub time machine. Okay. You can, you can go back in the time to any error. Any error, any error, and it's you on the mound versus anybody, any batter you want to face. Who would it be and why? Oh, man. That is, because I mean, like, like, I feel like the obvious answer to that, like, or like the popular one would be like, well, I want to face Babe Ruth and see just how good he was like, could he handle like, I don't know. That, so that, I mean, that, that'd be interesting. Or like, because like, there's some people that's like, well, I don't want to face him because I just made me feel bad. Like, like, yeah, go face Barry Bonds. Well, why would you want to go face Barry Bonds? Like, that's just like, yeah, maybe get two strikes on them? No, I don't know. But, I don't know, like, there'd be, like, I think I would, I think I would maybe go back. Maybe childhood Peyton. We'll go back to this. I'll go childhood Peyton and I'll go, I'll go face Josh Hamilton. And I'll see, we'll see how good we do against him and, you know, maybe we'll pump a couple heaters down there just to, you know, we're going to compete with him a little bit. I'm going to show him what we got. But, yeah, like, there's some dudes that, like, I think I'd be okay with not going back and facing naked. You know, Barry Bonds probably up there, David Ortiz and get David Ortiz in the seventh inning or later. Like, I'm okay, not, not doing that one. But, but, yeah, it's a, that's a, that's a really good question. So I, I don't, maybe I'll have to do my research and really come up with, like, some really obscure name, like David Murphy. And, yeah, it's a, yeah, that's a good one. It's funny because, you know, you say in Babe Ruth, I don't think George really ever had a dad as an answer. No, that's good. But Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds. It's probably one of our more popular answers for pictures. Well, then I'll say Babe Ruth, because I want to see if he can hang. There you go. So, but Payton, we want to thank you for coming on. You know, the floor is yours. Tell everybody where they can find you out on Instagram, social media, you know, wherever you want. Oh, yeah, Instagram is, you know, it's really totally 49, but r-o-l-l-e-t-o-l-l-e 49. Same thing on Twitter. At some point, those will change. I got to, you know, actually, I tried to do a plan where it's like, really, fully, really, totally, it works. But, and then people are like, why is it like that? I don't know. I thought I was cool when I was 16. But, yeah, I'm out there. You can, you can just try to, yeah, I don't know. I mean, AI looked me up or something. I don't know. I'm out of a loop on everything in there. But, rolly-tolly is. Those are the tags. Thank you guys so much for having me. I love doing this so much fun. Thank you guys. And I hope to talk to you guys soon. Oh, well, we always love to have people come on as they graduate and go and move up in the pharma system. So, we're definitely going to be reaching back out to you again. I love that. But guys, all of our podcasts will be live tomorrow on your way to work. You know, you have that drive. We're going to be on Spotify, iTunes, iHeartRadio. We're on YouTube right now. So, make sure you head on over to our store. And since we have Peyton on here, since he was the highest pitcher drafted by the Red Sox since 2017, we're going to go. And here where to buy our how come in your shirt from the man himself, Jonathan Papalon. Hey, what's up? This is Jonathan Papalon, 2007 World Chant with the boss of Red Sox. Red Sox all time saves leaders, six time all star Red Sox Hall of Famer. And I just want to say go to the website, ds, e s, six, one, seven dot square dot site, the pesky podcast myself. We are giving away how come many a t shirt to 20% off man. The charity, the Carita's family solution is going to that. So, it's going to a great call. So, y'all going to get your shirts. Get ready for how come many a 10 or how it going to be an all star this year. Future, maybe future Red Sox Hall of Famer like myself. So, go get it baby. How come mania? So, but guys, thanks for sitting there and giving us a chance to come into your radio. But for the OG, for Brandon, for Peyton and for myself. So, 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. - Thank you. Thank you.