Dinner with Braves prospects JR Ritchie and Hayden Harris in Atlanta! | Over The Plate
All right guys, Jr Hayden Melanie. Welcome to Atlanta. This is exciting. We’re gonna sit down some really good food, talk a little baseball. This is hopefully going to be your hometown for a long time. So we wanted to welcome you in appropriately. Yeah, thanks for having us. All right, let’s see. I want to talk about food because I’ve been really excited for this. I know that you’re trying to make a home now in Georgia. Very different. But growing up on Bainbridge Island, what was kind of your go to? What was it like growing up on your TV? You know, I had a little bit of seafood, a lot of salmon. My parents would go over to Pike Place and get salmon and bring it back to make that night. But yeah, for me, I probably at the same three restaurants grounds growing up all the time. There’s, I still go to this one place, San Carlos. It’s a southwestern joint. I love it. It’s the best car Asada I’ve ever had. So, yeah, I love going to uh we have a good sushi spot on the island, which is nice um called Subi. So, yeah, try and make it out there a couple of times every off season. What’s your go to meal when you’re home? Oh, my gosh. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve eaten a Fried venison steak and Then gone up the street to, like, local gas station, they Fried catfish, Fried catfish hot sauce and their wedges. Really can’t be that. I know. It’s pretty simple, but simple can be delicious. I gotta be honest. I don’t eat much off of a. How do you even pronounce it? You know, you can say you have, this is my go to appetizer if the place has it. I love the burger rewards. I can’t even think about what my favorite appetizer would be. You don’t have a go to appetizer. I usually just get two meals primarily, you know, like a burger place. Like they’ll have like Fried pickles. Do you get one meal before the other meal? Like is the first meal in your appetizer or do you them both at the same time? The same time? You just got it. These are unreal. Yeah. So broccoli. Yes or no as a kid. Were we picky eaters? Were we being force fed anything but mayonnaise? So yeah, broccoli was probably you ate anything but mayonnaise told everyone I was allergic to the exact same thing I told you were like, how are you all with wine? They’re allergic to mayo. It’s very sad for me. I went through the lengths of, like, I would hide vegetables in my socks. I actually got taken because I stuffed all my peas up my nose to not eat. I really, I was two. No, my parents have let me know since I was two that I have done these things. But it’s, this is why you’re athletes because you ate vegetables when you were little. I went through a Popeye phase. So I spinach, you went through a , well, you know, you see you watch Popeye’s, I’ll get, yeah, it tasted terrible, but I thought I’d get big and strong. So I spinach. This is so impressive. I was definitely the kid that way. Too many carrots. So I thought I was gonna be able to see through things. Yeah, there is. Yes, I thought carrots would give you X ray vision. Yes, this is what my parents should have told me to get me to eat vegetables, right? And said it tastes like candy. And Then I was disappointed my mom, she worked at an oyster bar in Augusta. So ate raw oysters. My brother’s dad worked at a sushi place. So just grew up on raw oysters, raw fish, raw sushi. I was gonna ask you about mud bugs. I need your very miniscule take on this. And if you’ve had them, I also want yours are crawfish sometimes too much effort for as small as they are. Yes. Thank you. 100% crab legs are even worse than my, but you can just eat crab legs until the end of time. You don’t put in so much work. You’re burning the calories that you’re eating the, in my opinion. Have you had crawfish? No, you gotta eat, you can’t do the eyeballs. That’s what it is. Probably not. Shrimp. Took me a long time to eat shrimp. Why are you eating shrimp with eyeballs? A long time to eat shrimp, boiled shrimp? I think you’re doing it wrong. Why did it take you a long time? Like, I don’t know, just because you didn’t like it. Not that I like it, I guess. Yeah, I mean, my whole family loved it. I just refused for a long time. Is the, what if they brought like a fish with the fish? Like the Branzino? Like I can’t looking at you, you can’t do it. I’m still new to this fish thing. Like eating anything other than salmon. I’m sure you’re from the Pacific right now. I just eat salmon, salmon. We’re having a great time talking food and all the food. But you guys are here for a reason. The, the Futures game. What was it like when you were told that you were going? I actually, I, I thought I got traded for a second. I was, I’m sitting in bed in Birmingham and our assistant GM is calling me and I was like, what’s go? I looked at my girlfriend like what’s going on. Um, but no it actually turned out to be a great phone call. I was over the moon ecstatic about it. It’s something that, you know, since I got into pro ball. Like I, I’ve looked at, I said, you know, this is, this would be a lot of fun to be able to, you know, participate in, to be able to get that phone call, especially this year with it being in Atlanta, I’m so grateful for it. And to be honest, I thought the same thing, I thought I was getting traded as well. But the opportunity and everything being able to go, you know, playing true is like, it’s gonna be a great atmosphere. I hope it’s packed out of the House so that, you know, me and Richie, we can get experience pitching on the mound, you know , with that kind of atmosphere, you guys already said it like how cool it is that this is in Atlanta for the team that you’re representing. But Then you also look at the alum from the other futures games too, like has all of that kind of like put itself together for you at any point. Like this is a really cool moment to have your name next to some pretty big names. I know I’ve made jokes about, I’m pretty old for a Futures game. It’s Indy, but uh, it’s something that 99.999% of people don’t get to do. Like, even if I don’t debut. I get to do something that, how many other baseball players didn’t get to do. It’s like, that’s what I appreciate about it. There’s always room for dessert. Right. It’s like a, it’s like vanilla with like a little, like, it’s got a twang to it. What’s your, what’s your go to dessert? I’ll credit this to my girlfriend cheesecake with, what was it? It was like a peach kind of drizzle or something like that. Yeah. All right. Is that our favorite dessert? Go to dessert. Creme brulee. You didn’t even hesitate any restaurant that I go to. Especially on date night. Look at the dessert menu. It’s creme brulee automatic. That’s like when the catcher puts down the one I’m ready. Creme brulee. Is that for you? That or key lime pie? I love it. I like a good key lime pie. It’s our specialty for All Star Week. This is a cava float. What are you guys hoping for moving forward? We all have personal goals and everything when they, you not the youngest guy in the world. So, you know, getting the opportunity to play major league baseball. It’s a major league debut of Hayden Harris. He’s got an incredible story. And for more on that, we go down to Paul Hayden Harris, a lifelong Braves fan, grew up in Augusta, my former catcher and Brave scout Alan Butts saw him and said we got to get this guy lined to center Harris charging his diving catch. Like I would love more than anything to help the Braves win games. I think that’s the biggest thing that is why we’re all here is to help the big league team win. And, you know, at the end of the day, like I want to win a World Series, you know, and I think that that would be the coolest thing in the world to do. And I call myself a world Series champion. And, you know, in my opinion, there’s no better place to do it than Atlanta. When you have all these big milestones, you have more coming up. Who, who is that first call for you guys? I’m sorry, mom, it’s my grandpa. I said, who did you call first? After learning you were going to the big leagues? He said my grandpa, that’s like my goal is to play a big league game. Have him be able to be there. I gray as well. Um My grandparents are probably my best friends. I’ve got to, I, you know, I think I got to tell my girlfriend, you know, she’s been , you know, one of my biggest supporters since I got in the pro ball. She deserves to know before anyone. And, and so does my dad, he was the guy, you know, hitting ground balls at 6 a.m. in the gym and, you know, throwing with me in the front yard. So I’d say, you know, that those two are, you know, probably the two that I get the call first. You know, you have the Futures game ahead of you. Hopefully you’re not sluggish tomorrow after all this. Incredible. Thank you so much for taking the time and eating and talking with us. Oh, yeah, I had a great time. Honestly, this is probably gonna provide us energy tomorrow. I think we’ll pitch by Hammer in the oil. This has been great. I’ve had, the food was unbelievable. You guys have a new spot when you’re brain. Exactly. Exactly.
Futures Game broadcasters Jonathan Mayo and Melanie Newman share tasty tapas with Braves prospects JR Ritchie and Hayden Harris
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