Biggest Pleasant Surprise on #Mariners Team w/ Angie Mentink (ROOT Sports) | #SeattleSports

Biggest Pleasant Surprise on #Mariners Team w/ Angie Mentink (ROOT Sports) | #SeattleSports

She’s joining us right now. The great Angie Menink of Rude Sports. Angie, good morning. How are you? Good. Good morning. Wait a minute. I didn’t I I got in late. I was I violently attacking. No, I was I was telling Well, we were talking about people who played their character so well that you hate them forever. And I I don’t know if you’re a Game of Thrones person. I imagine you are cuz everybody is. I mean, Joffrey, you could never watch that kid in anything ever again, right? I think he stopped acting, didn’t he? did because he’s such a and I said the reason he’s so awful is that everybody knew a Joffrey in their middle school and then I suggested that maybe Brock had that kind of same look and that maybe Brock was sort of like you know the Joffrey of his middle school just to the girls over there in Ezra Maker only to the girls the girls hated me you know one on five I beat him I just said I could beat your whole seventh grade girls team by myself Doris Bender and and then I went on to compliment you and say if Angie had been on that team there’s No way I’m winning cuz she’d have undercut me. She’d have elbow me in the ribs. Yeah, that not true though. I’m actually a horrible basketball player. We try not to let the kids even see me. Oh wow. Like shoot. It’s it’s it’s a I’m really good defender. I’m a really good defender. Um but yeah, I I got that squatty body. Get down low. Um good defender. But yes, it’s terrible. I can relate to that. It’s absolutely terrible. And I have two good basketball playing boys, too. Yes. What else did you play besides besides baseball? What else did you play? I played uh tennis in high school. I played volleyball in high school and I was the first female to let her in football at my high school. How about that? Yeah. Running back obviously. Uh I was a linebacker, outside linebacker and a wing back on offense. I don’t I could see that. And I bet you were nasty, too. Like people got to know what kind of athlete Angie is. I I should I I don’t always tell the story, but I’ve mentioned this before cuz I know, look, Angie, you’re doing you’re killing it in the new gig, and we want to talk all about it, and obviously we’re here to talk about the Mariners, but a few years ago, we all took batting practice. The whole media was invited out to take BP at uh T-Mobile, and everyone’s, you know, embarrassing themselves in various ways and trying to relive their glory, try not to get hurt. And Angie was wearing, I don’t remember the shoes, but they were either flip-flops or heels. They were not, they were not the right shoes. and she was not going to I’m not going to participate. No, I don’t need to do them. No, I’m good. You guys do it. I get to hit all the time. Well, she finally gets guilted into taking a few swings and just starts lacing line drives all over the ballpark. It was It was a show. And she’s wearing shoes that no one should be wearing to play baseball in. And it doesn’t matter cuz she’s still that nasty. You’re so sweet. They were high heel boots, I think. Yes. Angie, we’ll stop embarrassing you. Let’s uh let’s get to your specialty and let’s talk about these Mariners uh and less about what you were like as a hitter. Um when you watch them hit, what looks most different from what we had all watched previously? Gosh, you know, I know and I listen, I’m going to give props where props to with with uh Edgar Martinez, but you know, Edgar has always sort of been in there, you know, kind of whispering in the ears, you know, in the background um last year, in the previous years. I I really believe that Kevin Citer has had a huge impact on this team. And the thing that I love about this, and this is something you guys know, good coaches are are those people that can um, you know, look at what’s happening and make that little adjustment. I mean, I remember this the story about Luke really. And if you’ve seen Luke, you know, play the game when when he was healthy, you know, he’s he’s just a ball of tents. And so I mean like Cy like goes up and takes both his arms and like shakes both of his arms out and makes them like you know get all loose and then you know puts the bat in his hand and he’s like all right now engage the core. So it’s like getting him to engage the core so he he takes the tension out of his his arms and it’s just his ability to see what needs to be fixed. Make it simple. put it in words and terms that that the player, you know, can understand and then incorporate. Um, I’ve really been impressed with uh with with Citer and he’s just uh I adore him. And then Bobby Mianas uh you know his uh assistant has is you know kind of comes in there and fills in all the little gaps and he’s the guy that you know wants to watch video for hours and hours and you know measure this and measure that. But I just think the two of them working together has made a really huge impact on this offense. Angie, I know you filled in last year a bunch as well and you did so well. It opened this opportunity this year to be in a much more full-time basis up in the booth. And I’ve always said there’s a big difference between being in the studio and actually out on the road. And you know, when you get to be in person and you get to meet the coaches and you get to travel and you get to see all of that. So, I’m kind of curious as now you’re kind of full-time out of the studio and you’re traveling with this team on a regular basis. What uh what has jumped out to you in this experience? Well, I I mean it’s different I think um Brock in that you know I would travel with the team from time to time but as a host. Yes. um and you know traveling as an analyst um and and I will say that you know Edgar’s always been fantastic whenever he’s you know with the team um sites has been fantastic uh the players are really open about um sharing what it is they’re working on what it is they’re doing with me you know what they’re swinging why they’re swinging it what they feel um and that’s kind of continued to really sort you know, grow as I’ve um you know, sort of pestered them more about these sorts of things. Um so I think so I think it’s it’s that just the um understanding. And then Pete, you guys, I mean Pete Woodworth, goodness gracious. Um he’s fantastic. I I I hope that if he ever stops coaching, he just comes straight into the the booth like just come to the dark side. Well, I was It kind of fits into a question I was gonna ask the game. Yeah. Sorry, we lost you for just a sec, but it kind of fits into uh into a question I wanted to ask you, which is who are you learning from on this team? Which players, which coaches, who are you kind of talking to and and learning even more about the game from? All of the above. Um, and they have been so great. I mean, Trent Blank’s been fantastic. um Bobby and I sat down for like hours, you know, and uh and just chatted hitting um concepts, uh you know, different guys, what they do well, you know, what they’re working on. Um Citer, like I said, he every day he’s he’s uh he’s there if I just have a little quick question about this, that, or the other thing. Um so, you know, Dan obviously is is great. He ch chats with us um every single day. Tony Arch I mean everybody I mean everybody has been great and I it’s kind of I say this all the time you know the the best coaches are the best thieves and um I love just stealing wisdom from you know players um coaches. I love this game. I I love breaking down the game. I love figuring out what makes people successful at, you know, something that is just so incredibly hard to do and hitting. Uh oh, Perry Hill. Perry Perry Perry is my buddy. Um so yeah, I mean like yes, all of them. All of them. Um so they’ve all been f absolutely fantastic with me and this is no slide on on anybody and Angie Menink here with us. This is not a dig on on the past at all. Angie and and obviously Scott I think we all felt like was a a tremendous communicator as well. He was an open book for us and and just a great guy as well. But is there a little deeper level of maybe that communication throughout the entirety of the staff? You know, we’ve heard about Dan empower players is kind of a similar vein and really empowering maybe the staff as well to be open and transparent. I think that this game is just um I mean every game is so I don’t care you know if you play a sport at the highest level it’s just so difficult and I think you know um the one thing about baseball is just the grind. It’s you know the grind of 162 and if you you know are going to wear yourself down into a nub you’re you’re just you’re not going to last over the course of this season. And I think that that’s sort of the same, you know, with with the people around you and the staff. And I think there’s, you know, it’s just a um there’s just a different vibe. And I think um that Scott maybe in some ways was like more clear on what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. Um where Dan is really sort of, you know, more collective like, hey, what do you guys see? and you know relying on those people that are sort of responsible for all their different things and really taking in their input and you know ultimately he’s going to make the decision. No doubt about it. Um but you know those people are in those positions um because that’s what they excel at and so their voices are really critical and really important. It it has been interesting uh since you bring that up. some of the in-game decisions have been certainly different from the way that we’ve seen them uh made over the last however many years. Uh and I don’t know that I agree with a lot of them, but they’re all seemingly working mostly because the players are making them work. And I think a lot of that probably has to do with everything you’ve just talked about, the communication and the preparation, everything that happens ahead of time. In your time and all your years playing, did you ever think much about managerial decision-making in games while you were playing? H that’s a good question. Um yes, I think I did in a sense like uh well most of it most of it I think is when you’re a player is I wouldn’t have done that. It’s not so much what you would do. Um but like what what’s coach doing here or you know what’s the skip doing here? Um uh so I think that about that that that would be the extent probably of of my you know thinking about managerial decisions. Um I mostly um always was always thinking about what I would throw or you know what what would be difficult to hit in a certain situation. So even though I was never a pitcher, um I sort of always kind of thought the game that way. I could see how to set up a hitter. So I think my my thought process went went there. So it was more I I would say I was more like a catcher, if you will. Um even though that was not a position uh I played. more important for a modern manager to do the in-game stuff and be great at the in-game decision-m or to be a communicator setting the philosophy, etc. Uh, I mean I think that I I I think it’s probably um well I mean both of them are really important but at the same time um I think the the atmosphere um I just think it’s so incredibly important that players don’t play tight. I think that there’s only one way. It’s like I talk about like skiing. You know if you’ve ever been skiing you have to point your skis down the hill. you can’t be back on your heels. There’s only one way to play this game and you have to be fearless. And I think that it’s really important that you know a a manager um or or whoever your your coaches, you know, that you work with the most makes you feel that you can play this game, you know, fearlessly. And then, you know, sometimes you’re going to guess right. Sometimes, you know, it’s not going to work out. I mean, the other day Dan went to the bullpen early, you know, with Emerson and I was like, “Wow.” Uh, okay. You know, and and it worked out and it was great. I mean, he’s going to make decisions and they’re not going to work out. And sometimes, you know, we’ve looked and we’ve been like, “Well, that’s an odd one.” But also, most of the time he’s making some somebody has been in his ear, somebody has given him some information and then, you know, whether he uses that information, goes with his gut. I mean he is given that information and you know more times than not you know that is heavily influencing the decision he ends up making even if he is leaning more towards his gut. Angie there’s a long list of really pleasant surprises through the first 50 games here. Brian Woo being the ace of the staff. what Cal is doing is the fourth best player in all of baseball from a WRC plus Mooney on the back end of things. Of all of the pleasant surprises and even even some of the guys that have been called up and filled some valuable roles, what has been in a couple of the most pleasant surprises to you? There’s a lot. You know, you bring up Woo and I’ve been thinking about Woo lately because we keep talking about he’s like he’s been the ace of this staff and I’m like, you know, but I and I kind of asked myself like if if Logan was healthy and and Kirby on the other side, like would would I still be saying that? You know what I mean? Um if they were doing their things. Um it because that’s sort of what we expected to see. Not one of those guys. We expected to see really three or four of those guys. Um, and so, um, you know, as far as the guys coming in that have filled in, um, Logan Evans has has been, um, you know, uh, I’ve been impressed with his his resiliency. Um, I see, um, what, uh, Emerson Hancock has been able to do. His VO is stuck. it it has um you know maintained since spring training and and when he’s hitting 97 that makes you know all those swing decisions that much harder um for the hitter. Um I think about Gabe Spire and where he is and how he’s bounced back. Munoz is sick. Um, and then I I mean I I the I would say the collective bottom of the order is been really impressive and we saw it again sort of, you know, the the Garvers, the Revases of the world, you know, even some some Miles Master Bony. There’s just if you’re going to win, you’re going to need your guys up top to like do it. you do their big things, you know, get the sock, get the home runs, but you’ve got to have that that that bottom contributions and um and they’re doing that. JP Crawford, I I He’s only got four home runs. I swear it feels like it’s more than that. Um but he’s done a really good job with runners and scoring position. Um that’s a huge stat. I I love all of our, you know, our nerd stats, but runners in scoring position is still one that I kind of like really, you know, focus on. what do you do when it matters? And um that’s been a really pleasant surprise is is the JP Crawford and the season he had cuz I have to admit at the end of last year I was worried a little bit. You know, I think for I think I don’t think you were alone. I I think there were a lot of people that were pretty worried. So, we just have another couple minutes and I I I know we’ve talked about this and we’ve had you on before, but I it it dawned on me as you were on doing the broadcast last week that I don’t know whether everyone knows your baseball story, right? I mean, just as as it’s the part of the reason you’re in that booth and why you were as credible as you are, why we love listening to you, why you know the game so well. Could you give like the two-minute version of your baseball journey for people that either haven’t heard it or don’t remember it or just like to hear you talk and kind of have it end in high yield boots. Yeah, have it end in the high yield boots BP show you put on. My Ron Furly sniff. All right, here we go. No. Um I I obviously, you know, grew up playing softball because that was sort of, you know, what was uh you know, available to me. Um at the time that I sort of pivoted and went to baseball, um I was an alternate for the uh US Olympic team for softball. Um I just, you know, finished playing at the University of Washington. Had a had a pretty solid, uh career there. And um I either was going to go play Olympic softball. If I signed a the way things were back then, if you signed a professional contract, you were no longer eligible to play for the Olympics. Well, it was just a no-brainer for me because as a as a kid growing up and three brothers, all of them played baseball in college. Like my dream was to, you know, be that first woman to play professional baseball. So to go and sign a contract to the Silver Bullets, um you know, was just like a dream come true. thousands of women, you know, all over the country um at different triyouts. I tried out in Everett um and uh made it to spring training, hundreds of women there, spring training for um 20, I think it was 24 spots, and uh ended up uh making uh the silver bullets and and uh got to play for Hall of Fame knuckle ball pitcher Phil Negro. Uh Joe Negro was our pitching coach. Uh Johnny Grub from World Series Detroit Tigers team um was our hitting coach and our outfield coach. Poor guy. Just a Georgia Southern gentleman. Never heard the words coming out of these women’s mouth that he heard um the silver bullets and just, you know, uh toured the country and played against really good teams, some really bad teams, you know, AAA teams, uh Australian Olympic team. We went over to Taiwan, played against that Taiwan major league. Um just a whole bunch of uh you know baseball in in a few years and and uh Phil Nero you know was a he and I did so many different uh things together and I have bar tricks to last me the rest of my life and um he’s uh he was he was a fantastic uh really amazing uh person but yeah just that you know um playing baseball um against men for two years and uh um just having the time of my life and then came back and and started covering the mirrors and 28 years later here we are. Amazing. Yeah. I I It’s cool too that all the other women were, you know, had foul mouths and you were just there just not part of that. It’s amazing how that works. Angie, which that’s you for the children for the youth. Last last question for me, Ang. Which current mariner or you can go into your 28-year history mariner did Angie Menning’s professional game most resemble? Oh um wow. Uh okay you Yeah. Um, well, you know, I I sound like I like I’m like this this Okay, so this is a funny story. The other day, somebody added me that this chick at Oregon was uh 15 stolen bases away from Angie Menink’s Big 10 record. And I was like, what did you just say? Like, my Big 10 record? Well, yeah, because I had 59 stolen bases at the UDub. It was beaten by a gal from Arizona who got 62. Well, guess what? Now the UDub’s in the Big 10. So, apparently my 59 is the conference record again. Oh, you have the Big 10 record. Yes, exactly. Even though you never even played in the Big 10. Never played in the Big 10. Never played in the Big 10. This is just fantastic. I mean, all the UDub records go and I’m I don’t know where you are, Brock. I don’t know where you are. Maybe you should look into it where you are in the Big 10 record. Oh, I’m sure he’s very high in the Big 10. They haven’t had a lot of good quarterbacks, so Brock’s probably pretty high. Okay. So, my my point is I was a singles hitter with a really high average. Um I think my career batting average at UDub was 429. I am a singles hitter. Every once in a while pop one. I still steal a lot of bases and nothing drops in the outfield. So you’re Icho. So that’s what I was just going to say. I’m like I’m Yeah, you’re Well, nobody said that. You know, you’re Ichiro. Absolutely. I’m not a Hall of Famer, but I’m saying my game was a lot. How many uh how many hours do you spend stretching every day? Is it Ichro like? Also, have you thought about wearing a full uniform up to the booth? Uh much like I would do. That would be good. That would be good. Angie, uh, it’s been great. He’s a legend. I am not a legend. I just meant, you know, I don’t know whether I agree with that. You’re the Big 10 Steels leader. Uh, and, uh, and it’s been a blast listening to you and having you on the broadcast this year. Continued success. Thanks for joining us and we’ll make sure to do it again soon. This was absolutely delightful, gentlemen. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right. There you go. There’s Angie Men of Root Sports. And uh I do think honestly I do think it’s important to hear that story. Not everyone does know it and certainly a lot of the younger people who were tuning into a baseball game uh don’t necessarily know the Angie Mening story and you know when you hear people complain what does she know about baseball? Uh she knows a lot. Yeah. Angie knows a lot and she’s lived it and she’s been around it and she’s experienced it and uh I think she does gain the trust of all of these coaches which is an analyst. That’s what you got to do. That’s what I

Mariners analyst Angie Mentink (ROOT Sports) joins Brock & Salk to discuss the M’s sweep in San Diego, her expanded broadcast role in 2025, and who has been the most pleasant surprise on this year’s roster so far.

0:00 – Intro
1:30 – Angie’s sports background
3:00 – What has changed with this Mariners offense
5:15 – Difference in her host vs analyst roles
6:45 – Who she is learning from the most
8:20 – Communication throughout coaching staff
9:55 – In-game decisions in 2025 under Dan Wilson
13:23 – Pleasant surprises on M’s staff
16:10 – Angie’s personal baseball story
21:04 – Her playing style

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