15 Scouts Watched Michael Walsh. The Pirates Scout Stayed.

All right, Michael, so I found probably one of the worst possible memories as a child, yours with the Pittsburgh Pirates, your biggest, I guess, childhood memory of the Pirates was watching Jake Arrieta mow down through the Pittsburgh Pirates.

the Pirates. Come on, man. You did some research now, huh? Listen, we do some research on this one. We're gonna bring out some things. But that's how you had to remember the Pirates?

You know what? I remember the Pirates predominantly for Young McCutcheon. Young McCutcheon was a stud. And then obviously you go to the Dark Knight, love watching him pack out PNC and just, the tattoos,

the grit. I love that old school baseball. I'd be lying to you if I told you Arrieta punching out 15 Pirates wasn't a core memory as well, watching it at my buddy's house, that blackout game.

But I will say my one takeaway was, I'll tell you what, they packed this barn out and this place is rowdy. And that was an electric atmosphere.

And it's exciting to remember that and get to see it come back a little bit over the last few years.

That just, that barn is beautiful. Blackout games. We got big arms in the org now too. So, yeah, that was one of the early memories on the Pirates.

But Young McCutcheon, especially playing MLB the show as a kid, like he was just such a stud growing up.

That, he was, he was a big one as well, watching him win the MVP at such a young age.

And then Clint Hurdle and, all the, all the, big names in the old school baseball generation are some, are some core memories.

But PNC Park's one of those first ones. I think it is for everybody. It's a pretty generic answer, but I think it's a good one.

And I think it's valid.

Yeah. So, again, like those are several wild times, like 13, 14, 15.

And you figure like the Pirates didn't have a winning season, let alone in the playoffs for how long.

So I could never get to one of those games. I wish I could.

But yeah, like Arrieta, certainly not too much of a fan of his, but you talk about McCutcheon and that was, it was cool too, is because that was the first time I feel like the Pirates had someone like on a national stage.

It wasn't just ours. like you said, you grew up and you like watched and idolized Andrew McCutchen.

We never really experienced that until he came along. So that was cool.

Yeah. He's a legend of the game and just an absolute beauty of a dude too.

Just a great guy. Getting a chance to, I don't, I didn't, I haven't had a lot of conversation or anything like that, but just in backing up some games and seeing the way he went about his business at the field, it was cool to see some of the fond memories

watching him play as a youngster just validated. But yeah, definitely just superstar player and human being.

Yeah. Right.

No, cool. I do want to say this, and this is probably sacrilegious too.

You're talking about Pirates fans. I love Big Z. He was like one of my favorite pitchers in baseball.

I just love his attitude in the Cubs with the Marlins. wherever he went, I was a huge Big Z fan.

So I'll give you that.

He was a beast. No water cooler was safe in that dude's vicinity.

And he was shoving on the mound, hitting bombs, right?

Those that archetype back in the day of just edgy star pitcher with the short temper.

that dude put tails in seats.

Guys love, people love watching that guy pitch.

When I think back to that era, you look at like a guy like Clay Buchholz, just a gritty Boston arm, Jonathan Papelbon in those days too.

Mark Burley back in those days, like just every star pitcher had something, had their MO, whether it was like Burley, like level-headed, calm guy, Buchholz grinder, like sweaty with the greasy hair.

He's Lord knows what he's picking for in his hair in the outing.

He's got stick going.

He's, I love that.

Papelbon's got shipping up to Boston, coming out behind him with his walkout.

that era is, was, is so underrated and it's cool to see now the differences in the game.

We can debate till we're blue in the face on what's good and what's bad for the game.

But I think you're starting to see the new faces in the young generation start to emerge and with some personality behind them too.

I'm talking about like a Mason, a Mason Miller with the crazy walkouts, Cam Schlittler, what he's doing in that Red Sox Yankee.

He's rivalry, making a name for himself in big games is sweet.

You got Misiorowski who's, emerged as this like young limbs everywhere.

Like just, bright eyed young guy that's coming in with just the most unbelievable stuff the game's ever seen.

Arguably.

It's cool to see a lot of personalities emerge in the next generation and like how fans are backing it.

And I think baseball is in a great spot.

These playoffs have been awesome so far.

Yeah, no, for sure.

I'm lucky you bring that up too, because I think there's a lot of people that don't like a lot of these theatrics and stuff, but man, I love it.

I crave it.

And again, I'm talking about, I love big Z.

So obviously I think you can understand.

Yeah, me too.

Me too.

It's part of the game.

It's part of the game.

It's baseball.

Baseball has lore behind individual players since the early days, Wade Boggs, Mickey Mantle, Daryl Strawberry, all these, all these old legends that are, that are famous for both what they did on the field, but also they're like their schtick, what they came with, personality wise.

It's good to see, I think baseball's done a good, a better job over the last few years marketing the stars.

Tori, you know a little bit about these guys.

Yeah, for sure.

I want to take a step back here.

Well, like where we were.

So again, there's little Walsh going up, watching the Pirates get mowed down by Arrieta.

But at that time, little Michael Walsh, I know baseball was your thing, but swimming, I want to, I want to bring something up here.

This was interesting I found.

So here's little young Walsh.

I'd mind the trophy, all 114 pounds of me, the trophy weighed more than me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So tell us a little bit about this.

So you grew up and not only just like, oh, I liked swimming.

You're in States.

Like you were actually really good at legit at swimming.

Yeah, it was, that was, that was my first sport growing up.

I would, I would probably tell you that was my best sport growing up.

I love to race, man.

I love to race.

There's nothing, there's nothing like that adrenaline jump you get from standing behind the blocks.

It's pretty similar to coming out of the bullpen actually.

But I liken it to, imagine if baseball was just a VLO contest where, which in some organizations it probably is nowadays, let's be real.

But, it's basically like if you were to come out of the bullpen gates to a banger of a walkout song, step on the mound and fire five heaters, whoever's heaters the fastest that day wins.

It was a blast.

I got my butt kicked in the pool pretty consistently five 30 in the morning before practices, in high school growing up.

and I think I over the years, I fell a little bit more in love with baseball.

Just the overall work day and what went into, like your prep, your routine, all of that stuff is what I fell in love with on the baseball diamond.

But man, there's still a big chunk of me that misses those racing days when you just get behind the blocks and grip and rip.

and I had some great teammates and coaches, that brought me up from a young age.

That team right there actually was, that team was nasty, man.

That was one of the best teams in the country.

We had, we had the number one backstroker in the country.

We had the, we had, what would it have been?

We've set the state record in the 200 medley relay on that team.

I was a breaststroker, in that relay.

and we wound up winning state and that was, that was to go back to back.

And then we should, we should have gone back to back to back, but we ran into a buzzsaw.

That was a new cheer team the next year at Evanston high school.

But, man, we were coached by an old school guy named Scott Walker, who I got to give a ton of credit to just on my overall development as an athlete.

He instilled a work ethic in me and like a toughness that I didn't always have.

it's really easy to be a wimp at five in the morning in Chicago when you're walking outside and it's 15 degrees and the pool feels like it's even colder.

It was brutal.

It was brutal, man.

But we worked, we worked our tails off.

Seamus Scott, he's right there holding the trophy too.

Shout out to him.

One of the best divers in the state.

You got Ryan Hammond in the, in that.

I don't know that turquoise suit.

I don't know if that's his look, but man, he repped it back in the day.

He was a heck of a freestyler.

And then Aaron Rodriguez on the end.

She was, she was our assistant coach.

she was also phenomenal.

She coached us my senior year, but yeah, man, we had some, we had some great, some great days.

Not to, not to open up the yearbook too much on my, on my swimming career, but just to shout out that team and coach Walker, those guys definitely had a, had a big hand in my development on the baseball diamond as well.

Well, that's what I find interesting.

Cause again, like, here we are talking about you going to Arizona fall league, right?

In baseball and the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

But it's like, no, you grew up in like, it was swimming.

Like you're a dude as a swimmer.

so like, I don't want to know too, like, is that what you first envisioned?

Like that was, that was the next level is going to be in swimming or was it always baseball?

When I was a little kid, it was always like, I'm going to go to the Olympics and I'm going to, I'm going to be a hundred breast, I'm going to be a hundred, 200 breaststroker in the Olympics.

and then, but to be honest with you, I was still always, I was always throwing a ball in the backyard.

my basically swimming was what I was, what was what I was better at probably.

So like, you got to get up and grind and go to, go to practice and you don't always want to and do that.

And then it would be come home and dry, strike zone and chalk on the, on the fence in the backyard and throw sliders with wiffle ball, bring dad out to the backyard, bring brother out to the backyard, get the neighbors out, spitting seeds in the backyard, playing

wiffle ball, playing tennis ball, baseball, whatever it was.

I just never really, it never, it didn't dawn on me that baseball was a possible route until I got to high school.

and so from a young age, it was always just like, my rants were like, Hey, listen, swim, you need to learn how to swim.

that's really important for us.

And then I just was really good at it.

And so that was, that was, my thing for majority of my childhood until I realized like baseball was a potential route and just, I've, I just fell in love with pitching and, I had, I had the best high school teammates in the world and both sports.

I'm obviously a little bit biased, but, just a little, our baseball, yeah.

our baseball team had some of the biggest characters, that I've met to this day and within professional baseball is saying something, cause there's some characters in this game, but, once I got to high school, I would say, and, continued

throughout high school, I just realized how much I loved baseball.

And I just didn't, I didn't, I didn't want to give that up.

And unfortunately I couldn't keep swimming with that.

I would have loved to have done both in college.

but I just thought that if I wanted to maximize, how good I could be at one, I should probably just go down that path.

and swimming, there's not as many, there's not as many routes to take really, there's like a professional swim league.

you can swim in college, obviously the NCAA championships are huge and then it's the Olympics, but, there's not as many routes as there is in baseball.

It seems like, so that was just, the path I was more drawn towards.

That makes sense.

Yeah.

So, and I want to ask you this though too, because like I'm a huge proponent when it comes to like youth sports, especially in just like kids in general, right?

Just be an athlete.

I think too many kids try to like specialize in something and it's like, no man, like just go out there and play all the sports you can.

Cause I feel like you can take something from one sport and it helps you and implement, another one and such.

And like I said, there's be an athlete.

So I never thought of swimming being one of those.

So I want to ask you, like, do you think there was a part of swimming that helped you in your baseball career?

100%, 100% the work ethic side of things for sure.

it's not an easy sport to get up for.

I think if you talk to, 99% of swimmers, they would tell you practice stinks.

I don't want to do this today.

I don't want to do that today.

And to where baseball practice just seemed like a, like, oh, I get to just go play in the dirt and have fun with my boys.

to where then it, when it came time to have a regimented approach to everything in pro ball, it just was, it was second nature from my background.

And then on the strength side of things, I think definitely like developing, shoulder strength, endurance, and then quick twitch and just, I think it was a great background training, history for me to have to just develop

an overall good base.

now it didn't help me keep the weight on.

I was a real skinny kid.

So I, yeah, I definitely, I hear, I needed to break into some cheeseburgers when I got to college.

That is for damn sure.

but from just like a general physical overall strength standpoint, I think it was a good background for me too.

It helped me out a lot.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

And like you mentioned, that was a good effort and work such.

And one of the earliest scouting reports, I think you brought it up here too, six foot one 40, throwing 80, 83 miles an hour.

Right.

I was a PBR showcase in Schaumburg, wasn't it?

I remember that.

And I know when I tell you that 83 was, that 83 was every, I don't think I could have thrown a baseball, 83.1, that thing, dude, I was, I threw that ball as hard as humanly possible.

And I was proud of that 83.

I was proud of that 83, but no man, it's definitely, we've come a long way, but yeah, it was hard to keep the weight on early for sure.

So like, what point was it where you transitioned and thought, Hey, baseball's fun, but swings my sport to like, and I know you said like the reasons and such, but like, what point was it like, Hey, you know what?

I actually do have a path in baseball.

Let me take this a little more serious and go that route.

I'll tell you the exact time.

It was, my freshman year, we were playing Oak Park river forest and I had, I'd been having a good season to that point, but I thought, Oh, it's just like just freshman baseball.

Like I can sling it a little bit.

I can spin the breaking ball.

Okay.

But, I don't really know how far that can get you.

And then we played OPRF and, OPRF had some good players and I wound up throwing like a complete game.

I think I gave up one run or something, but I punched out like 16.

I was like, Oh, like, okay.

I could just, I could just throw breaking balls all day.

I don't have to throw 90 yet.

yeah, that was like the, that was one of the moments that I think back to where I'm like, Ooh, like maybe I'm, maybe I can be good.

who knows?

and I just remember getting a lot of positive reinforcement from my freshman baseball coach, Andy Miller.

He was just like, Hey man, like, I think you got to get to some of these showcases and stuff like you got a heck of an arm and we had, we had these, we had, it was almost like before like these archaic jugs, radar guns, no chance.

The velocity readings were right, but I remember throwing in the gym on a turf mound that was up like a portable turf mound, not sealed to anything on the ground.

And my coach telling me, Hey, you hit, you're sitting 85, 87.

It was complete BS.

I was not, but my being the naive 15.

year old that I was, I was like, you know what?

Maybe I'm slinging this thing, dude, I'm throwing gas.

And so I think there was a false, I don't know, I don't know if I would call it a false confidence, but like this blown up confidence of like, dude, I'm probably, I'm, it did.

It did.

That's what I'm saying.

In the long run, I was, I was naive enough to think, yeah, I was naive enough to think that I was good.

And then some teammates and I started shooting off some feelers to some schools.

And mind you, I'm still a buck 35 soaking wet, emailing Vanderbilt and being like, Hey, come check out my report, blah, whatever.

but then after that freshman season, I got promoted to sophomores and then I started, got onto the travel team that was getting some exposure and, just

found my niche of like, Hey, like, I'm just going to spend breaking balls, keep you honest with the heater and just really, try to pitch it.

And I think I found, or I was able to learn like, Hey, if I can just get really good at this strength, maybe I have a chance.

And then from there, it, I grew a little bit and I had some really great coaches on my side that were able to show me the ropes of not only college baseball, but pro ball as well.

And they were able to teach me like what it was like on the road, what the hotels were going to be like, what the day in day out work day was going to look like and how much work it actually took.

and I think I felt, I would just love that personality.

I love that, like grinder mentality, be at the field, maybe we're good enough.

Maybe we're not, but I'm going to be at the facility for 10 hours, figuring it out.

and that archetype, I was like, dude, that is, that is a cool guy right there.

Our coaches were the coolest guys of all time to us.

guys that have had, double a, triple a experience.

He just wanted to be at the facility all the time.

The jokes they were cracking, the way they talked about the game.

Like once I started really falling in love with that, I think it, my career started, or at least my vision for my career started to come to fruition.

Awesome.

And it takes you to the next step.

So, you go to, I like, I like hearing these, I'll pull it this way.

I love hearing COVID stories cause everyone has one, and like, you've dealt with the prospects that endured COVID cause like they lost a year in the minors and such, but now we're getting the prospects like yourself who they lost college years.

So you go to Yale, which first off, I want to say, then I guess that proves not all Cubs fans are idiots, but so you do go to Yale.

I don't know if it proves that.

I don't know if it proves that.

But yeah, so like you go to get Yale and again, you essentially lost two years of college ball then, right?

Yes, sir.

We, yeah, it was a while, man.

We played probably nine or 10 games.

My freshman year, I stunk on the mound that year, but I had a good preseason.

and my coach was a legend, John Stupor captain was a legend to Alex Stiegler, shout out to Stiegs and Stoop.

but yeah, we were probably 10 games into the year and we were scheduled to go play Jacksonville university on a Wednesday and Tuesday.

Was it Wednesday morning?

Wednesday morning.

I want to say we got called in and they were like, Hey, like there's this thing going around COVID they're going to shut it down for two weeks, but we don't know how long it's going to necessarily be.

And then obviously, everybody's, everybody knows what went down.

We were stuck at home and trying to figure it out.

So that first year was just like, Hey, like sneaking off to the field, in small groups, trying to play catch, keep our arms, right.

lift our strength coach gave us all programs and that was spent at home.

And then 21 was the rough one where, everybody else came back and played and we got word that our season was going to be canceled.

We all, we're very unhappy with that verdict.

and so we just, we tried to take it into our hands as best we could.

We wound up training down at Cresti sports performance in Jupiter, Florida.

Great experience.

I think Eric Cresti is one of the best in the business at what he does.

And to be able to get in the weight room for a prolonged period of time for the first time was awesome.

And then we spent the spring.

We had a bunch of teammates that were down there in Houston.

We spent the spring semester cause they didn't let us back on campus, for that spring semester.

I think they did like a weird setup where it was like, freshmen and juniors were allowed on campus in the fall, sophomores and seniors in the spring, but you could opt out and we, and we got word, Hey, like, we're not going to be playing.

So we wound up linking up with our buddies down in Houston and training at a DST down in Houston.

who's also some of the best trainers in the business, some of the best strength program in the business, getting to see that side of things was huge.

developing our training age a little bit in the gym, getting strong, understanding what it takes on that side of things.

Huge.

The downfall was, unfortunately, there's no, there's no substitute for game reps.

and I think that showed in the field in our 22 team at Yale a little bit.

We had some really good talent on that team.

We just hadn't played in a while.

And it's, I can't make that excuse.

Nobody else in the Ivy league played.

but there was definitely, some games we wanted to take back and, you want to, you got some regrets about, losses and whatnot, which everybody has in baseball.

But, yeah, it was tough for sure.

You play that 22 season out and then I was with the pirates after that.

so it was a shame would love some more time in the, in the Navy blue over there for the bulldogs.

I had a great experience.

Our culture, our coaching staff, the school, all of it was fantastic.

it just was unfortunate to only get one full year there.

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Yeah.

Well, like, so how's the 130 pound swimmer, go to college, lose two years of college and then end up in the Pirates organization.

Great question.

You could draft it.

Great question.

Shout out to Eddie Charles.

Okay.

He was the guy that took a chance on me.

Eddie Charles sat through a game.

Dude, I gave up.

I had an outing at Dartmouth and I was up and down that whole year.

year two, just inconsistent.

But I think what I did have was a breaking ball.

I could really spin the ball.

I could manipulate it.

And I think ultimately that's what allowed me to become a pirate.

But Eddie Charles was the, was the Northeast scout for the Pirates.

And he sat through a game at home against Dartmouth where I threw six innings and gave up a 10 spot.

It was a bloodbath.

I threw probably 115 pitches, gave up 10.

It was like 10 hits, three, four HBPs, five walks.

And we talked after the game.

He's like, you know what?

That was gritty.

He's like, that was going to say.

And you said he was there, right?

I knew, I knew he was.

it was packed.

Yeah, that's going to be a pretty bad feeling, I would imagine, coming off the mound.

Man, I just blew it, right?

Well, you think that at first, but then you realize the way the game works and like how the talent evaluators see it, whatever.

I didn't realize this at the time.

Of course, I thought.

I stank.

who knows what's going to happen now?

But I just remember there being probably 15 scouts behind the plate, at the first inning, in the first inning, I should say, come off of the second inning, cleared out.

But there's still one dude sitting there with his radar gun taking notes.

And I'm like, I wonder what the hell this dude's taking notes on.

Like, let me just focus on the game here and try to keep my team back in it.

But you're not like focused on that stuff during the game, but in the back of your mind, obviously, you're staring at the catcher and you'd see all the guys behind the plate.

It is a demoralizing feeling for sure.

But not as demoralizing, obviously, as losing the game for your team.

But for Eddie to see something in me, at that point, I got a lot of love for him.

I wound up finishing the year shaky up and down season.

And then I went to the Cape and throw it to the bullpen.

And that's where I really I had a velo jump.

And I think I refined some stuff mechanically, as well as, pitch shapes.

And I think that's what allowed the Pirates to be like, oh, like, we see we see where this could go.

Now we're still trying to get there.

We're still trying to prove those guys right.

But I think that's ultimately what got me there.

Yeah.

And I think if I'm top of my head, I think it's what, 25 strikeouts and like 12 innings in the Cape League.

Like, yeah.

Yeah, man.

I was I was spending breaking balls.

I was spending some breaking balls for that couple month long stint.

So you're in Altoona.

Again, you're from Chicago.

Pizza snob.

Pizza snob for sure.

Pizza snob for sure.

Man, my man.

I was on with Bucko Banter and I and I hated on the Altoona pizza probably a little too much.

I don't think I said anything crazy.

There's not too much.

Well, here's the thing.

It's a tough it's a tough optic to defend.

When you throw a slice of a craft single on top of some salami and like a and like a bagel.

I'm like, dude, this is a bagel bite.

Like, how can I judge this on a pizza?

It's not bad.

We had it in the clubhouse this year.

It's not bad.

So I got to I got to show a little bit of love for Altoona pizza.

It's not a bad product.

It just is something you would throw together in your fridge.

Like the day before you're moving out of somewhere, you're like, I got a little bit of lunch meat.

I got some craft singles and a bagel.

Like, what are we going to throw together here?

Boom.

And it turns out to be a good meal.

We all I think we can all agree upon when you ultimately face it down.

It's good.

But you type it in on Google and you look at it optically and you're like, oh, I won't even attempt it.

I don't care what anyone says about who's tried it.

I'm not doing it.

Are you a New York guy or are you a Chicago guy?

I'm a New York guy.

OK, but have you been to Chicago?

I haven't been to Chicago and had a true one.

No, I haven't.

But I'm not hating on it.

Like, I'm not hating on it.

But the style of New York is absolutely, my preference.

I was born in Jersey.

I grew up there for seven years.

Not that it means much.

But like, that's just that's definitely my go to style.

Have you done a New Haven's eye?

I haven't.

You got to do New Haven's eye.

Yeah.

I think the New Haven's eye is the best thing across on planet Earth.

Specifically, Sally's a Pizza.

Shout out Sally's a Pizza.

I got a follow on Instagram from earlier this year.

That was my most famous follow in history.

Was juiced up on that.

Sally's a Pizza is unbelievable.

They do like the brick oven type pizza where it's like coal fired.

It's fantastic.

I go back and forth.

Chicago pizza, you got to do in Chicago.

You got to do a Luma Notties, butter crust, Chicago style.

Okay.

You got to get it there in store.

I've had a bunch of frozen pizzas shipped in during my time at Yale, and I got all the boys on board to the deep dish game.

But it's not as impressive as it is when you're downtown Chicago after a cup game, after a bear game, wherever you're at, the body is malnourished.

The body is depleted.

You pop into Luma Notties.

You smell the butter crust.

You get the cheese.

You catch it fresh and hot out of the oven.

That's where you need to rate it.

There's some other big ones.

There's some other big dogs.

I'm a Luma Notties and a Giordano's guy.

Some people like Gino's East.

Some people like Pequod's.

I haven't tried Pequod's, so I can't speak on that.

But my pound for pound number one za on earth probably has to go to a Luma Notties just for the nostalgia aspect.

You're going to eat one piece, and you're going to be – you're cooked.

If you're a big dog, you'll go for two.

Yeah.

Yeah, and you're cooked.

But yeah, Chicago pizza is unbelievable.

See, that's the thing.

I found myself here.

When I was in college, there was – it was like the university pizza place.

It was called Rocky's.

Every Thursday, I bought one, and I ate the entire thing, the entire pizza.

Of a deep dish?

it wasn't deep.

No, it was like New York style.

That's the thing.

I can talk about.

If you get a deep dish, you can do one slice, and you're good.

That's the difference here.

If you do New York, it's not going to fill you up that way.

So, yeah.

There is something – there's a beautiful aspect to just being able to just paw down a whole tavern pizza with the little squares.

Like, I understand that.

I understand.

I get that eating experience.

You're not going to get that with a deep dish.

It's a bear of a pizza.

Right.

But what you are going to get is you're going to put half of it on ice, and you're going to have pizza in the oven for the rest of the week, and you're cooking on meals for five to seven business days.

There it is.

And it's almost better the second go around if you reheat it the right way in the oven.

A lot of guys do the microwave.

It makes the crust soggy.

You can't do it.

Ball knowers will go oven.

You crisp it up again.

You throw some more butter on the crust.

You're cooking with fire.

Boom.

Sweet, man.

Well, that's Altoona.

Let's take you back to Greensboro.

You're a part of the perfect game.

Yes, sir.

I was.

I was a small part.

No.

Don't short yourself.

Don't short yourself.

Because if you know anything about the Seinfeld, do you watch Seinfeld?

I watch a little bit here and there, here and there.

Yeah.

if you know the car reservation thing, right, it's easy to take the reservation, but the most important part of the reservation is holding the reservation.

And it's easy to start a perfect game, right?

every game essentially almost starts a perfect game.

The most important part of a perfect game is holding it and finishing it.

And that's what you did.

That's debatable.

Khristian Curtis's six innings were pretty big too, but I did.

And I'll say this.

How many guys have done six innings, you know?

I'll say this.

You finished it.

Dude, I jinxed that thing at least six times.

I jinxed it after the second inning.

I jinxed it after the fourth inning.

I jinxed it after the seventh inning.

When Jake Shirk, before Jake Shirk went in, jinxed the hell out of it.

Went up to the boys.

Holy hell, we're perfect.

This is on us now.

Let's keep this rolling.

Next thing I'm the guy with the rock in my hand on 4th of July and we're still perfect.

So I was sitting there.

I was, I was nervous on that one.

I was nervous because I'm thinking like, mercy, like if we can do this thing, if I can just, if I can throw six sliders and get these three dudes out, it was right.

So I like the matchup.

I'm like, we're going to have a perfect game.

We're going to do a pseudo dog pile team, like hut, hip, hooray in the middle of the field.

And then two seconds later, we got fireworks.

That's just, that's the American dream in a nutshell.

I got to find a way to do this thing.

I was, I was riding hot going into that game, but then as soon as I hit cleats on dirt, they started playing black Betty and it took me out of the nervous state.

And I was like, Oh, we got to go now.

Like we got black Betty on the horn.

We got a height video.

it was, yeah, it was phenomenal.

It was just a great atmosphere.

Great.

one of the best days in my baseball career.

I think all of our baseball crews and that team was nasty.

so doing it, doing it with those guys was fantastic.

Fantastic.

The celebration was awesome.

The fireworks were all like, it was just, it was a perfect, it was a perfect day.

It sounds cliche, but I wore a turn the Eagle loose shirt to the barn that day too.

so it just felt, it was just America.

It was just America was what it was.

America.

Love it, man.

Love it.

And you said something was like a Talladega night's moment for you.

It was a Talladega night.

It was a Talladega night's moment for me for sure.

after the fact, we had a, mind you, we had an army grad behind the dish and I didn't, my first, my first instinct wasn't to sprint towards him.

I think I'm like, I'm like, dude, I'm going to get blown up in K court for not dabbing up the army grad on 4th of July after a PG.

But here's what I will say.

I got to defend my honor a hair.

So I'm throwing and obviously I'm right-handed.

So our dugouts right there.

I had five of my best buddies on the top shelf screaming, yelling, and I'm like looking at them a little bit and like, I can see them out of my peripheral.

So like, I'm feeling the energy over here.

Bergie's trying to keep me in check behind the plate.

And these guys are just ready to blow up on my right.

So my first instinct, I'm like, okay, I, all I got to do is put this pitch here.

I see it traveling.

We get the swing and miss.

I'm fired up.

And I just feel this explosion from the dugout.

So I'm like, oh, so I go to like, address that.

I'm one shuffle towards the dog.

I'm like, oh, I got to get back to my catcher.

So then I turn and beeline towards Bergie.

By that point, it was too late.

The camera had already panned and I looked like a D bag on 4th of July, but that was one of the best caught games I've ever seen out of any catcher in history.

Derek Berg was dialed in, man.

He was on his P's and Q's and he's, and he's a phenomenal catcher.

Yeah.

Have you guys, have you guys interviewed him yet?

I haven't.

I haven't.

He'd be a phenomenal interview.

He's a great human being stud behind the dish.

Couldn't have happened.

Couldn't have, dreamt it up a better scenario for my guy, DB behind the dish.

Kurt with the start with 10 punches over six.

Shirky comes in.

it was just, it was awesome.

Yeah.

Cool stuff.

Well, I want to wrap this up here.

we're going to do some rapid fire questions.

All right.

Awesome.

look at this as far as like, the guys in the house right now with you or all the guys in the AFL right now for these, it just specifically in the AFL.

Well, if you can't think of it, we can expand it, if you want to just players that you've had.

but if you can answer this for the guys, in the Arizona fall league with you right now, who would you say is the funniest person that you're playing with in the Arizona fall league?

The funniest person out of the, out of the, specifically out of the pirates guys.

Yeah.

Wyatt Sanford.

San, okay.

He's a funny cat.

Yeah.

He's just a, he's a goofy cat.

He's funny.

All right.

you have a six hour road trip ahead of you.

Which teammate are you absolutely refusing to sit by?

Refusing to sit by?

Yes.

Oh, mercy.

I don't think I can answer that one.

I think I'd sit by all these guys.

All right.

I'd sit, they might refuse sitting by me because they're going to hear it from me about, everything.

Aliens, U S history, the Galapagos Island, whatever.

They're going to hear it on an array of topics for me.

Oh man.

I'm sitting, I'm sitting, I'm finding something to chop it about with all these boys.

I'll tell you what.

So you'd be a terrible Uber driver.

You'd be a terrible Uber.

You're the one.

I want to sit there.

I just want to listen, be quiet.

And you're just going to talk to me about UFOs.

Well, here's the thing.

I don't know if I'm like, I don't know if I can't really comment on, you can't, it's, you can't comment on the amount of feel that you personally have.

But no, if it's, we're driving Uber, it's a cash grab.

Like I'm just, I'm there to drive, dude.

I'm on, I'm on call.

It's business.

I might have a podcast going between trips, but if they want to chop it, they'll chop it.

I'll hear somebody's story.

But nah, I'm going to throw the blinders.

On and just get from point A to point B.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Which teammate do you trust the least with your credit card?

With my credit card?

Here?

Again?

Same applies?

I can't, you can, another player.

I would go, I don't think I would trust Xander with my credit card.

Why is that?

I just, I think, I think Xander, he's got a lot of hobbies.

He golfs at a lot of nice places.

I think I'm probably going to see a hefty charge at a, at a five-star golf course.

If I give my card to Xander.

Yeah.

He's no, he's got good taste.

It's ups.

It's props to him, but I'm not going to trust him with my credit card.

Okay.

who's the biggest trash talker amongst you?

The biggest trash talker?

probably me.

Probably me.

I could see that.

Yeah.

It's a layup, but it's probably me.

Yeah.

if you were stranded now, of course you guys are in the desert.

So you're stranded in the desert, right?

You walk off campus there, walk out of your Airbnb, which teammate would you rely on to rescue you?

To rescue me?

Or are we thugging it out on the Island and building a, building a fort and surviving?

both.

Well, I guess that's rescuing you, right?

In a sense.

Yeah.

To rescue me, to rescue me, I'm probably going B. Cain because B. Cain is he's persistent and he's got that like special forces, like quiet confidence to where he's getting the job done.

Even if everybody around him doesn't believe he is.

If I'm thugging it out on the Island, me and me and Carmichael are building the fire.

We're making spears and we're, and we're taking out some fish.

and we're, I think we're going to probably develop some community.

we're going to find objects to trade.

We're going to make a wrath.

We're going to develop a system over, the coordinate, the coordinates of islands that we're on.

We're going to, I think we're probably going to make up, make that Island our domain.

and so if it's, if we have to batten down the hatches and go survival mode, I'm going Carmichael.

I have faith in you too right now.

Just from what you said, full confidence.

You guys will make it.

Yeah, dude, we're establishing like a currency or we're loaning money.

we're doing some damage on an Island.

I love it.

Making the best of that situation.

Did he say me though?

Cause my feelings are going to be hurt if he didn't say me.

No, I said Sanford.

He probably said Sanford, didn't he?

That's, you know what he got, you say, I forget who he said, but he didn't say anyone in the Arizona fall league.

He went back to another teammate.

Oh God.

He probably went to, he probably went to Bergey, didn't he?

Probably said Bergey.

I don't think he did.

I think it was a pitcher.

Cy Nielsen.

Mm-mm.

Cy's a good answer too.

Cy's an outdoorsman.

I really can't remember.

Now I wish I did.

Cause I'll talk to him at the yard tomorrow.

I'll have, I'll have some choice words for him tomorrow.

It's all right.

Better talk some trash.

Own up to it.

Yeah, I did.

I think I drove a pretty hard bargain for me and him to just two man the island pretty well, but we'll talk it over at the field tomorrow.

And the last question, you're in the clubhouse.

Which player are you absolutely refusing to let control the aux?

Mena, Brian Mena.

He's got some, he's got some, he's got an interesting taste in music.

He's going like, he does like Latin American love songs.

Like it's real, which I'm not sitting here.

I'm not saying that's a bad move.

I get it.

I, Antonio Banderas house Antonio Banderas is my guy.

I like that more upbeat, like let's get juiced up.

but he's got some like real lovey, dovey tunes going in the house.

and there's a time and a place.

Don't get me wrong.

I'm not sitting here hating, but in the clubhouse before a game can't have it.

Right.

No, I hear that.

We need to get some juices flowing.

Yeah.

We got to get some ACDC.

We got to get some house.

We got to get some rap, whatever it is.

Let's get the troops going.

All right.

Cool, man.

Well then just real quick, you're going to fail right now.

what are you trying to see?

What are you expecting?

What are your ambitions, while you're out there?

A lot of good talent out here.

just, I'm on my end, I'm out here trying to refine some pitches.

I'm trying to refine some mechanics, missed a little bit of time this year.

So it's just a great opportunity for six weeks to go play against the best, represent the P well, let everybody know, who we are and what we're about.

And, that we're coming over the next few years.

We, at the big, the big league level, fell a little bit short this year, but a lot of promise, a lot of studs in that room.

hopefully over the next few years, the group we have in the AFL has an opportunity to contribute that in some way.

so I think just, putting our flavor on it, putting our stamp on it, going about it our way, working hard and contributing to the clubhouse and, just expect good competition, expect good baseball and good camaraderie in the clubhouse with guys on different teams.

it's interesting seeing the way other orgs go about things, just trying to, pick up everything we can and just, improve as much as possible throughout the end of the year.

Awesome.

Well, Hey, I appreciate you talking good stuff and, good luck out there.

This, thank you, brother.

Appreciate your time.

Love doing this.

Best of luck with everything.

Go bucks, man.

All right.

That wraps up this episode of North shore nine.

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