Why Giants might surprise everyone before 2026 MLB trade deadline
"Giants Talk" co-hosts Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic preview the upcoming 2026 MLB trade deadline and detail potential options for San Francisco as it prepare to face the San Diego Padres. Plus, Alex sits down with Giants' No. 4 overall draft pick Jackson Flora to discuss his pitching journey and expectations entering professional baseball.
Why Giants might surprise everyone before 2026 MLB trade deadline originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Hey, what's up Giants fans?
Welcome to another episode of Giants Talk.
I'm Cole Kuiper, here with Giants insider Alex Pavlovic.
The Giants, once again, take a series versus a first place NL team.
We'll break down Giants versus Brewers, plus some big injury updates, of course trade deadline talk, and most importantly, Alex sat down with Giants' 2026 first round draft pick Jackson Flora for the interview you've been waiting for.
And I know I've been waiting for this one too.
Before we get started, Giants Talk is presented by Mancini's Sleepworld.
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All right, Alex, I feel like we should start with injuries.
I know my inbox is full of questions about Harrison Bader.
We obviously have to talk Casey Schmitt, and more.
So let's start with Casey Schmitt.
Going into the trade deadline, I think we've said for months that a big part of the moves they make need to be done to free up a place for Casey Schmitt to be playing regularly.
And here we are days away, a week away- Yeah and poor guy goes down.
Yeah, this one, I mean it, it would suck for anybody, but I, I think especially for someone who is, for me, like probably the best story of this season.
And really the breakout of this season- season.
I mean, Bryce has been great, but we knew Bryce would be great.
So- Yeah at some point, Casey, you're waiting for this.
And it He arrived, and he has done everything I You know, I've, I've kind of said it a little bit here a few times, but Tony loves him.
He's done everything behind the scenes they could've asked for.
They threw him out there in left field and said, "Go play left field 'cause there's nowhere else to play you, and Elliot just got hurt."
And it's like, okay.
Remember last year he did that at first base the f- like fourth game of the season?
Yeah.
He just plays wherever, he plays whenever.
He doesn't care where he is in the lineup.
That's not the case for everybody.
He has hit all year.
Look, he still doesn't draw walks, but other than that like the profile.
Even stole nine bases this year, 21 homers after having a career high of 12 coming in.
So every part about this was positive for Casey except for, you know, putting the brakes on the other night and ultimately tearing the meniscus.
Now I think as someone who watches a lot of football and has had I think I have a streak of like six straight years, my best player getting hurt on my fantasy team.
Great.
I'm very familiar with non-contact knee injuries.
So, that ultimately I think this was close to the best case scenario.
I mean, you If it's like a hyperextension, that's great, but you know, you, you start thinking about something like the ACL or, or sometimes you have multiple things in there that go wrong, and you're missing real time.
It, it does He's gonna have surgery.
This is gonna end his season.
But it, it does sound like he's gonna be fine in a few months and, and be totally fine for whenever 2027 starts.
But certainly this is a guy who was A conversation we've had a ton is about to slide over to second base.
And I don't think that changes long term, but one, it keeps him from, you know, having a chance to take a shot at 30 homers or build- Mm-hmm on whatever he's doing.
And two, he also spent the off season working out at second base, and then they signed Luis Arias pretty way in the process.
So he's never really had a chance to take a position and say, "This is my position, and Casey Schmitt is your second baseman going into next year.
And here's two months of, here's two months of, what it looks like."
And also, just the last thing I'll say here is I think Wash will be back next year, but we don't know how long Wash is gonna do this.
So he- Yeah he's missing a couple months here of, of getting to work with him defensively at one position.
But just for him personally, just sucks.
It's, it He was somebody that has been a bright spot in what has, has otherwise been just a really, really horrible season in every respect.
Yeah.
Huge bummer, both for the team, but primarily for Casey Schmitt, as this was his career year, and his chance to, to take it to the next level was about to open with Luis Arias getting moved most likely.
Now, does this impact Arias at all?
Does this make them a little more hesitant to go the next few months without a primary second baseman, or is it just like, "Hey, Koss, break that glove in"?
It shouldn't.
I mean, they, they still, they still are in the same position as a team.
Yeah.
So you, you still have, you know, really nothing to gain, other than watching Luis Arias, which is a lot of fun.
But other than that, you have nothing to gain from him being at second base for you.
It, it does open up an opportunity potentially for Christian Koss.
Nate Ferman's in triple A.
It's kind of a He's a smaller guy, huge on base percentage guy.
So maybe he gets a look at some point.
And then the two guys I really, and one in particular, I'd really like to see Jesus Rodriguez get some opportunities there.
He, he- Oh we talk about him a lot as like a versatile utility guy.
Mm-hmm.
He's in the catching rotation right now.
But not only would it get him more at bats, which I would like to see, and potentially open up an avenue for him long term by being more of a, more of a versatile defender.
But it also would open up some of these starts that he's getting behind the plate where like Drew Cavanaugh reaches base four times and, and then he's like out of the lineup 'cause they're- Mm-hmm they're trying to keep everybody involved.
So, I think it would be, it would be a good way.
And, and then Jonah Cox as well, we know- Like, we joked about it when he played second base and we're like, "Where did that come, where did that come from?"
but he can play second base.
So, I, you know, Christian is the obvious first answer when Matt Chapman gets back, and that'll be this weekend at some point.
But- Mm-hmm they have other guys who can use some at-bats and including Christian Koss, who has been used almost as a pitcher more than as Not actually, but like he, he could use a three or four days of real run as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then looking ahead to next year, it's, is this Casey's job to lose?
I know we're probably a full year too soon to be talking Killeen, Level, Hernandez, Gonzalez as true viable options, but I know the middle infield talent is storming on the way.
2027 just looks to be his, I assume, if he comes back feeling normal.
It should be.
You know, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't.
I mean, certainly things can happen in the off-season.
They could move Matt Chapman.
They could Other things could happen.
They could move Willy Adames.
But on this current roster, I think it's pretty easy.
Put him there at second base and- Yeah and there you go.
And, I will say Gavin Kuhl has not stopped hitting since he got to double A. So- All right he is a, and he was a little bit more of an advanced bat, and he's someone who's more of a, you know, a floor guy instead of I mean, there's a ceiling too, but he is a guy with a very high floor.
And, so I, I think he's gonna be in the mix a little bit sooner than most expected, but, but cer- You have Casey there, it's, it's pretty easy and it, it's Of the many problems they will have in the off-season, I think this is not gonna be one of them.
He should be fine and just throw him out there at second base and you're, you're good to go.
We all did see, or at least read about Rafael Devers taking grounders at second.
So there's that too, Alex.
There's W- I would walk out of the ballpark.
We draw a line somewhere, so.
That's fair.
That's fair.
All right.
I draw the line at Wil- Wilmer Flores, and Devers is below that line defensively.
Next injury, Trevor McDonald update.
He's going in for Tommy John surgery, which doesn't only mean 2026 gone, but are we looking at 2027 just fully scratched?
Yeah.
You know, given, given the time of year, I mean, this is generally more than a 12-month recovery.
And- Mm-hmm the problem with this time of year is you get to the point where even if a guy hits every checkpoint and is doing great next year, you're still like, okay, there's, you might be back in s- you might be available in September.
Like, why not just take the full- Yeah you know, then take a full, like, year and a half plus.
So, this almost certainly ends his 2027 as well, which a- again, I mean, that's like with the Ca- Th- this sucks even more than that, 'cause he's gonna miss much more time and- Yeah it's been a little rough recently.
But we've seen flashes of, of good Trevor McDonald and I, I do think even if he wasn't You know, he was gonna have a shot here in the second half.
I, I, I wanted to see between him and Wisenhunt maybe who, who looks more like a, a locked in starter heading into next year.
We won't get to see that now.
And then the other thing is just a lot of times people say, we get this question all the time, "Where do you find a new bullpen?"
And a lot of times you find it from guys who are, you know, have some good stuff, have some, I think Trevor has certainly some fearlessness to him, some moxie, and don't stick in the rotation.
And- Yeah so it, he, he would've been an option even if he wasn't a, a rotation option going into next year.
I think he could've been in the bullpen.
So this, this one sucks w- as well in a lot of ways and kind of adds to They've, they've been really lucky over the years, and I think it's beyond luck as well.
Dave Greshner and his group have done a, a good job of keeping guys healthy and you, you kind of go back to like, you know, the, a modern day Bumgarner, Winslow, Comane.
You probably expect two of the three to have Tommy John in the minor leagues or- Mm-hmm early in their career, and they kind of survived everything for the most part.
In the last few years it's been this flood of, which is just what happens to pitchers.
But Randy Rodriguez, Hayden Birdsong, now Trevor McDonald.
So it's, you know, wish him the best.
I th- I think he'll take the full, probably the full time here to recover and, and we'll see him in a God, you say see him in '28, it sounds crazy, but that's prob- Sounds absolutely insane probably the likely path here.
All right, and then one more.
Harrison Bader, the night before flying to Indianapolis to get a second opinion on his plantar fasciitis foot issues, had himself a scooter accident.
This one just We're not making headlines anymore, guys.
We s- we talked about this.
No shenanigans.
No shenanigans.
Very specific.
No shenanigans.
Um- No, no, no this is, this is a weird one, and this is one that, you could tell me that he's just out for the year and that's that, or you could tell me that on our trade deadline podcast we're dedicating 10 minutes to Harrison Bader because there's more to this story.
And I don't think more in, like, a nefarious way, but just more in a, this is a guy who was injured and missed quite a bit of time, about two months, and could not get over, get over the hump with his plantar fasciitis and was going to see a specialist.
And I, I thought, I don't know if you've seen the, the actual verbiage of this Giants press release, but they made it very clear, late Saturday night, early Sunday morning.
Like, this wasn't- Ooh Harrison Bader got in an accident.
This was, Harrison Bader was out somewhere late on Saturday night.
And had a scooter accident.
And I, I think maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I just read a little, disappointment in that injury release and a little, "Hey, yeah, this was an off-field injury."
And, and I think, you know, most people probably have seen the videos of him, not that night, but scootering a little bit around town and, there are some questions about why a guy's pushing off with his left foot on a scooter when his left foot is so injured that he's- Ooh going to see a specialist.
So I don't know where this goes.
I just think there's maybe a little bit of tale here and, we haven't talked to Harrison yet.
Giants have given virtually no information since that first release, and I mean, Tony wouldn't even tell us on Wednesday what There's a new injury here from this scooter accident that is to the same foot that he was going to have checked out, and it's a second injury now to that foot.
Tony said it's not broken, but beyond that would not tell us what the injury is.
So I, I guess this is one where I, I don't really know.
The optics of it look terrible, and I- we're waiting for more information to see, like, exactly what this is.
But, I did just find the press release very interesting and very pointed and like a, "Yes, this happened probably sometime around midnight," um- Yeah the night before he was going to see a specialist.
And scooter is such a, a all-encompassing term, especially for a guy with a foot injury.
Like- Yeah is that a mobility scooter?
Is this a, a, one of those Lime scooters?
Is this a Vespa?
What is he tooning around on out there?
But I think you have it on the nose, specifically including the detail about the timing of the incident speaks volumes.
Um- Yeah I, I remember Barry Zito talking about in his Giants contract that he couldn't surf during it.
Yeah.
And when he retired he was looking forward to finally getting back out on that board and paddling out.
Is this the kind of thing that's included in, in a guy's contract in 2026?
Like, no, nothing on two wheels?
I mean, I mentioned it with Jackson Flores when we were talking that, like, you went to UCSB and that y- you know, you were probably a longboard guy, right?
Like, I- I skated every day for four years.
Yeah.
So I think there's a lot of stuff he was able to do there that now he's no longer able to do, and surfing and skim boarding or whatever.
Or what- Mm-hmm is skateboarding a thing?
Is that, am I mixing some of these?
Oh, skateboarding's great in Isla Vista.
There you go.
So, I don't It gets into a little bit of a gray line here, and certainly, like, there's sometimes for guys there's ways to get to the ballpark.
Like, it's just, it's And Hunter Pence was the most famous scooter rider in America- Yeah for a couple years.
So- Ryan Wilson was out there on it.
Yeah.
Seen a ton of guys over the I mean, Tim Lincecum, Sergio.
Just a, it's very common.
I think the, the difference here is, is, you know, the guy was hurt.
And so I think there are gonna be re- you know, there's some questions to answer about I don't know if you've seen the video, but of him on a scooter.
Like, it- Mm-hmm him pedaling with his left foot.
And then there's also some questions to answer about getting hurt late.
There would always be questions to answer about getting hurt late at night.
And I'm not trying to do, like, the, the, investigative journalist thing and be like, "Oh, a scooter accident.
There must be something here."
But I just, it just feels like, it just feels like there's more to this story than we've gotten, and they've been extremely mysterious over the last Look, it happened on Saturday, and there's virtually no information about this- Mm-hmm other than the guy re-injured himself.
So we'll see where it goes.
It, it adds to what has been, an extremely disappointing first season for him.
And I do think, I, I was talking to someone about this yesterday.
I think he would've been a very easy trade candidate.
Like, there's, there are very few bats on the market, and he's not, he's not a silver slugger, but, like, he is He has, in the past, been a, a usable right-handed bat for, for teams.
And, you know, it, he's a good defender.
So I, I think it would've been very easy to, to, get something for him at the deadline.
And now not o- because of the planter that's not possible, but now we have this hanging over, over their heads as well.
Yeah.
I just pulled up the clip you're talking about of him riding on it, this grainy fan shot, zoomed in, Zap iter footage.
And yeah, can't be out there doing that when you're injured with a foot injury.
That is, that is a bad look even if you don't crash the scooter.
I did the post-game show with George Kontos yesterday, a pregame show, and, the thing he said, which I'll just say, it's just bad optics.
And- Yep and until we get more information, which we have not yet, to this point on Thursday morning, then you just are left to wonder, like, what actually happened here.
This is not the first, off-beat Giants injury we've had in the past decade or two.
Um- Yeah.
S- some, some recurring characters in the world of, Giants injuries, but I wanted to shout out some similar comps.
Jeff Kent washing his truck.
Uh- Yes Madison Bumgarner dirt biking.
Stay off those things with two wheels, guys.
Matt Cain cutting a sandwich into, quote, "fancy triangles," which I believe got him a sandwich at Ike's Place named after him because- Yes Ike didn't want him making his own sandwiches anymore.
Anthony Desclafani pa- playing piano with his kid, and Jeremy Affeldt- Everything living day-to-day life.
Yeah.
Just literally, like, six different things.
I remember when the Cain one happened, Jeremy was the most excited person in the world 'cause he was like, "Somebody else cut themselves making a, making something."
I, you know, the one that comes to mind obviously is Bumgarner and- Yeah again, I have no idea where this is going, not trying to take this anywhere it shouldn't, but, um- When Bumgarner happened, there were discussions, there were questions about the contractual part of this.
Yes.
And bas- like, I remember the first call I made, basically the person on the other end said, "He's Madison Bumgarner."
Like it's We're, we're, we are not happy.
Everyone's disappointed.
But he's Madison Bumgarner, we are not going to do anything about this.
So which- Yeah So the- That was a unique s- situation.
It was obviously a, a franchise legend.
And was that coming off the World Series year?
It was a couple.
It was 2017, um- Okay it would be '17 or '18.
But, but look, it was, it was a unique situation.
This is not that, and this is where, again, I'm waiting for more information because Harrison Bader is not Madison Bumgarner.
Yes.
And if there's something that impacts his ability to play for the Giants down the line, there are additional questions about that.
Um- Yeah so that is the one that pops into mind.
And again, we will see.
But not Just been kinda weird.
Like it, it's And just like a very, a, a real lack of info here.
And I think if the trade deadline were not coming up, this would probably be a bigger story.
But, it is something that I think we'll have more about.
I was, I was looking forward to Harrison Bader as a Giant.
I have some friends who are Phillies fans, and they said when he was on that team briefly it was, he was a really cool guy to root for.
So yeah, disappointed overall.
The concept, you know, looking back now, and I think we did talk at this, and there were concerns about the bat.
But looking back now, we didn't know about Jonah Cox obviously, but like there's- Yeah Drew Gilberts in house, and the concept of getting someone who moves strong, who we to right field was the right concept.
Just looks like execution-wise has not worked out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's talk Giants versus Brewers today.
Brewers came into town and shus, ran into the cheese grater that is the mighty 2026 San Francisco Giants.
Giants take two of three from another NL w- N- National League contender.
I believe they have the best record in baseball against National League first place teams.
I don't This is like the why don't they build the whole plane out of the black box?
Why don't they build- Yeah the whole schedule out of, Dodgers, Brewers, Braves?
Give us more Dodgers.
Give, bring it on.
Give us more, yeah.
14 wins against first place teams this year, which is tied for the most in Major League Baseball.
So they it is almost like an annoying series because you're like, "There's something in there."
There's like, we know that there's something on this roster.
And I would imagine Buster and Zach watch a series like this and go like, "Yeah, it's kinda what we thought."
Like this is- So what, where Alex is going with this is Giant's stock is officially saying they should be in buy mode.
Buy.
Let's go.
Let's stack this team.
The push for seven games under starts today.
No, they played really good baseball for three days.
And same when they went to Milwaukee.
I mean, other than that f- you know, start of that series, like then they played really great baseball the rest of that series in Milwaukee.
And then went to Chicago and for the most part played pretty good baseball.
So, this is what we all say.
It's a weird thing about this team.
Like they're what?
16 under right now or s- I, I've lost track 'cause it's- Yeah about so ugly.
But they're like 16 under, but then you also look at the And I f- I, this is not just me.
I have had scouts, I've had opposing beat writers, I've had people who come and say, "You look at the lineup card and you just kinda go, 'What's going on?'
Like, why?"
So it's, yeah, you look at the lineup yesterday and it's like, okay, Elliot's in the mix.
Luis Arias is great.
Bryce Eldridge is in the mix during this series.
Devers and Willie got involved and yeah, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but here we are.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Special shout-outs, Tyler Malley just absolutely dealt on Monday leading to the team, n- shutting out the Brewers.
Susac brings home his first and then second home run in the third game of the series, and then Luis Arias to cap it all off and just, I don't know, his farewell to Oracle Park.
Four-game hit to end the series.
Four-hit game.
Really good player.
Sorry.
Four-hit game.
He is now the, the Major League leader in batting average.
Yep.
I The one that I, I think is important is Tyler Malley, who he is, I think he's becoming a sneaky good trade candidate because the velocity is up a little bit.
And again, the crazy thing about this Tyler Malley contract is that, you know, I, I will actually Like I think the off season was bad, but I don't think this contract was a mistake because the, the concept of Tyler Malley is that when he is healthy, he has generally been very good in the big leagues.
Mm-hmm.
Including last year, he was excellent in Texas.
The problem with Tyler Malley is he's rarely able to go a full season, and this year he has mostly been healthy.
I mean, he had the one injury that we also kinda think like maybe they stretched out a little bit because he was pitching so poorly.
But when he's been on it, like he, he hasn't been able to really contribute much.
Like it's So that I think is a surprise here.
But then you also go through his game logs, he's excellent against Milwaukee.
He had that great start against the Dodgers.
He had a shutout start, not a full shutout, but like didn't allow a run against Tampa.
Didn't allow a run in one of his starts against Philly.
So there is something there.
And I do think it'd be very easy for scouts to talk themselves into or opposing front offices to talk themselves into like, "Hey, the guy who's been there like six times this year-" What if he's just there for the next two months?
Then you, you have maybe the steal of the deadline, so- Yeah that is what I would be saying if I were the Giants.
And I, I think I'm very curious to see when we podcast next week where it comes down on a Tyler Maile trade versus a Robbie Ray trade, because I think Robbie's numbers look better than how he has pitched, and I think Tyler, there's more upside than how he has pitched.
So- Yeah it might be a I, I think it might be a closer return than maybe what people would expect or would have thought two weeks ago.
But, but that's also up to the Giants making that happen.
But they should be able to talk somebody into, into Tyler Maile.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's, let's just pivot fully into trade talk at this point.
We already talked Tyler Maile.
I absolutely agree his, his value seems like it is at its highest of the year right now.
And I have to imagine with, with the teams he has pitched well against, they're gonna get calls.
They're gonna get enough calls that I would, I would lock that one in trade wise.
They're getting calls already.
It's a matter of can they, can they turn that into a, into a good trade package?
Yeah.
And they should be able to.
Yeah.
Robbie Ray.
We're seeing a lot around the league from national reporters saying the return for Robbie Ray won't be great.
Don't really understand it.
Do you have a local beat writer take or way to break this down for me?
I, I do have I think Robbie Ray is gonna be fascinating because he has, like, a 1.00 ERA the last seven starts.
ERA for the season is good, but strikeout rate for the season is not, you know, not what you come to expect from a Robbie Ray.
He's walking a ton of guys.
And he has a 3.16 ERA and a 4 point a 4.5 FIP.
So, this is gonna be a case of, I think, a lot of front o- I'm sure a lot of the calls they're having on Robbie Ray, they're saying, "Look how well he's pitched."
And the other team is going, "Well, if you look under the hood, like, we don't love it.
We'd like Robbie Ray, but we'd like to give you our 17th best prospect or whatever for Robbie Ray-" Yeah " 'cause we don't love what we're seeing under the hood."
So, it's a, it's a very strange one 'cause he has been so good in terms of just pure ERA and pure being out there the last six weeks or so.
But I, I think there's probably gonna be a lot of pushback from, from, these modern front offices.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It I guess the question then is, is it a bet on Ray in San Diego and give him one more start kind of weekend?
Or, you know, let him call it there and, and not I don't wanna say retire as a Giant, but, but, keep the value he's currently at.
You know, if the deadline were Friday, which it should be, and I have no idea why it's an August 3rd Monday deadline, um- I was so confused by that.
I, like, planned my week- Yeah around this and then saw it was Monday.
I-- Why was the draft on a Saturday morning?
Why is the deadline on a Monday evening?
I think the Giants play a game an hour and a half after the deadline.
Like, it's But, like, on the East Coast, it's just It doesn't make sense.
I was also thinking about just selfishly, but also just logically, like I'm, I We were trying to schedule Monday's podcast and- Yeah trying to figure out like, okay, there's the deadline and then Buster will talk to the beat writers probably, but then the Giants have a game.
And, like, I can't necessarily be in a ballpark, like, talking to you as a game is going on.
That messes with our audio a little bit.
And I was just thinking about this, like from a pure sports standpoint, like you want attention on your sport.
A Monday night deadline makes it really difficult for, like, our, our purposes.
Yeah.
And I don't really understand, like this.
I under- Look, this is, this is not for us, but just for fans, for the media, for people who wanna talk about the deadline, this doesn't really lend itself to, to that, so.
Do you know what I would do?
Sunday night deadline, no games on Monday.
Or that.
That would be great.
We're all just stewing in it.
Yeah.
We're all just soaking it up, and then we get back to business.
That would be great.
Well, like I have a weird flight from San Diego to Dallas, but I would imagine there's a lot of beat writers around the country that's Monday's usually a travel day, so.
Yeah.
And for teams as well.
I mean, the Giants are traveling from San Diego to Dallas on Sunday night as well.
And there's- Yeah.
Look, none of this makes any sense.
This is a little sidebar, but Major League Baseball scheduling continues to, to make absolutely no sense.
But in terms of- So what Alex is saying is we will, we will record our episode Monday night.
We'll get that podcast to you as soon as we can after the deadline.
And then you know what?
As things happen along the way, maybe you'll hear from us early.
Yes.
That is our point.
Our Monday podcast will be a Monday night podcast after the deadline.
I just think in terms of like drumming up interest, like- Yeah.
Well, and you mentioned the draft one less thing from- That's such a good comp.
Like I, my Saturday mornings are sit in front of the TV time.
I'm not a, a 12-year-old boy anymore.
So I- Yeah yeah, I, I was like on my phone out and about trying to stream the draft while my wife- Yeah smacked me in the shoulder.
The deadline should honestly be today, Thursday.
Like not a lot going on in the sports world.
Yeah.
And Giants would have the entire, like the entire world right now would be talking about Tarek Scoobel.
So- Yeah anyway, that's neither here nor there.
To your point about Robbie Ray, I think the scheduling thing, Friday is like a little bit too early to If the deadline were Friday, or Thursday is his start.
If the deadline were Friday, I, I don't think he would start today 'cause you're 24 hours before and- Mm-hmm but it's a little bit too early on Thursday for a Monday deadline here to shut it down.
And I don't know that there's a lot to be gleaned from one last Robbie Ray start here, but just in terms of- Well, I'm more worried about like a blowup or something that- Well, yes.
And I- You know, the other Giants are on this weird You always worry about pitchers, but Luis Arias has gotten hit by a throw down to sec- like, got hit on a play at second base the other night.
He fouled a ball off his foot.
He continues to foul balls off his foot.
Like, he plays a very physical brand of baseball, and I, I think there's, like, an element of like, "Hey, can you get to Monday already and make sure this guy's okay?"
Yeah.
'Cause he, he's had a few close calls the last week.
But there was no question about Robbie starting today for the Giants and, you know, almost certainly his last start as a Giant.
But because of the timing of this, I think he, he just has to do it.
I went and pulled up Robbie Ray's career stats against the Padres.
Under 200 batting average, he's got some pretty decent ownage on them, so, let's hope that continues a bit.
There you go.
Good place to pitch.
I think we'll probably see, if he has a shutout going through five innings, "Thank you, Robbie," and get you back to the dugout, and Zach Massey and Buster Posey will be on the phone.
Yep.
So.
Before we wrap up trade deadline talk, any dark horses we're eyeing?
Any last minute, you know, last time our fans hear from us about the trade before stuff starts actually happening?
I do think there's gonna be some Elliott talk this weekend.
And just in terms of where- I can totally see that.
Yeah.
Where the market is, there's just not a lot of impact bats out there.
Mm-hmm.
So I think there's gonna be some Elliott Ramos talk, and we'll see if, if they're able to do something there.
And then I, I think my prediction for the deadline is I think, people are gonna be surprised how many relievers the Giants trade.
And I say that in respect to the fact that this has been a bullpen that we have talked about every podcast almost for, you know The, the biggest talking point of this season for Giants fans is this bullpen has kept them from being where they need to be.
And I think people I've heard they've gotten calls on every reliever.
Like, they're, there's a lot of interest in their Individually, there's a lot of interest in their relievers.
Okay.
You put this group together, hasn't been very good, certainly cannot close games.
But individually in terms of finding guys who can help contenders' bullpens, there's a lot of interest.
So I think we're gonna see, more guys than people would expect go from this bullpen.
And I-- the other-- the flip side of that too is Randy Rodriguez is coming back.
They really are-- people make Rowan Wick jokes, but they really are very excited about Rowan Wick, like, and having him post Tommy John.
So if those two guys are ready to go next spring, that's two spots in an eight-man bullpen.
Yeah.
And so you kind of throw in whoever stays after the deadline, whether it's, you know, Keaton Wynn or Eric N- you know, it-- you pretty quickly get to, like, five, six guys who are locked into next year's bullpen.
Mm-hmm.
And that's about all you need going into a spring.
So, I think there's gonna be some, some bullpen action here.
All right.
Keeping an eye on that.
Trade deadline is around the corner.
Alex, we have mailbag questions from listeners.
We're gonna preview Giants heading to San Diego.
And you of course sat down with future Giants ace Jackson Flora.
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All right, Alex.
Our first question today is from Noah.
Noah says, "If Luis Arias gets traded to the American League, how will it affect his batting title chances?
Does he automatically switch to the AL race?
Can he possibly win it in both leagues?"
great question.
My friend Jon Shea of the, San Francisco Standard actually wrote about this.
I don't remember how recently, but very recently.
And basically the answer is he needs to stay in the National League for his purposes.
You need to get to 502 plate appearances.
He's at 451 currently in the National League.
It would not transfer over to the American League.
He could be the so-called Major League Baseball batting champion, but that's not really how we view those things.
Yeah.
So, w- which is weird 'cause of interleague now, but that's just the way it is.
So for batting champion purposes, he needs to stay in the National League.
And he has the second highest amount of plate appearances on the whole team.
So it's, it's not like he's not gonna reach that because he- Yeah didn't play enough or missed time.
It's just not viable at half a season.
It, he just-- yeah.
I mean, you need to have the qualified amount in one league, so.
Yeah.
But yeah.
It's something.
I think he's gonna win the batting title if he stays in the National League, so that's a little sub, you know.
We'll make note of that on Monday, wherever he is.
Yeah.
Next question from Red Leg.
"Does Arias and Robbie being eligible for qualifying offer change the way the team thinks about possible trades for them?"
well, Robbie Ray already got one, so he's, he's-- that's not a concern with Robbie.
We've had the, the Arias conversation.
I don't think it should.
I, I think, you know, there are these little things all of a sudden where you start to, if you're on that side, you start to go, "Okay, well, there's no Casey Schmitt right now," and maybe you kick this into the off-season and see if you trade somebody else.
And, yeah, you could make a qualifying offer if, if the offers are bad.
But they should be able to do Look, it, it's a failure for the front office if they are not able to do well enough in this market on someone like Luis Arias to, to make it a better deal than just waiting and giving him the qualifying offer and seeing if, even if he rejects it, you know, you take the draft pick.
So they should be able to do better.
And I also just think there's a little bit of like- There's a little urgency here to, to get some guys into the system and get some pitching into the system.
And, great, you had a good pitcher heavy draft.
A couple of them are high school kids, so couple of the guys- Yeah at the top.
Like, there still is not a lot of pitching, near the top of their system, and this is an opportunity to do that.
So I continue just to put all those other things aside and say Luis Arias is very easy trade candidate.
Here's another one about Arias.
I hear you Peter says, "I hear you talk about Arias and there's no long-term spot for him.
But do you think that there's anyone in the Giants organization right now who can play second bl- base at a Gold Glove caliber level that Arias has been playing and has the ability to bat over .300 consistently every single year?
Seems like a no-brainer for the Giants to keep him long-term."
Well, no, but I mean, these are very specific, qualifications of- Well, also if you had asked us this time last year or even six months ago, Luis, Luis Arias doesn't have the ability to, play second base at a Gold Glove caliber level.
Yeah.
But I think if you asked me, "Is there someone who can play this kind of defense and hit 20 home runs at second base?"
I would say yes, Casey Schmitt can.
So.
That's exactly what I was gonna say.
Yes.
If y- if you're saying can he win a batting title, no, but that's a different player.
And I One of my things with this is Luis Arias has gotten so good under Ron Washington, and a lot of the credit goes to him as well, but And I'll go back to the Casey conversation we had at the start.
Casey Schmitt is, he has better defensive tools than Luis Arias does.
We've seen what he's capable of doing at third base.
We've seen him play shortstop.
He has better tools, and he should, in theory, we'll see if this is actually the case, but he should in theory be just as good if not a better defensive second baseman if he actually gets to be a second baseman- Mm-hmm and gets to work with Ron Washington every day.
We'll see if that's the case, but I'd put the defense aside because I think Casey can get there.
I under- Look, I, I totally get it.
Like, it's Arias has been so much fun to watch.
There was, in a bat on Monday night where he fouls a ball off, Contreras slaps him.
Like, he, that doesn't happen to a lot of Giants.
He doesn't You know, just the rapport he has around the league.
And then he fouls another ball off, takes a little lap around the, around the batter's box.
He is tremendously fun.
They need to trade him.
I'm sorry.
They just have to.
Yeah.
And this is If you want him back and you wanna have that conversation in the off-season, look, there's probably gonna be a lockout and it's probably not gonna sign before that because most guys will not.
And maybe we'll come out of that and the Giants make a massive trade because someone needs to hit a salary floor somewhere, and, and they have another spot for Casey, and you can go and sign Luis Arias.
But currently, the best thing they can do for their organization is trade him for a solid return.
And then if you wanna circle back down the line, you do it.
But I, these people who are saying like, "Go and sign him to an extension right now," you're either gonna pay way more than you should because you're signing him before he hits free agency, or you're gonna Yeah, or he's gonna say, "No, I, I'm gonna hit free agency."
So it just logically this is the move, and I know it's hard for people to wrap their heads around, but it is.
Yeah.
Luis Arias is a really, really fun player who met the Giants at the wrong time in their life.
Yes.
We, we've all, we all have had that person, and it didn't line up.
Sorry Arias, we'll have some good memories.
But hey, the infield future's bright.
Don't worry about it.
I'm gonna put this in my Luis Arias post-trade analysis.
That's the perfect way to put it.
Yes.
He, he came aro- well, came along at the wrong time in their life.
Next question is from Chris.
"Heading toward the trade deadline, what do you think is the order of priorities?
Starting pitching, then relief pitching, catcher, getting rid of big contracts or underperforming players?"
it's a great question.
I'm gonna put getting rid of big contracts to the side because I do think that's almost separate than like generally the rest of this, which is what can you get back in a trade, what are you trying to get back?
That is more of also an off-season conversation.
Um- Yeah.
The, the getting rid of big contracts one for me just happens to line up with getting rid of crowdedness at positions that- Yeah are inconveniently crowded.
Like, that, that Venn diagram is a perfect circle.
Yeah.
It, it's just much easier in the off-season to make these big contract for big contract kind of deals or whatever they have to do.
In terms of priorities for me, this is easy.
Can you get high level s- high in the minors or even in the Major Leagues right now starting pitching from other teams?
Because- Mm-hmm the relief pitching one goes hand in hand with that.
Most of the relief pitchers will come from failed starters.
So- Mm-hmm they need to add starters to their triple A mix, their double A mix.
You know, like the Tidwell, like the Tugboat types, those are the guys who either are in your rotation or are in your bullpen mix.
But that to me is like far and away the easiest thing here.
I'm not that worried about catcher.
I think they have three young guys.
I think they're not gonna do, they're not gonna do better without really making a, like sending a lot out than the current group they have at this point.
Maybe in the off-season revisit and see if there's a, a veteran free agent out there who wants to come and partner up with one of these young guys.
But, one of the things I'm excited about for the second half, which is a, a small list, but one of them is seeing these three young catchers and seeing who emerges and, and what it looks like at the end of the season, and if any of them look like the future catcher.
So that one I, I'd put down at the bottom.
I, for me, this is really easy.
It's get as many pitchers as you can over the next week and see who's here in the second half and see who's, who's part of the mix next spring.
That's way more tactical than I was thinking was, which was basically treating it like the MLB draft.
Best proc- prospect available across the board.
Let's go.
Well, look, I mean, they're not gonna If a team offers you a really good shortstop prospect, you, you're not gonna say, "You know what?
We actually like that guy who profiles as, like, a number five starter.
We, we need that."
But I, I, I think deadline it's a little bit easier to target what you want.
Yeah.
And, and, we've talked about some of the trades that have been made in recent years where you can go and, and target, you know You could tell teams, like, "This is what we need for Robbie Ray or Luis Arias.
We need some, some pitching."
So, and I've talked to the Giants ab- about this, and all things being equal, that's what they'd love to do.
But- Yeah you know, there might be a trade where someone goes, "Here's an excellent outfield prospect.
We have seven of them.
So take this guy," and that.
But they'd like to get pitching.
Next question's from Anthony: Do beat writers discuss players amongst each other when a player gets traded?
Like, do you guys talk about, how, how a player is a delight to be around when you interview them?
I assume this means beat writers from the a- the team the player's coming from, right?
Like, you've got contacts around the league.
Oh, that's, I was thinking internally, but yeah.
That's, yeah, I have a lot of friends around the league and, like, I, you know, when Arias got traded h- or Arias signed here, I got texts from multiple people who have covered him in the past saying, "You're gonna love this guy."
Yeah.
They were right.
They were correct.
I've-- I won't name names, but I've gotten texts about other players saying, "Best of luck, my friend."
Watch out.
So.
Yeah.
The fan version- Or OJ Crawford of that I guess is, you know, you see on, on Reddit or whatever, you know.
Yeah.
"Hey, Phillies fan coming over here.
You're gonna love so-and-so.
Hey," you know, just chiming in to, to tout how good of a guy- Yeah, absolutely that moves was.
I mean, I've texted with executives after deadlines before and they've been like, "Hey, we just got this guy.
Is he a good kid?"
And I'm like- "You did great."
So, yeah.
And internally, yeah, we, when I first saw this question I thought it was talking about, like, what a, you know, if someone gets traded are we gonna be discussing it afterwards.
Like, good riddance- Ah or that sucks.
But I, I think I spend more time with the beat writers than I spend with anybody outside of my wife and son.
Yeah.
So we talk about everything.
And yes, we are constantly, we're constantly just sitting in the dugout for an hour just What else are you gonna talk about?
So.
What, what, percentage of your beat writer hangout conversations are non-baseball related?
Are you guys, like, all in or are you, "Hey, by the way, did you see Obsession?"
No, there's a pretty high, non-baseball related element there.
All right.
Good.
there was some discussion, like, there's, you know, there's a little window there on Tuesday morning possibly to go see The Odyssey post-deadline.
So there was some discussion about that.
Good.
Good.
All right.
Next question is from Micah.
I'm curious about the massive bonus paid to their second rounder, Caiden Wachter.
He was paid roughly double his slot value and almost as much as first rounder Carson Bolman.
Understand he's a high schooler and it takes more to compete with n- NIL money, but he was selected right around where MLB had him ranked.
Why was he the guy they needed to go all out for?
Could this talk tick a guy like Carson Bolman off?
No, I think those two guys are friends and probably happy for, for-- or they know each other in some respect.
It, it's, it really, like, slot money's weird because on the one hand it's very, like, almost down to the dollar tied to the spot.
On the other hand, you can have, like, the Kyle Harrison situation where he gets first round money in the third round, and it's similar here.
Like, there's a number for guys, and a lot of times it is, it is that thing where it's like, "I want, you know, first round money or back end of the first round-" Mm-hmm or top of the second round to avoid college.
Certainly NIL plays into it.
His father's a former big leaguer, so it, I don't, don't know off the top of my head what his contracts looked like, but might be in a s- situation where he's more able to go to college than the average high schooler.
So that's where you, you know, you get a sense before the draft.
And I, I don't necessarily worry about, like, I think Bolman was, like, 41 on Baseball America's list, list, and Wachter was, like, 60 or 63 or something like that.
Giants might've had them side by side and said, "What's it gonna take to get these two guys, with our second and third picks?"
And, and this is, this is what it took.
So this, i- it's not really a, I don't think there's any concern here.
Yeah.
It was smart, smart business.
Yeah.
One more mailbag topic from Karen.
She says, "A shout-out for opening weekend of the WPBL this weekend with Matt Williams managing the San Francisco Firebelles would be so cool to hear."
So the, San Francisco got a women's pro baseball league team, although I believe they're playing in Illinois.
I don't really know much about how that works.
But, Matt Williams is managing the team.
Look at him.
Welcome back.
Look at him.
And I think he's always been- Good for him.
San Francisco legend.
MLB manager.
The team is named after Lily Koit, who was nicknamed Firebelle because she was, real involved with the San Francisco volunteer firefighters.
So pretty cool with the success of the Valkyries that, women's baseball is getting a squad out here.
Shout-out to that squad.
Shout-out, shout-out to that squad.
All right.
Giants heading to San Diego.
A lot of Giants fans heading to San Diego for the weekend series.
Let's talk Giants at Padres.
Alex, I'm really excited to hear who the starters are for these four games in San Diego.
TBA versus TBA, TBA versus TBA.
We, like we kinda know who it is.
It's everybody except for Logan for the Giants.
I believe it's gonna be Buehler and King at some point for the Padres.
But Padres are, like, doing opener bullpen games trying to survive whatever they can.
Okay.
So it We don't officially have it, but it, we kinda know who it should be.
Padres at this point are third place in the NL West, hanging right above 500.
In this weird zone where they're-- The Giants have been there so many times, and I'm almost glad we're not dealing with it right now, where they're technically in a wild card race hunt, but also tied with, like, five other teams at that spot in the, the not quite in the wild card race hunt.
So they're, I'm sure, in that, "Hey, let's go all in" mode, along with all, all the other teams in the pack and it's gonna bite some of them.
I have a question for you.
Yeah.
This is-- weekend is likely gonna decide whether they are buyers or sellers.
And- The Padres?
The Padres.
Yes.
And The Giants?
I, I was like, what are you saying right now?
The Padres.
And we know the Padres when they buy tend to do things like trade the best prospect in baseball for a closer.
Yeah.
Does it almost- So you're saying punt?
Not punt, but does it almost benefit the Giants long term to have a bad weekend here?
Or just a 2026 Giants weekend?
Yeah.
Just a regular weekend?
If they get swept, the po- AJ Preller's gonna go so nuts on Monday.
And- Down the line when the Giants are ready to compete again, they-- If the Giants get swept.
Like, the Giants might actually be weirdly in a better position if they have a horrible weekend here.
That is- Down.
So fascinating, and that seems like the kind of thing that, a, a previous regime might be like, "The data here says it's better to lose."
Yeah.
I don't think Buster Posey has that in him.
No.
Tony doesn't have it in I-- You know, the clubhouse would be like, "Shut up, Alex."
Yeah.
But I'll just say, if you're watching Giants games this weekend and it-- if they have a bad weekend and you're disappointed by it in any way, just remember that you were we'll revisit this after this.
Like, if, if the Giants come down here and sweep the Padres, the Padres are maybe trading Mason Miller and putting themselves in a better position long term probably.
Yes.
So it's a very interesting, it's a very interesting one.
They are in that weird spot that the Giants have been in multiple times over the last few years where it's like, okay, do you What do you do here?
They're also Something about the Padres, especially this year's Padres, I don't see any world where they're the team that, like, no matter what moves they make, they're just destined to not be in the playoffs this year.
Right.
I get that energy from them.
The D-backs are gonna be the NL team to watch.
So yeah, I would love to see a world where they squander their future on a, a fool's errand.
We'll revisit on Monday.
With that, let's take it to the interview you've been waiting for.
Alex Pavlich sat down with Bay Area's own, San Francisco Giants' own Jackson Flora, their number one pick of the draft this year.
Future stud.
We saw him at the, the ballpark at, or at the, on the field soaking it all in.
We saw the interviews, we saw the clips, we saw the photos.
It feels real now.
Alex, anything we need to know going into this interview?
No.
Sat down with him before the game.
We ate fried chicken sandwiches.
Think we'll do that down the line.
I'll invite you next time.
Great.
But- Please do he, he had a blast.
He's headed back to Arizona.
I think the Giants would like to get him to San Jose this year, but they're also If there's any hesitation at all, any moment where they go, "Maybe we, you know, just give him a rest," they're gonna just 100% go- Yeah "Okay, shut it down."
So there's-- It's still very much up in the air what's immediately next for him, but he had a blast.
He had a good day.
And anyone who's willing to eat a chicken sandwich with me at 10:00 AM- you're, you're on our good side.
Love it.
All right.
With that, here's Alex with Jackson Flora.
Jackson Flora, first of all, welcome to Oracle Park.
Thank you.
You've been here a lot growing up.
Yeah.
You told us you have a lot of memories here.
What's your favorite memory of actually being here in the ballpark?
Dang, that's tough.
I think I was just talking about it, but when I got my first MLB ball, my dad and I came early for a game one year, and they were hitting batting practice, and we're out in center field before they redid it.
Mm-hmm.
So we're out in the stands and they're hitting BP.
I couldn't even see over, like, the wall.
I couldn't even see what was going on.
But everyone started, like, going crazy, like there was a home run coming towards us, and it, like, went past everybody and landed right next to me and I got it.
Um- Do you remember who hit it?
No.
I literally couldn't even see.
I couldn't even see over the wall.
I was just standing out there.
And I got the ball, and my dad and I-- my dad taught me how to keep score- Mm-hmm on a, in a score sheet that game.
So that was w- really kind of one of the games that sticks out to me- Okay when, m- from when I was younger.
We're gonna have to find what game that was.
I know.
Yeah.
So you caught a home run ball at Oracle Park, and now you might pitch at Oracle Park.
Yeah.
That's pretty good.
Yeah.
We talked to you after you got drafted, obviously.
Yeah.
But one thing I wanted to ask you, and, and we didn't that day, was what was that moment like actually getting the call?
Were you with your family?
I know you were at home that day.
Yeah.
What was the moment like hearing you were gonna be a San Francisco Giant?
I mean, I, I kinda just froze.
I mean, it was everything that, you know, I've kind of worked for, and in my mind it's what I wanted.
You know, it's what I worked hard to do.
It's what, I was ready for.
But you can't really prepare yourself for a phone call like that, or for a day like that.
So I kinda just froze and, and gave my parents a big hug and, it took a while for it to set in really.
I still couldn't believe it afterwards.
Mm-hmm.
But it was a dream come true and, you know, this is where I wanna be.
So it's exciting.
There's three guys at the top of that draft who everyone was talking about quite a bit, and you were connected to the Giants a little bit, but- Yeah was that your hope going into it that at four you would be the, the hometown guy?
Yeah, absolutely.
I was, you know, lucky enough to kinda be in a situation where, I could kind of, you know, negotiate and, and kinda pick where, I thought suited me the best.
And, you know, obviously this is where I wanted to be and this is the team that I wanna play for.
So, there's-- It's hard to put into words kind of the feeling, when you get to play for your hometown team and, and go to work with these guys, so I'm excited.
I know Logan wanted to reach out to you, and then some other guys I talked to in there were excited to meet you.
Yes.
Has anybody reached out to you yet other than you just being at, at Papago?
Logan texted me- Okay after the draft, yeah, and just congratulated me and, um- Just told me to get to work and, and get ready.
So I thanked him and, and, Tony texted me as well, after the draft, so that was cool to hear from those guys.
Yeah.
Have you Brandon Crawford, a Foothill High guy as well.
Are, are you, have you met him or are you looking forward to meeting him?
I have not.
I haven't met him.
Or- That would be awesome.
Yeah.
I looked up to him a lot growing up and playing baseball and being from the same area, so that'd be sweet.
I don't know if Logan told you this, but he did a lot of research on you before the draft.
Yeah.
And he was like, "That's our guy at four."
Yeah.
And one thing he told me was he loved that he went and watched some big games you pitched, some of the more important games of UCSB's season, and he said he always kind of stepped up in those games.
What it is, what is it about those games that you were at your best?
I think it's just the competitiveness.
I think the, the biggest thing for me this year was, just pitching for my team, and playing for the name on the front of the jersey.
And when games are big games like that, and you're playing for the right reasons, and you're playing for the guys in the dugout, everyone kind of feeds off each other.
You know, the better I perform, the more excited everyone in the dugout is, and the more excited everyone in the dugout is, the, the more they have my back and, and help me perform.
So, you know, it's not just me out there, going.
I still got seven guys behind me and, and a catcher helping me out.
So, I think just playing as a team, and when everybody comes together for big games like that, everybody, you know, plays a little better.
We haven't had a whole lot of starting pitchers here who throw 100 miles per hour.
There's only two in the last decade who have done that.
What was your first time doing that and, and- Yeah how much is that in your back pocket during games?
Yeah.
my first time doing that was unreal.
I actually hit 101 the first time I hit 100.
I, I skipped 100.
Yeah.
So I'd hit 99 the week before, and I was like, "I gotta do it."
It was my last start of the summer.
This was Summer Ball, I think you said.
Yeah, Summer Ball.
Yeah.
That was my last start of the summer and, I was just, "I have to get it before I go home for the summer."
And I told one of my buddies, I was like, "You gotta take a photo if I ever hit 100."
And they, they had the velocity up on the scoreboard at the game, and it never showed 100 on the scoreboard.
It only showed 99, 'cause it was, like, a old, like, basketball- Yeah scoreboard.
The two-digit score.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
And so I was pretty bummed out after the game, and then my coach handed me the Trackman report, and it said 101.
And immediately I texted my dad, my mom, and my brother, and all my friends, that I couldn't believe it.
So that was an unreal moment.
And I think just as far as throwing it in the game, I try and, I try not to think about it.
Mm-hmm.
When you start overthrowing, you get a little out of control.
So I kinda, I try to stay under control.
But I think when I need it, and the adrenaline is pumping, and it's a big situation, if I ever get angry at, at a hitter, um- Yeah I think I could let a 101.
That's intense.
So, yeah.
You're obviously very into the numbers.
What- Yeah do you know what your highest is this year, or?
My highest this year was 100.5, I think.
Okay.
Yeah, in the, in the season.
When you see guys like, like Mizerowski, who kind of sit- Mm-hmm like 102, you see other guys who are I mean, Skiens has learned to back off a, a little bit the last couple of years.
Where do you think you'll be as you start your professional career, and, and will you back off a little- Oh, yeah and be like, "Okay, now I'm pissed off"?
Yeah.
I don't really wanna back off.
I think that velocity is a big part of my game, and it's something that I can continue to improve, just like the rest of my game.
So I think that just naturally as I get bigger and stronger and, and gain more experience, that it'll just keep coming.
Obviously, there's other parts of my game that I wanna focus on more than velocity at, at the moment, but I just think that as I continue to grow and, and- keep pitching, that it'll keep coming.
Two different kinds of sliders.
I think- Yeah you told us the slider's your favorite- Yeah pitch at times.
Why is it your favorite pitch?
Yeah, the hard slider is my favorite pitch.
I think it's my favorite 'cause it's very unique.
There's not a lot of pitches like it, as far as, like, the profile and the, the way that it moves.
So it's a very unique pitch, and it's one that I'm really comfortable throwing.
I think that when I get myself into trouble sometimes, it's kind of the pitch I like to rely on, and I'm very confident that it can get me out of situations.
So that's probably why it's my favorite.
What about the profile?
I mean, you've mentioned some of the guys- Yeah you watch, like Matt Brash.
Yeah.
It's not your typical, like- Yeah "This is a guy I watch a lot."
What about the profile is different than maybe what we see?
Yeah.
So it's, it's hard, so it, it'll get up to, like, 90 miles an hour, but it's mostly around 87, 89.
And it, it stays up like a cutter does.
Doesn't have a lot of kind of vertical drop.
It stays up.
And, cutters, like when they stay up like that, don't tend to move very much.
Yeah.
They just kind of move a little bit.
But this one still will get, you know, 10, 12 inches of horizontal break.
So it's cool to kinda have a pitch that stays up like that, but you can still get some horizontal movement.
We've just in the last couple years started to hear about this kick change all the time.
Yeah.
Hayden Birdsong had a lot of success with it here.
I know it was a long journey for you to find that pitch.
How comfortable are you right now with that?
I get more comfortable every day.
I think it's, it's a difficult pitch to throw, especially at the beginning, just 'cause it's a, it's a hard pitch to feel.
And I'm a lot Like, I base a lot of my stuff based on feel and, and repetition.
So that was tough when I first started throwing it, but the more I throw it, the more confident I become with it.
I- you know, the more I like it and the better it gets too, which is awesome.
So the more I create some feel and the, the better it gets, becoming more comfortable with it.
I was listening to you on Dallas Braden's podcast, and aside from a tremendous monster truck show- there was a lot of talk about pitching.
Like, you, you mentioned Trackman pretty comfortably as you were talking.
Mm-hmm.
A lot of us talk about the analytics side of things.
Yeah.
How much is that part of your game?
And also just since you got drafted, I mean- Yeah I'm sure you're at the Pitch Lab at Papago.
Yeah.
Like, how much are you diving into all of that, where you haven't been able to do it before?
Yeah, I mean, at, in high school, obviously, it's not really something that you have access to, but as soon as I got to college, we had an awesome analytics team there, who helped me out a lot, and, and my coaches loved it, too.
So they were awesome at, at helping me understand all that stuff.
And I think it's great to kind of look at the facts, and how your body works, and how your stuff works.
And you can kind of build a, a plan on how to improve all of your stuff based on that.
I think that it's very important to be feel based and, you know, look at results and all this, like the old-school baseball stuff.
But, you know, if this stuff helps, why not use it?
And I think I kind of think of myself as a little bit of a nerd sometimes when it comes to pitching and, and looking at that stuff, so it's fun to see.
And I'm really excited 'cause, I mean, we got the tour of Papago- Yeah the last couple weeks, and, see a lot of examples and stuff.
So I'm excited to kind of get going there and, and use the biometrics and all that crazy stuff that they have, and just learn more about myself and, and how I can improve.
I think that'll be awesome.
We know all the good.
When you look at what's ahead of you, what's the one thing you really wanna improve on i- in the next year or so?
Yeah, I think the, the biggest thing for me is just to continue to keep getting stronger.
Obviously, I wanna stay healthy.
I think that's one of the most important things for me, something I take pride in a lot, is keeping myself healthy.
So just continuing to do that, and then just polish myself as a starting pitcher.
And, I think the most important thing as a starting pitcher, performance-wise, is to continue to raise your floor, and make sure that your bad days are still days that you give your team a chance to win.
So I'm gonna continue doing that and, just polishing my pitches and get myself big league ready so I can come out here and help the team win.
I have to ask you about UC Santa Barbara.
I was there well ahead of you.
Yeah.
It was not at all a baseball school when I was there.
There was no analytics.
There was They weren't very good at baseball.
Yeah.
What made it the right fit for you, other than the location and how beautiful it is, and freebirds and all that?
Yeah.
Just from a baseball perspective, what made it the right fit?
Yeah.
I think just the reputation with how well they develop pitchers.
It's something that I knew about, when I was getting recruited.
I had a family friend who played baseball there, and he was a pitcher, and so I called him, and he had not one bad word to say about it.
So I think just kind of the reputation and the coaching staff that I met with over the phone and, obviously, the location, like you said.
But, you know, my goal was to go in there and, and become a better pitcher so that I could get drafted and play professional baseball, and they were a school and a program that was known for helping guys do that.
So that was an easy decision for me.
You signed a contract now that forbids a lot of the things that you c- like, I think surfing, you, you can't do now- Yeah.
Things like that.
When you were there, it, it's such a great place to go to school.
What did you do?
I know you're a big spike ball guy.
Yeah.
What did you do away from baseball?
Yeah.
We played spike ball, hackysack on the beach.
You know, we went to the beach a lot freshman year, and then after that, you kinda get sick of the sand in your bathroom and all that stuff.
Yeah.
So, we went to the beach a lot my first couple years, and then we started golfing a lot.
There's a lot of nice golf courses there.
I love to cook, so my buddies and I would cook dinner and watch movies and, and hang out.
The downtown is really nice.
We'd go out to dinner, a lot.
I think the hackysack became a huge thing my, my junior year there, my third year.
So we would, on off days, we'd go to the, like, grass area across the street from my house and play some hackysack and throw the football around.
Yeah, just whatever.
My neighbor's 10 years old, and he told me hackysack was back.
And I was like- Yeah "What do you mean hackysack's back?"
Yeah.
He's like, "Everyone's doing it."
Yeah.
"You're going on eBay trying to find them."
Oh, yeah.
So it's a big thing.
Yeah.
I gotta finish with the important stuff.
How does one get their hands on this fried chicken sandwich list that you have that, that is, is pretty, I think, extensive at this point?
Yeah, there I think there's 40 sandwiches- Okay on there now.
I don't know if I should release it to the public.
Probably not yet.
The Steel Bar might- You can wait.
Yeah be crowded.
But, yeah, it's fun.
I like it.
I love fried chicken sandwiches, so it's fun to be able to do that.
For the local people, what are some of your favorites in the East Bay or, or around the Bay Area?
Oh, man.
Yard House has a good fried chicken sandwich.
If you guys ever wanna come over, I'll cook a fried chicken sandwich.
Okay.
That's a pretty good- We'll do that.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I, I have to look at the list.
Okay.
A lot of them are from, from SoCal, 'cause I started this probably, right after my senior year of high school.
Yeah.
So a lot of them are kinda from all over the place.
So are you excited?
You're gonna get to tour the country now.
Mm-hmm.
And not just in the minor leagues- Mm-hmm but as a big leaguer soon.
Yeah.
Hopefully.
Is this gonna be part of your thing?
Like, you're in Boston for the Red Sox, you're gonna find the best fried chicken in town?
Probably.
Yeah.
All right.
Do it while you're young.
