Kevin Pillar Reacts to Blue Jays Statement Weekend vs Yankees & His First Pitch Fail

Kevin Pillar Reacts to Blue Jays Statement Weekend vs Yankees & His First Pitch Fail

Are you surprised that they’ve put up more runs in the first two games of the playoffs for them than any team ever? I mean, yeah, surprised. A little bit surprised, but the atmosphere, I mean, it’s hard to not be extra motivated playing in Toronto. I mean, I can’t even describe the scene on game one, the scene on game two, but uh they came out swinging it. You know, they’re they’re trying to make a statement, and they made a statement. Hey, KP, what was what was it like? I mean, you’re talking about the atmosphere. What I want to know is what was it like? Cuz if you watch that Vladimir Guerrero grand slam yesterday, it was almost like he knew was happening. He took a 20 change up. It was like he was just sitting there waiting for that 98 in and he did not miss it. When he hit that ball into the I don’t know if it was the second or third deck out there in left field. That place was as loud and as crazy as I’ve seen a baseball stadium in a long time. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it’s probably the second loudest I’ve ever heard it aside from Jose Batista’s, you know, bat flip game, but it was very similar. I mean, it was like this crazy buildup. It was so loud. He took the pitch, you know, it was really loud and then there’s this moment where it just gets really silent right as the pitch is coming in. You hear the sound of the bat and then it just explodes and then it went on forever and ever and ever. And it was one of the best scenes that I had seen in baseball in a long time. that and you know what what they did for Trey Ya Savage when he came out of the dugout. Both curtain calls were just electric. I mean the decibel levels were you know into the 110s. It was just insane. And um you know from first pitch there was a little moment there when they got up a little bit and um it it turned into a little bit of a party there. You could tell people like were able to exhale and just kind of enjoy the game a little bit. Blue Jays did a great job of just trying to get some guys in the game that, you know, maybe hadn’t pitched in the bull uh in in the playoffs yet. Trying to keep guys fresh in the bullpin. The Yankees did a good job of getting a little bit of momentum maybe for for game tomorrow, but ultimately it was just a dominating two days performance by the Blue Jays. What’ you see from Trey Savage? Were you able to see like field level from him? Because from from TV level, it looks like it looks like a creative player. Dude, it’s it’s it’s crazy. I mean, I didn’t get a chance to go down there on field level. I was up in the press press box. Eventually, I went down to the the Sportsnet booth, which is in left center field, right near where Vlady hit his home run. They have some better TV set up there, but I I needed to watch it from like a fan’s perspective at home because I just couldn’t make sense of how awful the swings were on on all of his pitches. I’ve never seen a pitching performance like that um especially from a 22 year old kid um with three starts. And the bigger story going into it was what he had said going into that start is he was built for this moment. And I’m thinking this could go one of two ways. Either this kid really knows he’s built for the moment or he put his foot in his mouth. But after what I saw yesterday, um it’s got to be one of the best pitching performances I’ve ever ever seen. um you know, lives. KP, I mean, you’re super fresh out of the game. You were playing baseball earlier this season in the major leagues. How do you prepare for someone so unique like that? There was some news about how the Yankees love the Trac system, which many teams use to simulate pitches as a pitching machine, right? That simulates the arm angle and the pitch spin, velocity, etc. they can’t bring that on the road and they didn’t have time to prepare for that with you Savage as they went three games with the Red Sox. Do you think that would have helped or is this dude just so nasty and so different that the first time you see him for an opposition it’s it’s really difficult? Yeah, I no doubt in my mind it would have helped, but I mean this was one of my talking points uh a pregame is you can only do so much to prepare for a guy. You have the traject, you have the spreadsheets, you have the video. I gave an example of opening day this year. I was facing Garrett Crochet. I was at home. I knew I was facing him for a whole week. I watched all the video. We had all the meetings. I had all the uh information. I had toject. Nothing prepared me for what I actually saw when I got in the box. And I was saying it was going to be a challenge for the Yankees hitters. At least the first time through the order. I I felt like they were going to be a little bit more passive. They needed to actually pick up that funky arm action. They need to see some uh pitches off of him. try to pick up that release point. Um, they could have had anything uh and everything. I don’t think anything was gonna prepare him for for what they got yesterday. KP talking about Trey Savage just looks so different. I I said it’s kind of like remember Josh Coleman. I don’t know if you played against him or faced him kind of he kind of but he threw 85. This guy throws 95 plus with a nasty split. Coleman was like, you know, kind of the high fast ball before it was cool and he had a little change up, but this dude is legit 95 plus with that split finger. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anybody, and I don’t care what machine you have until you actually step in the box and see it. You saw the Yankees yesterday, they had no answer for especially his split finger. It’s It’s probably the best split finger I’ve seen a guy throw in a long, long time. Yeah. I mean, as you know, I mean, I’m recently out of the game. You’re not that far removed. I mean, stuff is stuff. Everyone has great stuff. It’s like what really separates guys at, you know, at this level. You’re splitting hairs. When you do get a guy with the uniqueness of Treya Savage, the uniqueness of like a Garrett Crochet, that’s what makes him super elite. And obviously, this kid has the intangibles, too. He has the confidence. He has the belief in himself. He was able to kind of control his heartbeat. you know, we were s there was a big conversation um you know, locally here about when when John Schneider came out and announced him as a game two starter and you know, there were some people kind of uh you know, second questioning that you know, he’s 22 years old. Um is he built for this moment? Um three major league starts and from a player’s perspective, I kept trying to remind people is they’re not putting him in there because of his stuff. They know the type of human being. They know the type of competitor. There’s a reason they brought him up earlier in this year. It was for this moment. They knew who they were getting when they drafted him. That he was built for moments like this and he went out and proved it yesterday. The amount of runs that have been scored, I get it. Two teams that score a lot of runs, but seeing some of the balls that were flying out, Ernie Clement front footing, one handing a ball, do you feel like the ball is traveling different? And if they have to come back to Toronto and the roof is closed, does that change it or is there just is it just the playoff adrenaline that’s making some of these balls go out? I mean, the conspiracy theorist me say the balls are a little bit different, too. But I mean, the the roof being opening was definitely a big factor. It was a conversation. It was something that I mean, the weather couldn’t be any better here. So thankfully that they opened it up, but there was a a back and forth between Major League Baseball and uh the Toronto Blue Jays, you know, kind of begging them for it to be open because the weather was so nice. But if you would have asked anyone who that potentially would have favored, people would have said the Yankees. You know, that’s a team that’s kind of reliant on the home run a little bit more, slug a little bit more than the Blue Jays. But um yeah, I mean I the joke was with the Ernie Clement home run, I was like, if you only had to hit at 93 or 94, maybe I could have played a little bit longer to get one out. But um it it it’s the the Blue Jays offense just I mean I I I’m almost at a loss for words. You know, I think what the hitting coaches has and that’s kind of I think the X factor kind of behind the closed doors. I haven’t yet to have that conversation with him. I ran into him in the hallways, but I really kind of want to know like the culture’s completely changed here. Guys have bought into kind of playing old school baseball like being tough outs being okay. Um, you know, I I think we always talk about trying to be so perfect in the batters box, and it’s so difficult to be perfect. I think what they’ve done a good job is here are your strengths. If you’re going to chase, chase in the area of those strengths. Don’t chase somewhere where you’re not going to be able to like handle the ball or do some damage, but they’re every guy that goes up to the plate has a very distinct plan of passing it to the next guy, making it hard on the pitcher to get you out. Um, and some mistakes were made. As you continue to just wear out pitchers, mistakes are made. And the Blue Jays did a really good job of getting guys uh on base and making it really tough to pitch around those top four guys in their lineup are the ones that really slug in their lineup. Kind of like AJ mentioned, you know, that at bat goes completely different if there’s a base open and you’re facing facing Vlatty there. But he got into a 20 count. He took that 200 change up and he was looking for one pitch and he got that pitch and didn’t miss it. KP, hold up. Did Kratz just say that the Blue Jays are juicing the balls somehow or the Major League Baseball changed the Blue Jays of not using the humidor or I don’t know, maybe using corkked bats. I’m not sure. Crat is that what you said? Because I swear you said like if you could hit a ball 92 or whatever it was that uh Clement hit, it would you could still play. I said I would still be playing if I could get away with 93 and hit a home run. But, you know, you’ve all you guys all played in the postseason like adrenaline adrenaline too though. Adrenaline is a crazy thing like you know but you know talking about that play too where you know the the the the margins in those games are so fine in the playoffs and like the difference in Ernie Clement like having the ability to you know feel like he can get the ball in the air to any part of the ballpark was really Aaron Judge kind of misplaying that ball down the line. Instead of it being a double it’s a triple. you know that those little, you know, things that happen in playoff games, you know, ultimately change like the outcomes of games. You know, you get that runner at second base, maybe a guy like Ernie Clemens asked to kind of bunt there or have a good team at bat and move the ball the other way. The fact that there was a runner at third base there, you know, he could be ultra aggressive on that curveball and just knowing he had to get the ball up in the air, you know, that wasn’t a swing where he was trying to hit a home run. He just did a really good job of staying through the baseball, getting the ball in the air, spun it the right way, and got rewarded with hitting a home run. But maybe that’s more about the roof being open and, you know, the wind blowing a little bit, but um just one through nine, they’re just such a tough at bat. Uh by the way, I tell you where the balls aren’t juiced and maybe they need to close the roof is in Seattle. I don’t know if you saw the games on air, but the first game I think it was uh was JP Crawford hit one like 114 with 28 degree launch angle in the in the outfielder caught it not even on the warning track. So I don’t know if it’s marine layer or maybe they need to close the roof in Seattle because the ball ain’t going nowhere in Seattle. Yeah, it was a it was a big discussion too like earlier when I was playing in Texas that early on historically that played as a hitter ballpark but guys were complaining about the same stuff. You know, guys are good at understanding like exit velocity and trajectory, launch angle. You know, it should be a home run most of the time and guys were not getting rewarded in Texas. And then we looked it up and, you know, Texas was a top five worst place to hit, but number one in baseball was Seattle. So, they need to figure out something there because um over the recent history there’s been a lot of players that have come in there as free agents and they have really bad years. So there’s there’s something um with how big the stadium is their marine layer, but that’s a place that really needs to get rid of the humidor and uh reward guys for hitting a ball 114. They he should be rounding the bases, celebrating with his teammates instead. It’s just an F8. FTF fam, let’s talk about superpower. Eric Kratz is a proud superpower customer and he’s going to give us more of the personal experience, but I’ll just start it with this. You ever go to the doctor and doc’s just like, “Oh, drink more water. Are you looking for more data, more of a game plan? Superpower does that for you. They give you the experience that athletes get with teams. Lab the lab results came back for me. Now it streamlines everything that I kind of had an idea of, but now it really lets me focus on the things that I’m deficient in, the things that I’m that I that I have good good lab test results from, and I can go in that direction I want to go. nutritional guidance, supplement suggestions, you name it. There’s so much more info to check out at superpower.com. And you can lock in the special $199 price while it lasts after you sign up. They’re going to ask you how you heard about them. Mention FT to support the show. Your biology decoded, your blueprint activated with superpower. What do you think the clubhouse feeling is about the comments that were made from both sides throughout the year? Michael K earlier saying the Blue Jays aren’t a first place team and more recently Buck Martinez saying a very good team because of X Y and Z. What do you think the clubhouse feeling is on that? Because Aaron Boon commented on it so it’s clearly being heard. Yeah, I was more concerned um about the recent comments that Buck Martinez made uh and motivating the Yankees. you know, thinking back to uh the year I was with Atlanta and we won that big game too and things had come out about Orlando RCA, you know, kind of poking fun at Bryce Harper, you know, it was it got blown up. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but it became bulletin board material and the player Bryce Harper was and then the player he was after uh being that little extra motivated was really the biggest difference in the series. And I was very concerned um for the Blue Jays and the Yankees using that as extra motivation. I think the other way around um I think the stuff that Michael Kay had said was, you know, so far removed that, you know, you could use it as motivation a little bit, but it wasn’t, you know, today’s news. I I thought today’s news was going to really uh wake a sleeping giant. The fact that Aaron Boone commented on it meant that not only did he hear it, but his players had heard it. But um you got to be careful in these situations. You don’t want to give the other team extra motivation. But on that note, this is where I was kind of thinking last night with everything that happened. I was in a very similar situation the Yankees were in when I was with the Blue Jays here in 2015. We lost both games and ultimately we we came back and won that series. I’m thinking how the media is playing a factor in this. When I was with Toronto, still the sense from the media was not that uh it was over by any means, but there was still kind of this motivational uh they left this window open for us a little bit. I’m wondering what it’s like being in the New York Yankees clubhouse yesterday after going down O2 and just knowing how difficult the media can be in New York. um if they’re able to kind of come back from this. Um that’s kind of the thing I’m going to look forward to getting to New York tomorrow, kind of listening and kind of navigating um you know what is said, what’s kind of the feel in the Yankees clubhouse and if they’re able to really come back from this. KP, who’s the who are the best athletes on a baseball field? Uh the shorts stop and the center fielder typically. Okay, because I I was going to say catcher because I saw two first pitches this weekend from the Blue Jays. One of them was money from a catcher, Russell Martin, and one of them from an outfielder couldn’t make it that far. So, I don’t know what happened to your arm in the last, you know, nine to 10 months. But the fact that you can’t throw a first pitch actually is kind of embarrassing for the foul territory family because we’ve all done them and we’ve all thrown strikes and then there’s this like what happened? What happened was um I was Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. I’m I’m gonna step back real quick. Right. I just got done playing. I just got done playing. I’m walking around the stadium. Everyone’s like, “Man, you look great. You could still play.” And I just wanted to remind everyone there’s a reason I got released and there’s a reason even though I look like I could play. I can’t do it anymore. And I was just I was letting everyone know I was I was I was closing the door. I was I was closing the the yearbook. I’m letting everyone know I don’t got it anymore. I may look the part, but I can’t play. So, uh, is it as embarrassing as it was? Um, I’ll tell you, I’ve never been so damn nervous in my whole life. I’ll be honest with you, I was I was like I like I had known about it for a week and I was like really excited to do it. I did the show. I watched Russ do it and honestly I was a little bit pissed that Russ just fired one in there like he had been playing his whole damn life. Like he had never stopped playing, right? And then I’m down in there, they do this whole thing, I walk out and uh I mean it was a top 10 moment of my life going out there. But I get on the mound, my legs are shaking. the baseball feels like a a balloon. Like it’s got no weight to it and I’m like if you know maybe I can just float it in there. Um but damn. Yeah, it was it was a little embarrassing. It was a little embarrassing. I’m not going to lie. I mean it’s all about how you start your day. And you clearly showed us just now if you want to have success, you’re not starting your day off well. Make your bed one time. This isn’t we’re not we’re not on the MLB network here. This is foul territory. Get your bed in order as soon as you wake up. It looks trash. That is trash. And then you would have thrown a first pitch strike. All right, rookie. Hey, did you also when you threw out your first pitch, were you wearing full Were you wearing full tux, full full suit attire? I was going to say your It looked like a European cut on your tux because that was tight. It was tight. It was tight. You know, the the joke I kept telling everyone is, you know, I never got my signing day. I never got draft day. So, like wearing the suit with the jersey over is like, “Yeah, I finally made it. I finally made it.” That’s what it That’s what it looks like. But yeah, that thing was tight. I’m not going to lie. Are those joggers? That’s a tailored suit, my friend. Wow. Well, so embarrassed. 125 tailored suit. Okay. Hey, we’ll have a talk about suits on the air and and we’ll we’ll we’ll discuss. I can do a question. Hey, I have a question for you. And obviously we’re in much different positions in terms of media, but I I I can’t go I I can’t find it within myself to to go inside the clubhouse. How long did that take you to kind of feel and I your responsibility is a little bit different than mine, but you know, I feel like I can’t cross that line yet. How long does it take you to feel like uh you should go in there? You know, you feel comfortable going in there? I listen I’ve been doing this for a long even listen I was doing this when I was playing KP in 2011 was the first time I did this and it was we’re in the postseason we’re in the Tigers were in the playoffs and I’m doing the Tigers and I was in the AL Central I’m going in there having meetings with Jim Leland who manages the Tigers and I’m playing against him 19 times a year and he’s giving me secrets and I look at him I go hey Humpernick’s his nickname like hey Humph uh you know that I still play right he goes yeah you’re too stupid to remember anything I say anyway so don’t worry about it right and then I walk in there and I’m Justin Verlander, Mickey Cabrera, all these guys who I just played 20 times a year before and they’re looking at me and to this day I tell people this all the time. It’s still awkward as hell for me to walk in the clubhouse. Not because I don’t know the guys because because of foul territory, I’m very fortunate. I get to know a lot of these guys and they know me from foul territory and from Fox, but it’s still awkward. Like I I’m like, “All right, I I I’m in here and I have to do it, but I also am like, can we get out of here? I just need to talk to one person.” It’s like I want to just get out. I want to get out because I know it’s I’m also I’m also like so close removed that like I know a lot of these guys like I played with a lot of these guys and my my big thing is one I don’t really have to be in there for what I’m doing. It would be like nice just for me to kind of like learn some stuff as I maybe continue to progress in this industry, but I also don’t want someone to feel obligated to like come over and say hi. Because if I was in their position and I was still playing and there was someone part of the media that was right out of the game that I knew, you kind of feel obligated to at least go say hi, see how they’re doing and stuff, you know? So, I I part of me wants to kind of just do go into the Yankee site because I’ve never been in there and I kind of just maybe want to get kind of a feel for what it what it looks like and what it kind of feels like to kind of help me with what I’m supposed to be kind of reporting on, but um it’s been hard for me to kind of cross that line. Listen, yesterday I’ll use this. I told this on the air yesterday. We were Scoo was pitching and obviously I know Scooble, we’ve had him on the show. I’ve talked to him a million times. He’s great. He’s pitching yesterday. I’m in the Tigers clubhouse and he’s walking right at me and I make I try to go up to guys and say hi just say hi good luck have a great show you know bo great game Bo Scuba walks up to me and he’s you know and I’m like some guys starting pitchers are so like I can’t talk to you so he walks up to me smiles and goes hey and sticks out his fist and gives me a fist bump and I’m like hey have a great game and then I was like because I don’t want you know you know starting pitchers you don’t want to lock their eyes so some guys make it easy some guys don’t but just be yourself man like enjoy it and go in the Yankees clubhouse because it’s kind Cool. Actually, and their crats will tell you it’s cool. Kratz, is it worth seeing? It’s worth seeing. It’s one of the best ones for sure. They did it. They did it very pro style. You’ll see. Yeah, that might be that might be the easier start of like a place that I didn’t play. I know guys there, but like it’s still kind of personal like going into like the Blue Jays clubhouse. I know a lot of the staff, the players obviously a lot of turnover, but maybe that would be a good place to start tomorrow. Yeah, it can be scary, but yeah, once you jump in there, um, at least take a peek. Comfortable. Yeah. Yeah. Not too comfortable. Do not sit on the couch. Not amazing. Hey, would you would you would you advise like the best way? Walk in and just go straight to the refrigerator, pull out like a Gatorade or a water and then and then go sit in judge’s chair. Sit in judge’s chair. didn’t judge his put your feet up and then do and then do that be like go’s shirt when he come when he comes back from the cage I’m just sitting in his chair feet up yeah he would love that and then immediately ask him for a signed bat exactly game jersey when you’re done yeah go up to each starting pitcher and just be like what’s up just wanted to say hello who’s starting tomorrow, just go up to uh go up to uh who’s starting tomorrow and just Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He’ll love that. Yeah. Just be like, “Oh, I love following your your wife on Twitter. She always like posts about your starts. Like, what do you think she’s going to say after this one today?” All right. Um, we’re off the rails.

Kevin Pillar joins Foul Territory to talk about the Toronto Blue Jays dominant ALDS start against the New York Yankees, Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s grand slam that shook Rogers Centre, and rookie Trey Yesavage’s electric Game 2 performance that left New York hitters stunned. KP gives his take on how Toronto’s lineup has changed its approach, what makes Yesavage’s stuff so unique, and how the Yankees can respond heading back home. He also shares what it was like throwing out the first pitch and talks about what it was like being back in Toronto for one of the loudest playoff atmospheres in baseball.

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