Rays Rolling into Town | Blair and Barker Full Episode

Rays Rolling into Town | Blair and Barker Full Episode

all right let’s do this Blen Barker for a uh today Thursday all day got long weekend coming up my days kind of run together a long weekend can I do something while you’re talking yeah what what what what oh we’re doing a quick change uh for those of you who are wondering what the hell’s going on um I wish I knew no uh we just we had to make C Chang with the Blue Jays Jersey up because the am show was on before us and they had a hockey jersey I have no problem with the with the Toronto pwl Jersey either I I want it on the record I have no problem with him but it’s just that it kind of you know kind of Blue Jays baseball you got that’s how stay with the theme you know what I’m saying absolutely hey we’ve got a fun show today Chad Mata the hitting coach of the Rays is going to join us at 3:00 where the rays are playing the Red Sox tonight and then they’re in to play the Blue Jays for three and uh as is so often the case with our guest he’s a former teammate of barkers uh he will join blue JS with the Blue Jays that’s right and with yeah he was really really good hitter question about Chad Mata sure which Hall of Famer was selected one pick after him cheeter my close you cheated no I knew that okay any he used to he used to tell us that all probably uh given his sense of yes yes yes yes that is true get the back of the bus uh Jesse Rogers National MLB reporter joins us at 330 hey I got something my seat I got something for you uh oh um knowing how much the uh bat speed excited you well that was pumped they’re talking now about load management for baseball players like they are in the NBA you don’t want to work too hard anyhow so uh we’ll talk to Jesse about that and take L Caleb Caleb Jo boy oh boy Caleb Joseph joins us at 2:30 as well the Jays have today off so we can’t have an argument about the lineup we can’t have an argument about it’s not an argument anymore well no we can’t now the other one you know I felt bad because I guess I guess I missed this yesterday but apparently social media was all a twitter they were mad at you well X just another day x x still any uh apparently the thought out there is why isn’t Jimmy Garcia closing instead of Jordan romano and I think part of that is because of our discussion fair with uh Freddy Gonzalez the uh bench coach of the Orioles who said you know they went to Craig Kimbrell and they said you’re not getting it done we think we have somebody better than you you’re going to be pitching in Middle relief and uh that doesn’t mean it’s forever but it means right now you’re pitching in Middle relief and I kind of felt guilty cuz maybe it’s something we should have done a deeper dive into like it did it doesn’t surprise me that Jimmy Garcia isn’t closing R let me ask you a question you’d rather have Jordan orano Bases Loaded nobody out than Jimmy yesterday no go there you know it’s sort of sort of that most of the time or a lot of the times that a in gu coming up meet the order and and those are sometimes the biggests wanted you to explain it yeah I think you know again people listen they don’t listen to me routines in the nth inning are a big deal Jordan r you know sort of used to being the ninth inning guy and you know the light show and all those things you’re excited about have a light show I know but you’re excited to see him fireworks show when Natalie rushman came up well yeah he made a bad pitch right you th 2-1 whatever that looked like a cutter to me I went back and looked at that I know I know uh Danny was setting up away they wanted it away right if he’s going to beat you make him beat you the other way it looked like it cut I haven’t seen him throw a cutter I mean I it maybe it’s not that that’s not what it was cuz it was like 93 94 was was it 9798 looked to me Rush’s reaction was almost like he hit it but it was almost like he was surprised too the way he kind of he kind ofing to get the ball in the air that’s you know you you a little back leg City he was he was back leg country there on that one I mean he was he basically you know looked like who watch it he basically looked like a you know giving it the body language like that leaning back that’s what you do right he’s trying to get something in the air to the pull side and you know a guy made a bad pitch and he he made him pay for it look I think this is sort of what they what they have right is you know most of the time Jordan gets it done in the ninth inning he really does and you want Jimmy to be that hybrid guy you want Jimmy to come in and put the Flames out and you know Bas is loaded whether that’s the seventh in whether that’s six in whether that’s a lot of the times the eighth inning cuz the meat of the order a lot of the times right it’s one two three is coming up in the eighth inning and right now for me I don’t know about you guys but I’d rather have Jimmy Garcia up in the against the me of the order than I would the the the ninth inning guy but again I you know but I think I hate to say this but I think the the eighth and ninth inning guys is the least of their wor I I agree but I think I think a lot of the points in the some of the discussion at least uh and you know yesterday the use of Garcia was in that situation clearly defensible but I think people are wondering if if maybe it’s matchup driven part of the people are wondering if maybe you don’t just let Garcia have the nth right now now it could be like that it could be like that leadoff guy you know that that closer’s been doing it for so long in that ninth inning and you know it’s just how how dare we rock that boat we’re not going to go away from that now that now they have shown you like last year with Hicks that they will you know in them Big Time games if they need a guy and they think a guy throws harder and can have more movement when it matters in that certain inning then that’s what they’re going to do I wouldn’t mind them trying to match up that’s okay right every every one of these games are mattering and and the way they’re not hitting yeah but I that to me it good Lu good luck trying to sell that that gets back to beig good salesman I mean that gets back to what I think you know the story of the day the game was won yesterday by Adalie retman homering off of uh of uh Jordan Romano but the game was not lost when adley rushman home R off Jordan I know it was it was lost when they kept coming up with men in base and not get anything for 24 combined in the two games with runners in scoring position and split they should have won both of them that’s that’s how really again they gave they gave up five runs to the you can argue best team in the American League and they should have won both of those games like they they outplayed that team in both games and should have went away from that being two and0 against arguably the best team in the American League and offensively it’s just when you dig into their offensive numbers and and you know you heard maddingley say that they’re not a home run hitting team and then you dig in Jeff to what they’re hitting just sort of well you know batting average balls in play 27th in baseball at 268 29th at batting average with Runners on base at 243 27th in batting average with runners in scoring position at 207 27th and on base percentage at 300 27th in hits those things right there what I just named one two two three four five different stats if they want to go anywhere that they think that they can go to without hitting homers just say a couple of those stats say batting average with Runners on base top 10 is somewhere in the 260 average they’re hitting 243 so you’d have to add another 20 points to the batting average now here’s the here’s the scary one batting average with runners in scoring position they’re hitting 207 top 10 and that’s somewhere in the 26 range so they’re going to have to add somewhere like in the 50 point range to get that anywhere near top 10 you have to if you think you’re not going to hit homers right they are last in baseball at hitting home runs with Runners and scoring position with a whopping four the Brewers are in first place with 19 they’re 28th in total bases of 489 like they’re just not doing a ton when it comes to getting it down and getting it singing Big part of the field creating backspin but then you look at the back average is it because they can’t is it coaches are relaying the wrong message is it they’re too much talk in Daren games is it I have a plan on the on Deck Circle the plan changes before I get to the play what is it can they get better at those things that’s what you got to ask yourself I and again they they you know continue to try and sell to a fan base that they believe in the core vlat Springer varo and Turner aren’t very good with Runners on base hitting a high average that’s where it’s at right a high average now you got to hit that can they do that that’s the question he’s kind of escaped a little bit of the criticism because of his start but Justin Turner hasn’t exactly been tearing the strip off the ball he’s been I think you know I ain’t GNA say this because I don’t you know I don’t take his temperature but I you know the people that I’ve talked to seems he’s been pretty sick his Bat looks slower than it looked you know even a couple of weeks ago and the league made an adjustment right there he talks about he wants to get the ball in the with a little bit of an uppercut in his swing what are you going to do well let’s see if you get the elevated fast ball that’s the adjustment the League’s made right and you can only cheat so much and be on time so much with that until you have to be a little bit more mechanically Sounder is that a word Sounder to what you’re trying to do more mechanically sound there you go whatever that’s you know you say it how you say it I say it how I say it and and you know it’s it means the same thing just one less syllable there you go so let’s save those Sy you only got It’s like syllables are like pitches you only got so many in your life don’t don’t waste yeah it’s like it’s like having a nice wi you know you hear B talk about uh how what’s turned vlad’s the month around is he’s having more a swings per bat well how many of those guys can you say that are having those Bo I think the last four five six games is starting to have his a swing more often who else you know dton V Show’s a little all over the place Turner’s a little all over the place we talked about Springer uh Danny Jansen you know I guess when he plays he’s having few more a swings like that’s I think where they’re going to have to try and get a little bit better at is if they’re not going to hit homers which it just seems like right now they’re having a real tough time doing that the averages in key situations have to go up and that’s the thing you have to ask yourself as an organization can it go up you know what I want to do because uh it is far too early to look at the standings but it is an off day just we can kind of get a sense of what because should I yell at you like you yelled at me when I said standing what the standings were well couple days ago no anyhow the Yankees are uh 29 and 15 they’re in first place Baltimore’s 27 and 14 they’re half a game back the Red Sox are 22 and 21 they’re 6 and a half back Tampa Bay who will be in here Friday they’re playing tonight against the Red Sox they’re 22 and 22 uh so it’s conceivable that if Tampa wins tonight that you’ll have every team in the a least over 500 except your blue jays Kevin Barker who are 19 and 23 they are nine out and if you are interested uh because let’s face it I think we’ve already turned our I think most people will turned their attention to the Wild Card Standings by now uh the Jays are five out in the wild card with one two three four five six a lot of teams seven teams six teams in front of them this the soft part of their schedule right you go two you go two and three against the race you have the 10 games against the white socks six against the white socks and four against the Tigers you go eight and two against them you do the math like they’re above 500 now so white socks are six and four white socks are six and four in their last 10 tigers tigers are three and seven a the Tigers and the white socks like if you want to be a playoff team which we thought coming into the season that the Jays are and were you got to beat the teams you’re supposed to be beating and for me this is sort of you know the bats have to get better like the it seems to me like the pitching strike one and more efficient with you know having quicker action you know which will get you deeper in games looks like they’ve sort of solidified that they’re keeping the yard at least a little bit better than they than they were you know they got guys healthier in in the bullpen which is a big deal now it’s just having those at bats and it just seems like this is what they got so you can either throw in the towel certain guys in the lineup or you can stick your nose in there you can choke up you can do whatever you have to do to try and score a few more runs right four for 24 against quite frankly not a great Bullpen for the Orioles is not good enough like I know they you know the rotation good but it ain’t great like their Bullpen is okay it’s not even good right now like that’s the thing with the orol right is if you’re looking at things to pick at against a for a really good team it’s the it’s their Bullpen theats got to get better against those teams like against those certain guys and fingers crossed if you’re a Jay’s fan it happens yeah I’m I’m just looking at the the Jay’s offensive leaders batting average vlat 275 runs VAR 22 home runs varo 7 RBI vlat 19 tied with VAR stolen bases George Springer has has seven but uh yeah there’s a lot of really there’s a lot of really ugly ugly ugly individual numbers in there they’re 30th and it bats between homers that get this number 53.73 at bets every 54th at bat they go back leg City that ain’t going to do it like they can try and spend that and say you know we got to lead bat the ball offensive players no you don’t that’s almost how many how many how many that’s a 53.7 that’s almost two games that is a lot of Advance between homers boy like you are you are asking a lineup to do things that they’re just quite frankly not capable of doing and how the Orioles beat them how do how do good teams win how do you string together a bunch of wins in a row you thump how do how did the Phillies string together what was it 12 in a row thumping how the postseason their big dudes are hitting two run and fre run homers and grannies and that’s how you do it because it takes pressure off of stringing together hits pitching’s too good to string together a bunch of hits and you know have three or four of them in a row and then pass the Baton no that way no you pass the Baton by back leg cities there you go go blooping a bomb blooping a bomb you continue to do that and I just we we try and come on the show and and be optimistic but then you look at the batting averages in these stats that matter how does it get better Jeff understanding that vlat Springer varo and Turner can get better at the batting averages with Runners on base they obviously can because they’re they’re good enough hitters but it’s just a it’s asking a lot after having a big enough sample size of what we’ve seen for them just all of a sudden wake up and be like it’s better all of a sudden and now I’m G to go three for four with Runners and scoring position it’s a lot to ask yeah and and you know I keep I keep getting back to this with this team it’s this is not a young team it’s a team that’s been it’s it’s it’s an older team it’s a team that’s been around for a while You’ got guys you got guys like David Schneider and that who are still you know relatively young in their career and you um young of age yeah chronologically Bo and vlat I are still young vlat is still young but he’s he’s an MLB Veteran by now yeah and um that that I I think is I would buy I would buy the whole or I’d have an easier time [Music] buying the issues surrounding what they’re being told if they were a bunch of young kids yeah yeah and then I i’ have I’d have a i i I’d have an issue with that this I again what what is bo bashet b bashet knows what he has to do to be good what is he hearing that would cause him to go away from that uh vlat I I I mean I don’t know vat’s in the same camp I don’t know vlat knows what he has to I’m not sure if it’s I’m not sure if it’s a a combination of I just don’t think there’s I don’t think there’s enough I don’t think there’s enough Talent maybe I don’t think there’s enough Talent a little bit of that too and it’s pressure a lot of players you know I had pressure when I played and I didn’t handle it very well like I you you you grip it a little bit tighter the back gets a little bit let me ask you this why is there why is there more pressure on Bo this year than last year he’s trying to get paid he’s closer to the end of his deal uh it’s you know I’m sure it’s been letting know that in the clubhouse if Bose’s not hitting sort of the team’s having a tough time of of winning baseball games other guys aren’t was that the same last year I mean I guess Brandon Bel Matt Chapman make that much of a difference this is this is what this is what puzzles me it’s not I’m not buying the pressure thing it’s the Snowball Effect well I mean again buy the pressure look playing baseball at this level is not the easiest thing to do and then you have the expectations that the Jays have and then you get off to a slow start how do you stop the snowball that that’s the whole question you know it’s it’s sort of a a tell of two things they’re fifth in baseball at batting average with nobody on base at 244 they’re 27th or 29th in batting average with Runners on base why if any smart person that’s helping that baseball team go wherever that baseball team’s trying to go figure out that answer why is it such a big difference why are they why does this the outcome of the bats are so much better with nobody on base than it is with guys on base that I think is the if you figure out the answer to that then maybe they got a chance of being a top cuz they got to be a top 10 team in batting average in a bunch of those categories to go where they want to go right I mean their pitching’s good enough their pin they will figure that out their defense has been really really good most of the Year their Outfield defense might be the best in baseball like they’re catching things they’re supposed to be catching they’re not giving the other team extra outs so if you’re digging into anything and you’re trying to poke the finger at something that you can fit and I’m sure they haven’t I mean it took me five minutes to sit down and look at that and go wow wait they’re fifth in baseball at 244 with nobody on base and they’re 29 and they’ve got like in batting average they’ve got like what 35 people who are in charge of that too so you’d think somebody would I think would somebody raise their hand and say hey so maybe look I I I can’t act like I know what the answer is I I think a lot of it does have to do with pressure and sometimes just you’re asking maybe a little bit too much much from a certain hitter to try and do certain things maybe he’s not capable of doing yeah I I as I said I just I don’t I don’t think they have enough good hitters that’s why this show came on in the off season and said you need two or three Turners you don’t need just one Turner you need two or three Turners who know how to hit and not Chase and get the giant hit and maybe run into three or four in a week to just take the pressure off everybody and you don’t get it you put pressure on people and then it looks like this yeah I I think it’s and and this is by no means man is a disrespect anybody uh because I really like what David Schneider brings but I I don’t think at the start of the year if I told you David Schneider was maybe the key you know was being treated as if he was the key piece of this lineup you’d look at me and kind of going really or I don’t know if I don’t know if I’d go really because well that would indicate that would indicate that some other guys haven’t you know I mean we spent a lot of time talking about David Schneider we have we really do we spent lot of time talking about David Schneider and again I’m not taking any I’m not taking anything away from him because clearly he’d be your preferred option in the leadoff spot right now but um there’s a hell of a lot of talk about David Schneider and the team that has Bo and vlat and George Springer and I meaner he had earned it for a little while you know he earned the right he’s earned it completely but it’s not I don’t think just everybody else was falling off a cliff Jeff yeah yeah that’s what it was and and he wasn’t and when he’s not then you’re trying to put him in spots that can help a team score a few more runs and take the pressure off of of a pitching coach and and a bunch of starting pitchers who are quite frankly just it it’s like major that movie major throwing everything I got except the kitchen sink coach I got one more it’s that kind of thing and it I would love to see if the lineup could get a little closer to the starting pitching how good this team could be with the way they play defense yeah um yeah unfortunately I don’t think it’s a it’s one of those just coach them up things I don’t think so either I I really don’t no I really don’t think that’s it but anyhow uh no worries today because the Blue Jays have the day off before they start that three- game series against Tamp but well man good day for an off day bad day for an off day any is is there any such thing as a bad day for an or let me yeah good day or bad day for an off day I I don’t I’m not sure I I think the pitching side’s a good day the offensive side I’m not sure anybody has an answer for that I like I I don’t know if you’re going to gain any answers by having a day off and walking away from it I mean I’m sure there’s some guys that would like to just go to a batting cage and keep hitting like you know Bo looks better latty continues to look like he’s got a plan an idea you know if you’re Turner maybe you take a few more what has to happen what has to happen for those for vlat for those singles and those doubles to turn into something a little more Point contact I’ve been saying this forever like he’s got a lot of moving Parts with the lower half it’s hard to time that up he’s freed himself up by moving a little off the plate which is a great thing you take the pitch that you have some trouble with have some trouble with mechanically and timing wise catching that thing out front but the bat path by the face it’s very hard right his window for contact is really small he’s got to catch that thing out front for him to get it in the air and have it end up where everybody wants it to end up and when it’s not there he hits 114 mph single to either you know the center field or the left field and everybody’s excited about that that’s that’s it I’ve been saying this like he going to need sooner than later to make a little tweak to the lower half like how do you consistently catch it out front you don’t want to change what he does with his hands because he h the ball hard and most humans should it’s just how do you get in the air more how do you get have more timing out front I’ve said this he has to have point of contact out in front of the front leg if it’s a little behind or even with the front leg it’s a line drive single to somewhere and you know we’re saying out loud that man that’s 114 mph it’s just strange because when you look at his when you look at a lot of his his you know the underlying batting numbers I mean he’s he’s in pretty you know he’s in a pretty high percentile yeah with a lot of numbers talented hard hit percentage you know average I know we talk about X velocity all that stuff but he’s yeah it it’s and and it is kind of frustrating because um what do he got he’s got four home runs so far this year uh like one in the last eight or nine games like it’s it’s the slug is 388 yeah he’s he’s talented it’s not bat to ball is not his problem it’s the you know certain parts of a game and you’re trying to do things to change the game in your favor can you do that mechanically or do you have to think about it that’s the thing right the great ones don’t have to think about that they know where everything’s at and where I if I just make contact because I’m swinging at the right pitch boy that thing going to go a long way and I’m fake jacket slug’s gone from 480 in 2022 to 388 yeah I think we need to turn the page it’s the it’s the home run to right field big drop that’s that’s where he benefited in the small parks at the minor league level is the Home Run the other way once the last time you saw him back spin a a ball in the 15th row and at the Rogers Center to Right Center rare that’s the difference Caleb Joseph is our blue J Central analyst on Sports Net he will join us in a few minutes uh we’ve got Blue Jays tickets to give away to see the Jays and raay at the Rogers Center this Sunday we will do that in the second hour at Chad Mato he is the hitting coach of the ray he will join us Jesse Rogers wow National MLB reporter with ESPN that my friends is a very good show this is Blair and Barker on sports 590 the fan and Sportsnet all right welcome back to Blair and Barker uh want to take care of a uh few housekeeping things before we bring in Caleb Joseph um but before we do that um sure a lot of you know by now that uh Darren datian passed away uh well news was released today that Darren datian passed away after a uh a long battle with cancer uh he is of course Darren ition of of of TSN um I would be lying if I said I was a close personal friend of his but our paths did cross quite frankly our paths crossed a lot back in the day uh when he was both of us were uh uh were out west and I just wanted to extend uh condolences and uh thoughts to uh to Darren and his family uh to his co-workers at TSN who um I’m sure are uh as much as they may have been preparing for this really really hurting today so uh for what it’s worth from our show y from me from Kevin from everybody with our show again uh condolences to uh Darren datian his family all his friends and U certainly all his co-workers he was a um he was a legend he was an institution he was a big man with a big voice and uh um he will be missed by by a lot of folks he’ll be missed by this industry um effective Tuesday we will be moving 4 to 6 on sportset 590 the fan in sportset uh that is after Monday right Tuesday comes after Monday Monday will be on following the Jay’s afternoon game which is a 320 start we’ll also be doing uh an hourong pregame show uh before that as well so again we go 4 to six Eastern which uh for my mom would be 3 to 5 central time uh effective Tuesday which is going to help with the traffic ehy how dare you it’s an off day for the Blue Jays there can be no crisis today no controversy what’s the crisis I mean you don’t you don’t you don’t you don’t know what the problem is even though the uh even though the JS aren’t playing today George Springer is still hitting lead off I’m L to believe let’s bring in Caleb Joseph our blue J Central analyst on sportset Mr Joseph sir how are you great how are you guys we’re doing well you sound chipper how’s your shopping Sho yeah want sh talk to him earlier he went shopping how was it uh it’s amazing the cost of goods these days I had about nine items and it was $137 the big screen TV so I’m trying to still figure out how wor problems like not being able to hit with runners in score position so I’m not gonna fret over it too much yeah I suppose how much setting up do you have to do for big doesn’t isn’t it all set up like isn’t there I mean you’re a wheel you must have people don’t you have people who do this for you great question simple man if I could hit a slider uh I would have people okay doing it for me but I couldn’t I got people I can loan you my people I I do sure Barker does too oh Barker oh you know a chance oh you know Barker’s got people my wife does actually yeah that’s that’s that’s very people was that is a that is a good way to put it okay Kayla that a good way to putay when I found out you were’s all business today K I just have to pass it over well cuz I I was thinking about when you were coming on and and and I was digging into some stats with the blue jays and and you know what the big difference is between nobody on base and Runners on base and you were a former Catcher And I want you to sort of walk us through how the at bat or how the mindset changes catcher pitcher wise with traffic on the bases how are the bats different explain to us yeah massively different that’s where the money is made on either side of the ball either the pitcher and the catcher are getting it done and they’re making money or the hitter is getting it done and that’s where he’s making his bread and so that’s where you’re really bear down and sometimes you’re not going to show a guy your best sequence combo you try at least that I did to not show them kind of that out pitch that you really wanted to have until the biggest moment versus that hitter which is with Runners and scoring position and the heightened awareness is up with the pitcher knows this is a big spot you’re trying to create room for error so you’re thinking long game unless you have a guy up there that you know right out the gate is going to jump ship and is jittery or has struggled the way that uh they look in their last 10 games that’s one thing that I did as a catcher as I looked at what they did with runs and scoring position for the last 10 games what pitches they hit when they hit them were they early in the count were they waiting late in the count and the game has changed a little bit it used to be a big chess game back in the day uh with veteran guys they were really hunting really hunting one spot and it seems like more guys are jumping on the first pitch or trying to get it done and get it out of there quickly so if you’re a catcher you’re going right to that off speed pitch you’re going right to that that high fast ball you’re going right to the out pitch which you’re typically telling them hey throw this perfect strike to ball pitch see if we can get him to Chase and sometimes because they might be looking off speed you throw it starts on the corner you get to break off that’s where you get the weak contact you’re looking at weak contact or swinging a Miss but that is where the game for me got really analytical up top you’re you’re really thinking all right this is where the game is made you’re really trying to Bear down and you’re looking at pitching the hitters weaknesses and stuff and sometimes hitters have got to find ways to to lay off the early tough pitches or find way to step in you know step on the other side of the plate and hit a single to right but the guys that I wanted up there were guys that wanted to do a lot guys that wanted to hit the ball out of the ballpark it was the little Ben Riv types that made me so angry because they went up there with a short compact swing trying to put Barrel to baseball those were the toughest guys with Runners of scoring position and what happens is you keep it simple you catch it two inches out in front there’s your three-run Homer it made me smile because Ben River was key one of my favorite dudes on that 2015 team that was such a good pick up that was such a good Pickup Man by uh by Alex and it kind of gets lost in the tulowitzky and the David Price things but uh didn’t he lead off yeah he and I think he he had some outrageous numbers in the contact Zone contact numbers I should say in the zone which is great that you mentioned lead off because I’ve got two former players with me so I’m going to present to you I’m going to ask I’ll ask you Caleb I’ll ask Kevin this I haven’t asked you this question even though I know we’ talked about George Springer every day why doesn’t George Springer go into John Schneider’s office tomorrow and go skip I pretty much suck move me down in the order do what you got to do for the best benefit of the team if David Schneider lead off is better let’s let’s get it done Caleb why doesn’t he do that well I’m glad Caleb’s going first o uh the back of the baseball card probably one of the parts of track record that I I don’t love and I’m George Springer I was a lead off hitter on a World Series team you can’t do that you can’t move me down you know who I am and I think that this was one of the greatest lines that I ever heard is don’t let a star fall on you and you can you know it’s Up For Debate if George Springer is a star I mean he’s a $150 million player he has been a nice player in the big leagues for a while but don’t let a star fall on you because these are the types of very oddd weird difficult discussions that you have to make I think the Angels had to deal with this and Albert P hos later on his career how do you tell a future Hall of Famer hey man we don’t really want you anymore I mean how do you how do you tell a guy that I think the Orioles are dealing with it with Craig Kimbrell right now how do you tell a guy that’s one of the best closers to ever walk the planet that hey you you’re not going to close for us anymore and I think it’s at that point where you just sometimes you got to have difficult discussions with a very good players that have good track record and yeah it’s tough why he’s not doing that proactively is because in his mind he is probably thinking he can still do it and I’m one swing away I’m one game away from getting on a heater because I’ve done it before I’ve done it consistently before the like you said uh Jeff it’s it’s the eternal optimist and especially with the good players the good players never feel like they’re losing it which is why Tiger Woods is continuing to play golf because in his mind he’s a 2000 Tiger Woods in his mind his body might not be 2000 Tiger Woods but mentally he still believes he can do it yeah he remembers what it was like to do it and be that good yeah it’s 25 I’m there’s 25 million reasons why he didn’t do it well let me let me throw this out to I we we don’t know oh I I just I threw that out I mean I think we do know he’s still leading off well okay but I’m saying we can’t say category that he hasn’t done it I mean we just can’t we can’t I mean we could guess I I don’t know yeah so so so if he walked into John’s officeal question hey Mr Snider you know I don’t think I’m very good right now could you please move me out of the leadoff spot John be like no just no way you’re leading off no matter what it would have been done already I’m just I’m just quite frankly saying that to cover my ass in case somebody asked George Springer about this and George said I went to them two weeks ago and they said my bath path bat path is you know and anyhow so I I will ask you that why doesn’t why doesn’t he go let’s assume he hasn’t done it why isn’t he going to do it it easy for every yeah I think I think Caleb’s right I think it’s he’s making a lot of money I think that’s first and foremost same amount of money seven yeah it’s different it’s different though you’re making more money than anybody on the team Caleb you know this you’re making more than anybody you hit the top of the order like that’s just the way it is like you made that money because you’re a topof the order guy it’s not the easy thing to say coach I ain’t very good like I right now I can’t help the team so I’m assuming that’s the re and he and he’s a notorious slow starter like he really is so I’m sure he’s hanging his hat on that a little bit and C everything Caleb said is is I think spot on with just the the conversations that the the top guys don’t have it’s just not realistic for most of them guys to walk in have you ever heard of that Caleb a a guy getting paid a ton of money walking to coach’s off to say that I’m just going to throw this out there cuz I I I no Caleb I don’t think you’re on this team but I bring back that story about Jose Batista Russ Martin going into Gibby’s office before game in Minnesota they’d been scuffling they talked about it in the charter and they said to G they said to Gibby and they put a bunch of names in a hats what they’ not said not move me down they said well the understanding was that I think as a matter of fact it ended up with Batista leading off if I’m not mistaken for day but the point is the the understanding was do what you got to do to get this offense going you’ve got our support that’s that’s all I’m saying you ever heard of this Caleb anybody doing that well I’ve I’ve heard of guys saying that they needed some time and that was more about a mental day to kind of reset I never had a guy go in there and actually say hey I’m I’m scuffling if you need to move me around uh well i’ I’ve heard guys say if you need if you need to switch it up you can’t like proactively telling the manager I’ve I’ve got a lot of dollar signs behind the contract I’ve I’m a 10e player if you if you need to move it around I’m not g to be disrespected and it’s not going to be an issue and I that’s the difference is like yeah giving them like hey I don’t want to but instead of you having to come to me and it be a big deal like I’m G to be a professional and proactively say if you feel like you need to do this do it for the betterment of the team that’s just a selfless attitude but it’s rare it’s rare Caleb what are you seeing from Justin Turner lately o uh you know what’s funny is when a team is struggling it is so difficult to maintain a level of I’m not gonna say Excellence but maintain what you’re doing when it seems like everybody else around you is is is trying to figure it out which it seems like the Jays did for the first whatever four six weeks while Turner was going off and sometimes people say you’re a product of your environment and I I honestly believe that it’s part of that of course I think the the bat speed is a little bit down comparative but I think Mo most of it is him being inside the environment of the absolute total grind I think if you put Turner on the Dodgers right now I think he goes off there’s just no doubt about it and I guarantee Justin Turner right now is doing some seriously heavy lifting with some of these guys in terms of approach and in terms of being a selfless teammate and sometimes you get so stuck on being a great teammate that you kind of forget that like I need to do quite a bit and he’s 309 like he might need to do a little bit more so sometimes being a great teammate does hinder some of your personal stuff I remember feeling that way uh as a catcher now of course I’m not even close to Justin Turner offensively speaking but I think that could be part of it as well and you know it’s he’s a focal point you know if you’re not as worried about bow and vlat you got one guy that’s got a 1200 Ops hit 305 who who Who’s Your Number One focal point it’s Justin Turner so it all works together right so that’s when you get five or six guys that start to go off together it becomes really difficult because you can’t just pick your spot as a catcher like you were talking about that’s the very first question which is it depends if Justin Turner is up and he’s hot and there’s a base open I’m not even messing with him I’m not afraid of Bo or vlat at that moment see what I’m saying so it all kind of it all es and flows together which is why hitting can be contagious but not hitting can also sometimes be as contagious as well yeah if you’re the manager of the Blue Jays how would you use Jimmy Garcia as early and often as possible and uh I mean not necessarily early I mean goodness it I’ll say this if if the Blue Jays end up which I really hope is not the case if they end up selling pie is if I’m a rival executive man that guy has three different circles you know you know they got the they got the the charts you know the matchup charts his matchup chart is green green Green go go go it just it’s funny how guys have great years in contract years it is unreal how many guys show up in contract years uh that he’s done a lot of hard work yeah I I would but see there’s another thing like don’t let a star fall on You by no means am I saying Jordan you know falling um but you’ve got a you’ve got a weird you know the title now at the back end of the bullpen start get a little bit weird I mean Romano’s gotten it done with a track record but like arguably right now I don’t think anybody would dispute the fact that Jimmy Garcia is your most trusted guy down there and so it’s it just seems like the problems just keep coming for this poor Blue Jays team and I played on a team in 2015 that was very similar and uh just could not mesh it all together and we limped to the Finish Line won the last game of the season to get to 81 and 81 and there are some pretty decent names on that club and it was coming off of an Al e title where we sort of rinsed and repeated and it just it was out of sync and I just it’s the feeling I get I hope it’s not true I hope it’s just a bad month and a half but I get that feeling that this team is just going to fight claw and scratch just to be a 500 team because they can’t mesh all of these different phases together for a long extended period of time where they can get momentum and then start to take off Caleb really good of you to do this as always man be well thanks buddy yep you got good luck with your TV yeah good luck with the [Music] TV well that’s good got tough life golfing and TVs I I call him sometimes he’s got a he’s got some birds out front the out in front of his house that that chirp a lot he likes that too it’s like comforting I think I think the Joseph pres not doing too bad yeah yeah he’s he’s he’s doing all right yeah it’s int it’s it is intriguing how you know you I don’t think if you’re John Snyder Pete walker and a plethora of all the other coaching staffs that’s on this team how do you fix everything all at one time like you just right they just right now they got they got more problems than they know what to do with like it’s just like seems to me these are these are issues these are issues who fix in an offseason got your ninth inning guy you got your eighth inning guy how do I feel in the blanks to get it to those two guys and if it doesn’t work out look how can how can you blame Jon or anybody any of the other coaches so for me again I think it’s just that how do it bats get better with traffic how if this is what they’re stuck with and it seems like this is the case how does it get better like that that’s the thing they ain’t going to hit a ton of homers doesn’t just just doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case either so how do you string together a bunch of hits and you know how do you all always try and get the right guy up at the right time it is a ton to ask a manager uh however many hitting coaches they got and a lineup in the middle of that order that’s not always been asked to do this it’s a lot like you know you some people roll their eyes at pressure I think that’s a lot of it like it’s you know you’re trying to feed your family and you’re trying to help your team yeah it’s hard but on the other hand you know I mean with all due respect I don’t think vlat or Bo are having difficult time feeding feeding their yeah look it’s it’s I mean I I get listen I I get I get I get what you’re saying I understand what you’re saying everybody wants to make tons of money at their job we’ve talked about that with relation to vlat but I just I’m getting to the point where I I’m getting to the point where I almost think you have to view them as finished products yeah I think they they’ve been around it’s not one or two years they’ve had enough at B at the big league level you know and that’s why he kept I don’t I mean vat’s you know vlat looks again he looks there’s no comparing the Val we’re seeing now to the V we were seeing three weeks ago there’s no comparing the bow we saw we’ve seen in this series to the bow we saw two weeks ago so who knows what who knows what it’s going to look like at the end of May it could it could be back to to where we expect it to be but again I I they’re not they’re not kids and and the Springer thing I kind of threw that out there just to just to create a bit of a fuss uh it’s not happening you would if you were here hell yeah no you would not why okay no you would not ask you would not you well then you wouldn’t be making $25 million in you got you got to have you got to have a little of that it’s don’t worry about what I’m doing just keep running me out there sooner or later I’m going to figure you got to have that and for you to go in there and ask oh coach can you help me take the pressure off me move me to the ain’t going to Happ I think the way you do it do is exactly what Caleb says exactly what Caleb C Caleb had the same answer I had he’s never heard of that before no he did not say that he said no he said he’s heard he’s heard of guys going he heard of guys going in and telling the manager hey if you got to shake it up shake it up okay I’m just telling that’s what he said he go back and play the tape that’s exactly what he said it’s exactly what he said okay B more power to him then John’s not a good listener then well I don’t think that’s happened in this case you don’t think so no but I’m asking why I I don’t see what the yeah you’re getting your money again you’re getting your money you’re playing good defense I think if Marcus Simeon was on this team from 2021 who was raking and just destroying baseballs then you might then you might walk in there is there anybody else doing that that he’d go okay I’m gonna pass the Baton to this guy cuz he’s just way better than I am right now is there I don’t know if that again I don’t know if you necessarily say that or you just say if you got to shake things up you know shake it up and I’ll you know I’ll support what you want to do I think there ways of doing it as opposed to going in and saying hey move me down or or or or or you’re the manager of the team if you want to move a guy down just say hey or don’t say anything just he shows up and he sees his name in the six hole I I think you I think you talk it over with a guy I think we know enough we know enough know John’s going to do that John’s not going to drop it he’s it’s she’s pretty clear when he makes a change he tells we’ve heard this he tells the players the night before and you got to remember too that that if JN sticks around as the manager so’s George Springer George Springer’s gonna be here for the next couple years like you know you got that relationship back and forth so George Springer is going to be the lead I’ve hitter every day uh who knows we you would have said that a week ago you still the lead off hitter all right so noidea basically what you just told me if for John Schneider to keep his job he’s got to let George off that’s not what I said you said John Schneider wants to be I said relationship years relationship seems to be a big deal with veteran guys and and organizations now and I’m sure there’s a little bit to that I guess the only the problem would be if if John Schneider looked at at at if George Springer said to John Schneider well who’s your better option and John Schneider said well Davis Davis Schneider you know maybe George would kind of look at him and really again back of the baseball card all that money I’m making but when you offer a guy like George Springer this type of contract you you have you have to have had that discussion at some point cuz the way it looks now it was going to look this way at some point those contracts very sell them to the end of the players Contra but wow he was great in the final year of his deal they’re not in the final year of that deal uh Chad Mata is the hitting coach of the Tampa Bay Rays they’ve got a game against the Red Sox tonight but uh he has uh very graciously agreed to join us lots to talk with Chad about I’m going to ask him about hitting coaching why do they keep getting fired I mean they do it’s the least secure job in baseball we’ll talk to Chad M about that Jesse Rogers as well it’s Flair and Barker on 590 and Sportsnet all right the uh Blue Jays have today off they will start a three- game series tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Rays at the uh Rogers Center the rays are playing the Boston Red Sox today and uh we’re very pleased to be joined at this time by the hitting coach of the Tampa Bay Rays Chad Mata Chad thanks so much for taking time out to talk to us today we’ll get right to it uh I know your time is valuable um first of all it’s great to talk to you again it’s been a while uh you know yeah when I was doing prep for for the interview I went back and read an article that Mark topkin wrote on you which is no surprise because Mark’s basically written every article that’s ever been written in the race yep but it was funny because he was talking to you about hitting and you said that you thought your experiences at not being successful all the time and I’m being polite but your experiences at not being successful all the the time was one of the things that you thought made you a good hitting coach can you can you expand on that well I think it’s one of those things first of all it’s great catching up with you guys looking forward to getting back to Toronto tonight but uh as Kevin can say bouncing around in many organizations hearing a lot of different philosophies um going through a lot more ruts than good times you learn a lot more um some of the worst hitting coaches I’ve had are Hall of Famers who think it’s simp so I think I can relate to the players going through the hard times a little better than the guys that really never experienced those of course it’s never fun going through them and you’re not thinking long term like this is going to be really good for me later in life so I don’t recommend it that’s awesome Chad you know every Everybody well a lot of people that you talk to now say that pitching has never been better it’s harder than it’s ever been they throw this that and the other there’s no fast ball counts anymore is that true Chad I think what’s happening is they’re throwing in Labs non-stop all year so they’re morphing their stuff constantly through the season so your scatter report’s going to say something but they may have just invented this sweeper with extra sweep or something that has extra depth or all of a sudden they learn to change up so what’s crazy is they’re going out there and throwing one inning just blowing it out but then they’re also within that inning throwing pitches that you didn’t know they had so that’s the part that’s evolved um I’m a little biased in the sense that there was better pitchers back in our time that could uh hit spots locate and kind of pitch to contact and get through games so there’s definitely some some ways to get there but there’s no doubt the stuff is different nowadays but as far as pitching there there’s a lot more throwing going on so there’s still ways to combat it but the crazy part is how much they’re morphing their stuff dayto day week to week Chad do you have to be a better guesser now I don’t know if you guessed when you play I never did I couldn’t I had to look fast ball down the middle and if they hung me a breaking ball I’d try to hit that thing as far as I could hit it it do you as a hitting coach do you preach guessing is that a rais way uh you got to go to the guy strength I mean there’s guys that can handle both that can have shorts of the ball but when everybody’s throwing 100 you still have to stay on the fastball but even facing Boston right now everything’s being written on how much off speed they’re throwing I mean you got Hal last night throwing 10 % fastball lefties so if you’re sitting fastball on him as a left-handed hitter you’re wasting your time so I think you have to have both gears available um and Trust the process at times you’re going to be wrong going into an approach but you got the way guys are throwing stuff 102 with cut and sink and then with a split finger at 90 you’re not going to cover both so you got to have a plan and know that sometimes the plan’s going to backfire but you got to sell out to it nowadays with the stuff that’s coming at you Chad as a hitting coach H how do you like game plan or or judge a hitter because of what you just said at least early in the season when pitching is being pitched the way it is right now well it’s one of these things as a ray the thing we do well is kind of figure out your strengths we tried to put you in a matchup that’s going to uh suit your strengths better um being injured this year that’s kind of what’s hurt us a little bit we couldn’t do our platoon things we kind of putting guys in roles they’re not used to but that’s that’s the one way to combat it is figure out what a guy does well and put him in those matchups and that’s what we’ve done for the years and nowadays you just kind of have to do that that much better have some diversity in your lineup have some diversity on the bench through combat the different angles coming out of either Bullpen so it’s more of just putting guys in position to succeed with their strengths Chad I think last season if I’m not mistaken you you guys had a something like like a 1.2 run per game improvement over 2022 um I know you set Club records runs home runs RBI slugging percentage total bases and I I I I believe the story was that you and correct me if I’m wrong but in the off seon before last season you talked to the raised hitters and did I I don’t know if you I’d say you guys changed your approach but you had a chat with them and basically said we were going to use 2022 as a platform for 2023 can you maybe walk us through that and and also has that carried over to this year right was it the same message you gave them in the off seon this off season well it was a perfect SW of a lot of things but the main driving Factor was getting hled in clood the year before in the playoffs for I don’t even want to recount how many innings it was something like 16 Innings of just non-competitive that fast um so we knew A Change Is made as Mark alluded to early us old school guys would just hunt the heater hunt the heater hunt the heater um what’s available nowadays it’s a little more controllable is controlling a strike zone making good decisions so we let them know that we’re going to evolve our daily kind of routine of evaluating our decision making so we’re going to stay aggressive you walk into big like big leagues by being aggressive you don’t walk into big leagues by being passive you scare them out of his own so with that being said we also want to review your decision- making whether it’s that night or the day after when it’s a little more fresh and and let that let you know you can control that a little more than actually the outcome so it was more of Just The Way We evaluated our atbs and a little bit had to do with the experience of guys that we had getting a little more experience in the league too so it was a it was a perfect kind of storm with a lot of things but we definitely in my tenure for the first time consciously changed an approach at the plate or approach thoughts Chad how hard is it to not have information overload for you like not giving them too much that it’s sort of like the Blue Jays now it’s almost like they have a plan on Deck Circle they’re walking to the the plan sort of in and out you know they see a pitch plant went totally out the window and it’s like information overload how hard is this as you as the hitting coach and you know the Rays they they they sort of thrive in that information part of it is it hard for you to sort of you know get the information from the people you want to get it from and relay it what you’re sort of trying to give that hitter to best see that hitter at his best is that a hard thing to do there’s no doubt there’s there’s a fine line I mean if you’re thinking in the Box there’s no way to hit because you’re going to react and if your brain is processing information then you have no chance to react to pitches so it’s a fine balance what I think we can get better at nowadays with all the technology is actually practice the shapes of pitches so you’re doing it a little more subconsciously but I I’m a big believer and if you’re thinking in hitting you’re paralyzed and you can’t do anything so everybody gets there in a different way finding that individual process whether you got to hunt a zone or hunt speed or kind of whatever it may be in and different individual thoughts but there’s definitely a fine line of too much information out there and we’re experiencing it even with ways guys are altering their swing tasks all off season trying to be this complete hitter we we had a couple guys doing that kind of chasing different things that don’t really line up with their way their body organizes so it’s always a constant battle nowadays with how much information’s out there the willingness of guys to use it um sometimes they go down the wrong road sometimes you you form some really bad habits that you have to get out of but you appreciate it it’s only them trying to get better you don’t take it as an insult or anything other than they’re just trying to experience different things and improve their game overall so sometimes that’s bad thing that’s a great answer it is it’s say you got to simplify it as much as possible Right make it as close to se ball hit ball as you can I think is what you’re trying to say yeah and I it’s almost one of these things that I’m trying to get them to overload the minor leaders because the reality is is that’s going to happen when you’re get to get through the big leagues so you can get some reps in how you eliminate things whether it’s thoughts or processes and almost experience the all the outside things that are going to happen in the big leagues and the Myer leagues so you get experiences on things that help you and hurt you you almost want to go through tough times down there so you can have some reps in it when it’s going to happen here Chad at the start of the year I think you and Kevin siter were the longest term uh hitting coaches in baseball with the with the same team I think it was like seven years I mean there’s been a lot of turnover it’s I think somebody said it might be the uh the the least secure job in baseball right now as a hitting coach I mean you’ve got a lot of guys who are 28 29 years old or hitting coaches you know they’re they’re Specialists how important do you think to the Rays has been the stability um not just of yourself but the fact that Kevin’s been there for such a long time right you know it’s it’s it you two guys who know each other really well and I think I you know everything I’ve heard are really good at making sure that the messages get through when they need to get through in different ways I think that instills confidence from the front office on down to do things differently um and no your job’s not on the line I think that that what we thrive in in with our payroll in the AL East we have to do things different if we’re doing the same thing Yankees and Red Sox and blue jays are doing with our payroll we’re not going to compete so we’re going to make mistakes but knowing you’re going to have to explore and do things a little crazy and do things different than everybody else and know your job’s not on the line based off the result uh the freedom they give us the trust they give us um that that’s what makes us special overall everybody talks about all the analytics all the things like that but it’s the people in the building that allow us the diversity we have from the R&D the sports science we learn from each other without threatening each other’s roles that that’s the environment that’s created here so that everybody can talk about all the numbers we use but it’s just the people bringing their different perspectives and backgrounds and allowing that to happen Chad knowing your job’s not on the line absolutely Chad if you pick up a stat sheet what stat do you look at first as from a hitter point of view I don’t I can’t chase stats that’s the players that’s the player job I can’t tell you what anybody’s hitting They Ride the roller coaster non-stop I I remind them all the time I’m closing my eyes trying to Envision where you’re going to be in two years that’s my job as a hitting coach to put you in motion for something that’s gonna click in a year or two from now if I’m chasing you’re at that tonight and we’re both doing the same thing I’m not doing you any favors I am fine with you as a player living and dying with everything because you have pride and ego but if I’m doing that with you we’re both in trouble so it’s just another layer of that they allow me to picture something down the road and not always white knuckling every pitch every at B guys’s G to swing at sliders guys are going to make mistakes and if I’m getting emotional with them then we’re all in trouble speaking of stuff clicking uh Yandy Diaz how how how has he developed as a hitter and and what would you say has been the key to his development and you know was a guy who win a batting title um really Elite hitter yeah and what’s crazy is you talk about a guy that won a batting title and you always been dream that there’s a little more in there um and that’s what’s got him in a little bit of trouble this year uh trying to get some more homers which I like I said I appreciate it and I think he can do it too but we got a little bit too much length in the pack but how special he is in covering different pitches most guys nowadays have kind of Swing pass that cover certain amount of pitches or certain part of the zone and if you go in there they’re going to do damage but Yanni can cover every lane every pitch and that’s what’s really necessary for us as a lineup and that’s why we hit them lead off because he just lets everybody exhale a little bit we times get fast through the lineup have some non-competitive at bats and then just having him to rely on slowing the game down and making the pitcher work a little bit that that’s what makes him special the numbers end up there at the end of the year when we got him from Cleveland uh we knew he could do some special things but I felt like with the size of him he’s massive I I wasn’t sure how he would get his swing path to tight enough but he manages to do it and it’s a pretty special move Chad really good of you to do this again we really appreciate your time I know it’s valuable thanks so much safe travels to Toronto and uh we look forward to seeing you here we hit the field buddy all right sounds good I always love it my favorite place to go awesome see man all right guys take care it’s Chad mat at Tampa Bay Ray’s hitting coach he was a hitting coach here yeah you can see you can see why they figured it out you know when he was talking about his his yundi swing getting long the first guy I thought it was B he’s trying to hit too many homers it’s B’s trying to do it ear early in Camp I talked to him when I was in spring training you know it’s it’s party out front and and swing counts like I swing that count boy now I can get frisky I I could just think about out and around back spinning that thing to the pool side and boy I can just see that 310 with 30 and a hundo real easy and that’s sort of you get out inside of your comfort comfort zone and then your swing gets a little bit too long and you go through a long period of a slum so it’s funny how that works it’s interesting one of the other things pardon me that happened to the raay this year again Mark wrote about this one of the things that happened to the Rays this year and I think this gets to what Chad said this Randy Rose Ara showed up and wanted to have more hits to the opposite field yeah wanted to make himself a quote more complete hitter sure what if he can so but yeah you know but but their approach was okay and the numbers weren’t there and he kind of said you know it’s a Randy himself said you know that I understand why I was doing it I understand I’m just going to you know maybe we’ll put that in the shelf for now I kind of reali and go back to doing what I and the the part of the story was how that’s kind of one of the things Chad Mata is uh is really good at is just kind of well you know I I I would think that not chasing numbers is is not the easiest thing to do right I mean ry’s hitting 156 how do you not chase that it I mean if you’re the hitting coach and you’re working on things and you know I’m sure his swing’s long and maybe he’s over swing and maybe I’m sure he’s chasing some things that normally doesn’t do he’s a free swinger right he’s very athletic he thinks he can get Barrel to any quadrant and I’m assuming that’s why the 156 is there this year it’s I’m sure it’s not the easiest thing to do but you got to stick to your guns right you got to stick to you know what can dare I say process if you stick to that I think you know certain guys who’ve had a track record and have had success at the big league level you can sort of lean on the process a little bit easier than you can other other guys you can understand by listening to the chat why the Rays have success offensively like you can understand why they do you know it is a little how do you get the khakis as close to se ball hit ball as you can I think that’s the hitting coach’s job is how do you get it as close to that as possible and if you can you’re going to have success if you don’t you’re going to have that Jay’s approach where it’s it’s all over the map and you just can’t get the foot down on time so it’s interesting you listen to other teams talking about and I think the the other thing that needs to be said about it and this is why I’m always kind of you know when you people come on and and somebody gets fired one of the keys to the race success is cash and Mata have they’ve been there long time but they’ve been successful too I mean h have the Jays offensively been that way no but they’re very topheavy the Jays are so you can understand why people outside the organization would be asking well whatever you’re selling they must not be buying maybe let somebody else sell it uh we’ve been giving you the chance to win Blue Jays tickets all season long here in Blair and Barker all you have to do is text the correct answer to Our Daily Baseball trivia question to 59590 our last trivia question and answer was this player spent Five Seasons with the Rays and Five Seasons with the Blue Jays on the way to a Hall of Fame career name him the answer was Fred and Griff today’s question is to win tickets to see the Jays and the Rays at the Rogers Center on Sunday May 19th longtime Ray a David Price was dealt to the Blue Jays from the Tigers during the 2015 season which team did did price make his JB’s day his his Jay’s debut against JB his Jay’s debut against striking out 11 batters again long time Jay’s Ace David Price was dealt to the Blue Jays from the Tigers during the 2015 season which team did price make his Jay’s debut against striking out 11 batters uh he text the answer to 5959 for shot to win C rules at sportset you know the answer for that looking at it yeah I did because I was at the game were you yeah I remember that I remember it was a big deal it was it was a big deal um I mean not that whole year man that that time around the to lewitzky there was a buzz it was oh yeah they were all in although I always remember I I I would never never say the guy’s name but uh one of Alex’s uh Alex anthopolos lieutenants and talking on the field before the game and I said man I cannot believe David is here he looked at me and said enjoy him while he’s here cuz he ain’t coming back next year and I used to always and every and then of course all during the year do they have a chance of signing David Price David Price I love it in Toronto I love the popcorn in the uh Stadium remember how the popcorn was a big thing I love it here and then he got to the playoffs and of course Gibby moved into the pen GI moved into the pen and and I always remembered like the the guy telling me looking me looking me dead in the eye and everybody’s going nuts and price is jogging out you know and everybody’s excited in the beautiful sunny day and all that stuff and I congratulations he said Joy him well he’s here cuz he ain’t coming back next year I’ve always I’ve always remembered that and of course he went on and signed a free agent contract with the Boston Red Sox and he turned down the St Louis Cardinals and and I I remember when that happened a lot of people going why would you it was just St Louis was a better environment at that time than uh than uh than the redx but you know what he made a ton of money he did um but yes the the I got I got him in the minor league Zone did you oh way up now was he in Durham then yeah I didn’t face him in the big leagues they wouldn’t let me because he’s left-handed and I was left-handed you do you do know I was left-handed right I know the price is Left-Handed oh yeah yeah I’m only I’m not up all my Barker Barker uh I think he was shot too that I got him like he’s like what how old was he that was he he was I think he was way younger than I was I think did real hard but I I was sitting red I was me Chad was on the same team I was on I was sitting red Chad hit right behind me so we were on the de Circle who else was on that team the sky Chiefs I don’t have any idea like seriously yeah I cared about myself just who’s your manager big legs I nothing it’s like I can look it up I’m trying to get I’m trying to get a story here I’m trying to get a story who is a pitcher in that give me a name of a pitcher in that team who I hated pitchers there was look there there was no hanging out in the clubhouse with picturers tell you at right now none of that okay there’s there’s no good clubhouses in the minor leagues I hate to break the news to everybody uhuh it’s very individual you do your thing you get out of my way let me try and do mine because I’m trying to go to the big leagues all right well and it’s a competition now you’ve told me you have told Chad was trying to get to the big leag just like I was you have told me that the definition of a good teammate score from first on a ball you right yeah absolutely um having said that what makes a good minor league teammate get out of the way don’t talk to me there’s not one by Jimmy John yeah there’s not you you make it sound like it’s you know I’m I’m hoping there’s a certain amount of like isn’t there any romance to it I don’t know Bull Durham or anything like that what is that what there’s no romance to it no what are you talking about I thought maybe there’d be some romance whoever tells you that’s never played the minor leagues all right you’re trying to get to the big Le there’s no there’s nothing good about the minor leagues have you ever been you ever talked to any baseball player that’s played the Myers and be like boy I can’t wait wait to go back there not a chance no way oh you got records yeah I got all kinds of Records in Triple A that’s a that’s a awful thing that is the that’s the worst thing ever that means I was in AAA forever they should have a statue to you in Louisville should they they should that’s who wants that I don’t know I thought it would yeah like I’d drive by the stadium I’d tell my son look Chase did you ever get your have you had your uniform retired anywhere College Virginia no I don’t think so I mean I don’t know who you’re getting this for who do you talk to it’s like yeah you gota you gota everybody hangs out no they don’t maybe the big leagues because everybody’s making lots of money and you ain’t you ain’t competing against your your teammate in the minor leagues it’s a it’s you’re competing like I would run over a manager in the minor leagues yeah uh Jesse Rogers I mean I had a guy asked one time in the mar League asked me to bunt and I went he bitched me for a day I went like that to him you got no I getting them big leags button what yeah I mean again you must have just been you must have been horrible to manage it was Rick’s sweep he’s been on our show then he probably would have given you he would have given you a different finger back hey Dad he me for a day yeah knowing Street thanks it was like a 10:30 P Tucky game I did it on purpose I was going to say I bet you were not upset with the benching I bunt you can’t make the big leagues bun it’s like walking you walk your way to the big leagues not a chance uh that’s what Chad used to say all the time the walking Jesse Rogers is the national MLB reporter with ESP ESPN terrible memories hey guess what’s coming to Major League Baseball load management is that real you make that up no it’s load management says right here we’ve seen it done in the NBA but it’s load man management coming to baseball certain players Bo I mean it’s right here it wouldn’t be a lie I read the story too that’s the American I mean that is the whole thing with with the NBA right is like guys I mean the NBA had to put a rule in stating that you couldn’t win the MVP award unless you played for a certain number of games because dudes are always taking time off you pay to see LeBron come to town and you got to see LeBron all right because he’s sitting there in civvies on his you know on his iPhone while the game’s going there’s no iPhone oh iPhone whatever the hell I mean that’s what it’s called but he ain’t doing that on the bench yes he is he’s rooting for his teammates oh yes he is anyhow uh Jesse Rogers clubhous guy he’s a great Clubhouse guy don’t think bad of me it’s true it’s cut through as next time you see Chad next time you walk up to him and say how was the clubhouse in the minor leagues and see what his answer is I’m gonna ask SLE that the next time I see s tell you the same thing I tell you I know he will I know he will yeah uh Jesse Rogers is next it’s Blair and Barker on Sportsnet 590 the fan and Sportsnet all right welcome back to Blair and Barker Thursday uh reminder that we will be moving 4 to 6 on Tuesday and Monday which is the 321st pitch against the white socks we will doing uh Blair and Barker pregame and we will doing blue J we will be doing Blue Jays talk post game on Sports NF 590 the f and sports winning Edition oh why not Jay have tonight off uh again want to thank uh the Rays and Chad Mata for awesome hitting coach available to us while they were taking hack you can hear it in the background for a game against the Red Sox CH was uh that was when I was covering the team when he was around he was a good dude I quite frankly was surprised that he didn’t stay in the organization longer yeah I think it’s the I I think it’s the part of the guessing and and the approach and how you can simplify it how can you not have I found it interesting about the about the spin and you’re looking more for Spin and like it’s just how you attack your bats now and how you hit velocity and you know you could probably understand and I mean again I mean this I keep saying this but I mean this with all due respect but one of Chad’s again I referenced this article Mark tokin wrote in him he he said look you know because I I did fail a lot mhm I think I have an understanding of what it feels like to do that oh yeah and I mean that you’re a little I understand why people feel the way they do when it happens and I mean it makes perfect sense but you know like i’ never get caught up in this the guy has to have played in the majors to be a good coach I think you have to have I think you have to have played in the minors I think you do need to know what it’s like or so let me rephrase that it helps to know what it’s like to play the game and fail I think it’s longevity how how long did you play I think that’s it that for me is it you the longer you play some guys didn’t play for a long well the more experience you get in in certain ways of how did you get out of certain things like if you did this how did you get out of it how if you did that how did you maintain it and continue to do it like there’s you know little things that I remember that I did to try and get out of certain things you I used to steal Chad’s bats when he was hot and I wasn’t I’d take his Bat and he get mad at me you know Jad Chad’s a a giant human giant his hands are giant yeah oh yes yeah and he was the first guy to use that that I remember that put the tape around his his Bat cuz I know when he struggled he didn’t use batting gloves and like it was a thing right you tried to sort of line up your your bats to fit certain ways to make you feel a different way like there’s ways right that you could and that you can only learn that through experience so yeah I’m with you when it just comes to I I just wonder though you know it’s information overload I wonder how the Rays handle that that that’s the only thing right it’s how do you just not give them so much that their head’s about to pop off like it’s just and I think listening to Chad there it’s like you you know you it’s to each his on some guy could handle all that and walk to the plate and look normal and in other guys you could just give them a certain word when they’re walking to the plate like you know it was shoulder or foot or knee or like something that would tell that person and it would internal click that if I do that everything else will fall in place and it’ll give me a chance to get I’m glad we talked to Chad because uh when we think of the Rays more often than not we think of O the underground city with all their pitching magic still there you know and they but I wanted to talk to him in particularly because of the offensive the offensive numbers I mean they put up a they had a career they had a franchise best year last year offensively at a time when you know all we’ve been talking about is how great pitch how do you not spend a lot and be really good at something that that is sort of the the revolving you know door of what they’re trying to do offensively and even wise look at the guys theyve they’ve acquired in traits Rosara was a tradeit Andy Diaz was a tra MH in addition to Drafting and developing guys um pares is hit number 300 our best hit cero was he might have been also acquired in a trade but Andy Diaz to me is you know I I I I love watching him play Love know what it is too sometimes I think is his biggest evil is he’s a big dude big dudes are supposed to go back leg City a ton if I lead off am I supposed to go back Lake City I’m a big guy or am I just supposed to hit the ball hard I like the way Chad described him though as kind of the guy that when all hell is you know you’ve had that quick you had the quick two innings or whatever he comes up to bat and he kind of settles things down and kind of stabilizes things that’s what George spring is supposed to do yeah yeah he is yeah that’s why they paid him 160 million to do that yeah yeah um right we’re having uh some issues raising Jesse Rogers so we may we may audible here oh audible I’m going to ask this guy that we’re about to get about the Le he will give you a good answer okay I’ll let you ask the first question well you can poke fun at me that’s fair that’s fair I’ve got tomorrow off so I I don’t care you you can poke F you don’t care about me anymore no but I mean I I’ve got tomorrow off so you can you can um yeah you have Monday off too no I’m working with you Monday H I’m taking Friday off load management I I was going to say it’s load management that’s exactly what it is I don’t need that Jeff it’s load management you you can write my name in line I’m Lo and I need managing you know what can I say load management oh boy you yes oh good we’ll bring we’ll bring Sean Casey on who the mayor on the mayor theow what’s up case up bark how you doing je how you guys doing we’re doing well hey how much did you like the minor leagues no no that’s not the question hang that’s not the question Jeff Jeff tried to ask me if we were buddy buddy not me and you cuz we were always buddy buddy but like if you were like you had your you know cuz nowadays it’s all about how’s the clubhouse you know there’s got to be 26 dudes that all love each other and you know everybody’s going to the field together and you know we all got a van and we’re all taking it to the field so we all just join together and Jeff asked me if that was the way it was the minor leagues and I said absolutely not it was Cutthroat I hated everybody in my Clubhouse cuz I was trying to make to the big Le and I said he had to be and he was telling me about Rick swe telling him to bunt and he turned and I gave him the OA happen you don’t make it to the big leagues button and I said to him you had to be the worst minor league teammate ever and he said it was a good minor league team no I take pride in that like no I was Cutthroat that’s you don’t make no money to my leagues you know what bark was the guy when you get the Triple A you’re like hey you got these you got the guys coming up the system they’re like the prospects trying to get to the big leagues and everyone’s like man there’s some bitter dudes at Triple A bro they they they don’t talk they don’t talk to you they’re pissed off they’re not in the big league like yeah Kevin Barker’s leading the crew baby he’s guy yeah wash my car yeah yeah carry my bats you’re the guy that went you’re the guy that went up to the guys on the bus and said hey get out of my seat you’re in my seat the guy’s like what hey there’s no in team but there isn’t time it’s time to get out of here pal see he gets it all right that’s how it works I know I just thought there was a little bit of romance to it no it’s none of that there none of that I I remember just a quick story remember Joey Hamilton pitcher with the padr I don’t maybe maybe blue J I can’t was okay with the blue J he got called up we we had picked him up I think in like 2002 or 2001 something like that and Adam Dunn had just gotten called up and if you ever been next to Adam dun Adam dun 66 270 like at that point solid muscle and and a he’s like a football player right like so and duner was you know just a great guy so one day you know we’re sitting there and duner’s you know I guess in the wrong seat and Joey Hilton Joey Hilton’s like hey man there’s no I in team but there isn’t time and you’re in my seat he’s like get up and dun stands up and goes if you can make me I’ll move I’m like whoa here we go here we go yeah that doesn’t that kind of jives with my memory of uh of Joey Joey Hamilton as well uh we’re joined by Sean k of the MLB Network and host of the mayor’s office podcast Mr Barker I’ll turn it back to you yeah look hey we’re talking a lot about bat speed and and the and the new stat cast thing that came out about bat speed and I wanted to ask you I I don’t remember you know talking about Shan Casey and saying man that’s that’s some electric bat speed like and and then I looked at your stats Sean and you’re a career 300 hitter like it’s it’s is is there just too much is there get is it getting to the point now in 2024 where just too much man like Uncle is it I mean I I mean you know what bark I I think honestly I think some guys like the numbers I think for a scout some of these numbers are great because you know I mean I don’t understand them fully but like the barrel percentage now you got all these different you know you do have a lot of different things but like I guess if it quantifies to seeing who the you know obviously there’s going to be outloud when you look at Luis arise has one of the slowest bat feeds in the game but might be the best hitter in the game as far as for average and you look at St you know Stanton’s got some of the B best bats being some of these guys so I mean there’s there’s outliers either way but I think I I think with some of the numbers you know I know being an MLB Network those researchers are incredible and they’ll come at you with hey this number this number this number quantifies that you know this guy over six months is going to play really well and I think for a scout when you look at guys and you’re able to quantify some of these numbers maybe it helps you you know evaluate players better yeah no that uh you disagree you disagree bark I just think it’s too much you know you know what that screams case is if if I were a young player and I went to the big leagues because you know there’s going to be some organizations that sort of try and force the average bat speed on every hitter right and if you’re below that I mean what what now all of a sudden you’re like pulling your hair out trying to make your back quicker it’s just it’s like it’s someone that I think’s just a little bit too much that’s all I I I think there is there is definitely something to that too I think a lot of times you I bet you that there will be guys that this game starts to disregard uh with with these numbers on now you know and then you you know you can’t measure the heart you can’t measure a guy that’s gonna you know battle that guy oneone over 162 you might not appreciate this guy because his Barrel rate or his bat speed isn’t great but over the course of six months this guy’s going to put up some numbers he’s gonna be a good teamate he’s going to get on base he’s going to find a way like you don’t want to dis discard players without you know with just what the numbers say hey his Bat spe’s not good his Barrel rate you know because I think you can you could also develop some of those things too Sean right now uh obviously the topic of discussion in Toronto is the blue jay’s uh lack of of uh well their lack of offense their lack of runs their lack of hitting and and sort of one of the flash points that has emerged has been the leadoff spot and the fact that you the George Springer’s the leadoff hitter here but two games in recent days where they have had their most offensive success David Schneider’s been the lead off hitter and of course you know that’s the the topic of debate around here how hard is it you know someone who played the game how hard is it to go to a George Springer and you have that discussion that you know it doesn’t have to be permanent but we may you for the betterment of the team we may we may need you to you know move down the lineup a little bit let’s give this other guy let’s give him some run and let’s just see how it looks you know I mean I I think schneid John Schneider does a does a uh you know kind of looks at his lineup a little old school like with the way guys hit in in that same order you know that’s when you look at that lineup night in and night out you see that and I I guess you can respect that at times that schneid like you know I’m sticking with Springer but at some point you know you look at Springer’s numbers he’s you know he’s hitting 2011 he’s got below a 600 Ops he’s got three bombs he’s got six ribbies so you know he’s not getting on base and that’s the biggest thing and I think that’s a definite legit conversation you know at the end of the day you know this for Schneider to have some of the you know the beat at spark plug at the top and get on base hey maybe it’s not a permanent thing but hey Spring listen we’re gonna move you down you know this isn’t a permanent thing but we kind of want to do something to like flip up the Mojo a little bit maybe get something going see if Schneider can get get things going while you get your swing back together and figure it out so uh you know I think I think uh I remember Jim Leland saying one time came into the clubhouse we were scuffling he came in the clubhouse and he’s like man he’s like listen here’s the deal he’s like everybody’s accountable to somebody I’m accountable to Dave dumbrowski I’m starting to hear it from him now Dave dumbrowski is account accountable to the owner you know John illich obviously he’s here and it trickles down if I hear from those guys you’re going to hear from me if you’re not hitting you’re not playing and if you start hitting you’ll start playing again so I’m going to play the guys that hit that win ball games that we can so I thought it was legit I thought it was legit no he goes I don’t care what you’re making what your track record is right now we got to win ball games and we’re not so everyone’s accountable to somebody and at the end of the day I gotta play the guys that are hitting so I thought it was fair I might have been one of those guys that that what was that he was talking about to tell you the truth at the time and I was like I get it that’s fair in this industry we got to win ball games and if we don’t people start people start uh The Dominoes start to fall case I just looked up your stats you got 130 big ones you got 735 RB you’ve been a hitting coach at the big league level you’ve obviously been a successful hitter at the big league level can an organization in season teach a lineup how to run produce that’s a great question Park um you know I think at the end of the day there’s there’s there’s so many veteran hitters in that in in the in that lineup or any lineup you know I think at the end of the day you know you know as well as I do over the course of six months you know you you you you got to get a a process that works for you and you try to stick with it you try to get on base you figure out a way to you know control the strike zone lower the chase rate try to get on base as best you can because if you get guys on base you can get them in so you know I I the the tough part is you know when you’re dealing with veteran players in a lineup it’s tough to be like okay we’re going to do this this these guys know bark you know as well as I do if you’ve been around the block long enough I don’t want people telling me you know I mean we’re gonna start doing this this and this now because it’s because this isn’t working I think at the end of the day everyone’s got to be accountable for you know putting themselves in the best p position to be the best player they can be and if they’re not then sometimes you know you go through stretches where you’re just not producing uh when you were the Yankee hitting coach what was the one thing or the one message that you were telling hitters with runners in scoring position when they walked to the plate what whatever that was you tell me like what was the theme to every guy when you talk when Sean Casey talked to a hitter I think the biggest thing was it’s you this is you versus you this isn’t you trying to get runners in to win us a game this isn’t the you know looking at the situation it’s a process over result at the end of the day you know pressure is a madeup thing it’s not true it really isn’t pressure you have to look at a situation and say I got to get a good pitch to hit I got to be able to slow down the adrenaline and I got to I got to uh Focus uh on the ball you know from the jump and I gotta hunt the fast ball and that’s what I I I said my big message to the guys every day was don’t forget we got to win the you versus you game this is you versus you can you control your inner you know estate can you control the strike zone can you control the pitch you swing at you know at the end of the day if that’s Randy Johnson or Justin Verlander or Kevin gsman or whoever it is that’s cool and all but at the end of the day when it when he releases the ball it’s a pitching machine I now have to control that ball and put it in a position I want it where I can get my best swing off where I can hit the ball hard somewhere you know we’ve just seen the uh Baltimore Orioles for a couple of games here we saw adley rushman obviously walk it walk it off against Blue Jays uh the Yankees and the Orioles it looks like there was going to be a little bit of Separation there between them and the rest to the division what do you think what do you think this race comes down to to your mind Sean if it is Orioles and Yankees gar Cole it’s a good one I mean get getting Garrett Cole’s gonna be back I mean you’re talking about the best pitcher in baseball is gonna be back in that rotation here in a few weeks or a month I don’t know exactly when but at some point here probably in this first half he comes back I think that’s a huge piece for the Yankees because that rotation has proven to be a you know Clark Schmidt’s pitching really well caller with Dawn’s having a good year strowman’s been good you know uh you know in that rotation you know those guys have been really good so if you all of a sudden you get a Garrett coleb back you know all you’re you’re you’re looking and you’re saying wow you Luis heel has been really good so I think that’s a huge factor for this race but at the end of the day you know the the Yankees have been playing some great baseball but the the Oriol are are the real deal I mean gunar Henderson is an absolute star adley rushman is an absolute star I mean these guys and abing adding Corbin Burns in this that rotation I think is taken them to another level too so at the end of the day health will be whoever wins that race can no can which team can stay the healthiest especially your Superstar players coming down the stretch uh you can hear them and see them on the MLB Network and you can catch him on the mayor’s office podcast my favorite teammate there you go Sean Casey thanks for do major Le and he does tell me that major leagues or minor leagues absolutely or winter ball or College Park Park you were one of my favorites too brother I love you man I don’t let anyone say you were a bad teammate take care Sean be see all right Sean Casey of the M Network in the mayor’s office what if I’m the one saying it about myself minor leagues I didn’t care did no I’d steal your bat and ask you what you g to do about it I can just imagine I I can imagine yeah I’ve been I’ve been I’m uh I’m uh I’ve been sent down to I’m I’m I’m going up to Louisville who should I check out oh just stay away from Parker he’s a sour old man make was his car how did you do that I did in the big leaks okay somebody made me wash their car once boy who was that I ain’t tell him okay but you make the worst he is the worst teammate I’ve ever heard of I ever heard of in my life didn’t you make I’m not saying it no no no but didn’t but you I write it on his piece of paper you just told me that you made guys wash the car in the I just I was kidding about that we didn’t make enough money I didn’t wash my car didn’t make enough money to have my car washed now but the big leagues when I first came up that was the thing like pick on the rookie oh now now the 20-y olds making 17 more million dollars did they do anything for rookie initiation like you had to get dressed had to get dressed up yeah you carried luggage and you know you have you seen thead things the thing the thing you have to the thing that a lot of teams do now they have to go on coffee runs in their uniforms you know go and get Cofe would never do that now but well didn’t you see Bryce Harper gassing up his car and and that was cuz he’s lazy like that was still my favorite my two favorite spring training stories one noker telling me that I just saw Bryce Harper putting gas in his car at a racetrack uh service station with his shower sandals on full unit and his full unit getting better now the other story is when uh when I was doing the show with Steven Brunton we did the morning show from uh from spring training from from dened and we got there we tried to get there early because parking was limited and we get our stuff set up and everything and I Tom young may have even I don’t know if he knows this story was part of it but so we get our cars parked and we’re taking our stuff up to the Press Box and there’s this I mean I don’t know it was like this Mercedes and it’s it’s it’s you know it’s got the sun I mean it’s just it’s a gorgeous car and it’s a player car so I walk by Brent gives me the album look and it was Chris Archer and he was sleeping he had the seat all the way back and and he was sleeping was like 7 7:30 in the morning yeah he’ basically just driven into the ballpark parked his car and he was snoozing perfect it was I mean great oh yeah it’s wi leagues like there’s nothing good about that no this is this is spring training though this is this is spring training oh i’ never did that in spring training like I you know I it’s funny to me too that you hear of all of these players going to spring training like two months in advance who the when I play there’s no way you can afford that like it’s like where are you guys living like it’s like I understand most of the Jays live in Florida and you know they’re driving to and from their house I get that but if you’re a minor leager and you’re in spring training two months and like what what going Cas to me you said there were a lot of you didn’t know you didn’t know where you were playing two months before the start of Spring train I’ve been on a plane from Winter ball getting text from my agent said you just signed with him what I ain’t going there all right that is it for us uh Blue Jays baseball tomorrow not tonight don’t forget we’re going to be 4 to six starting Tuesday I’m taking tomorrow off Barker will be here Blake Murphy will be with Barker I believe we’ll be on from 2: to 3: on Friday Friday or on Monday and then we’ll be doing the post game I just got to get it I got my load management coming my load management it’s been Blair and Barker on Sportsnet 59 fan in Sportsnet

Blair and Barker reflect on the Blue Jays’ 3-2 loss to the Orioles. Caleb Joseph shares his recent thoughts on Toronto’s play ahead of a series against the Rays. Chad Mottola talks about why great hitters aren’t necessarily the best hitting coaches, Yandy Diaz’s improvement and more! Sean Casey joins the guys to talk about how to approach players about moving down in the lineup when they’re struggling and life in the minors.

———————————————-

0:00 – Jays/Orioles Recap & Bullpen Blues
25:31 – Caleb Joseph Previews Jays/Rays
49:18 – Chad Mottola on Hitting Coaches & Yandy Diaz
1:15:01 – Sean Casey on How to Approach Struggling Hitters

———————————————-

📺 http://sportsnetplus.ca – Stream live on Sportsnet+
💻 http://www.sportsnet.ca – More news & highlights on Sportsnet.ca

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVhibwHk4WKw4leUt6JfRLg
https://www.facebook.com/sportsnet
Tweets by Sportsnet
https://www.instagram.com/sportsnet/

@sportsnet

———————————————-

Sportsnet is Canada’s #1 Sports Network. Your home for the latest highlights, breaking sports news, in-depth athlete interviews, cutting edge podcasts, live streams and much more. Don’t miss a single highlight reel goal, huge home run, exceptional dunk or shocking fight finish. Get inside scoops and industry leading insights with unparalleled access. Get to know a different side of your favourite sports superstars in one of a kind, offbeat comedic interviews. Sportsnet is the one stop shop for the fan inside all of us.

———————————————-

#MLB #Baseball #BlueJays #Orioles #Rays