Chicago White Sox Director of Player Development (and Barker’s former teammate!) Paul Janish discusses how his time as a player has helped him transition to management. Davis Schneider joins the show to talk about his move to the lead-off spot and much more. Jeff Passan comments on Paul Skenes, Angel Hernandez and fact-checks previous trivia questions from the show.
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0:00 – Jays/White Sox
21:26 – Paul Janish on His Transition to Management
48:44 – Davis Schneider on Moving to the Lead-off Spot & More!
1:12:04 – Jeff Passan on Paul Skenes, Angel Hernandez and Trivia Questions
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don’t you hate it when it sneaks up on you like that that didn’t sneak up on me I wasn’t ready Mar’s ready I was busy talking you are a leader flen Barker what M we didn’t have to stay up late to do blue J socks I have no I have no excuse for not being for not being ready hey did you know that GAR crochet got thrown out of that game last night how how for uh busting the umpire’s you know what to about the rain delay he was he was he was uh it was in newspapers Garrett crochet ejected during the rain delay serly the 1 hour and 10-minute rain delay in the in the ninth inning is that the worst organization in baseball it’s not their fault it’s not their fault about what the rain delay it’s got nothing why would you argue then given I think he was giving him crap for saying thanks for waiting that long he I mean I don’t know I haven’t heard an interview with him but he was he was busting on him anyhow he got ejected from the game I thought was kind of funny sorry it’s Welling it is amazing when you’re when you’re having a decent year what you say right well any pares it is just saying so the Jays won 72 yesterday the uh third and final game of the series is tonight 740 first pitch looks like it should be okay the Jay’s lineup is as follows it could be a sweep tonight no not it better not be could I mean that’s a doublea team I let’s not lie with the white socks oh man I see what you did there yeah yes the white socks I had the J’s line up here at some point I don’t think there’s anything I don’t think there’s any big deal in the Jay’s lineup otherwise I wouldn’t noticed something about it Kirk’s play Kirk’s play Dan right Danny’s DH or Turner let me see here here we go here we go Schneider varo Guerrero bashet Turner Springer Kirk ikf Kier Meer so no Jansen Dan’s got the day off ahead of an off day tomorrow there you go I mean load management I would reckon you win a couple of games in a row and you start sitting your the shoot don’t do it don’t ever do it Alec monoa gets a start tonight for the Jays against Chris flexon again a 740 first pitch will be doing Blue Jays talk providing they don’t you know drag it past midnight yeah flex’s giving up like a who in 17 earnies his last three starts like I mean just that bodess six scoreless don’t I’m just gonna say we I mean we don’t even need to we don’t even need to say that anymore it’s like anytime you have a crap picture we just mention what they’ve done lately and we say we automatically think boy he’s got the JS right where he want them we got to stop doing that we got to stop doing yeah we have to stop it’s going to be a long summer if we keep doing it’s going to be a long summer lefties are hitting 265 righties are hitting 260 there you go so so there you go we it’s a good time to get healthy it’s definitely a good time to get healthy Uh Kevin Gosman last night six Innings four hits three strikeouts one walk uh continuing at least according to Kevin Gosman to sort of return to the I guess you could call it the Mechanical Comfort Zone that uh he’s he’s trying he’s trying to reach David Schneider had another good night at the plate and by the way David Schneider joins us at 5:00 three for four with a run three ribbies and Davis Schneider kind of got the game going last night two run double to make it three nothing in the second inning uh we saw Chad green come back get a clean inning in his return no indication yet as to whether or not the Jays will make another roster move uh to get bow and Francis I wouldn’t imagine they do it before the game tonight he pitched yesterday so with tomorrow’s off day I would imagine you’d maybe wait until Friday it sounded like it went really well yep it sounded like it went really well uh and and of course you know yesterday that uh that uh Eric Swanson was options so another move would have to be made if I just use I just wonder where you’d use bow and Francis like where where where you putting him like when you put him in the pan what what’s his role like you got to have a reason for bringing a guy on the on the roster well let’s find out let’s see what Alec Manoa does tonight there you go if Alec Manoa bounces back tonight yeah then uh then it’s a valid question if Alec Manoa doesn’t bounce back tonight what did he go four and 2/3 his velocity was down his last start in his four Seer if he doesn’t bounce back tonight then maybe you need bow and Francis more than you think you don’t have to bring him up yeah I know they’ve been working on on manoa’s finishing over his front side I know that’s a big deal for him he falls too much off to the first base side like we see that right it’s the it’s the instead of the arm finishing out front like that if you’re watching on TV instead of this right when the ball goes side to side your hand goes across your body and stay long out in front of your body where you can finish pitches slider tunneling longer you’ll throw hard you know you won’t miss so much arm side you won’t have those non-competitive pitches as much as you do when you fall off and your arm has sort of got an alligator look to it right it’s by your face and it’s finishing over towards the first base Dugout so I know they’ve been working really hard on that and hopefully throw more strike ones he gets ahead he can tunnel that slider consistently have a a a good fast ball I mean work through this lineup like if anytime to get healthy it’s against this lineup you I don’t want to be mean but man alive that white sock team’s a tough watch like they really are not very they are not good like they you are what your record says you are huh they’re not a good team did you uh happen by the way to catch the first game uh today of that pirates Detroit game when does that go the bottom o they just started it right now don’t no pitching yeah yeah day started it right now SK day yeah um yeah I just uh that means the Blue Jays are missing him I mean that’s the most important part about all that they missing him they’re missing Jared Jones too yeah so that is a uh yeah that’s obviously a when the next four you’re at 500 that’s that’s how you’re thinking about this yeah I mean that’s kind of where we are you know they’ve talked about you know sort of the proverbial tiet one one game at a time thing which in this case I think actually makes a great deal and you’re getting the Orioles and the Brewers and the Guardians you sprinkle in the A’s in there like you getting some teams that you’re going to have to do a lot of things right to beat them so this is important next four games for the Blue Jays you uh made our producer Mark PFO do a little extra work today you wanted to talk about the Blue Jays hitting stats this season well not no it’s not really they let me finish where they have a runner on third base with less than two outs yeah well CU we’ve been seeing a lot of of situational hitting where you can get those those cheap runs where you don’t have to have a hit and for whatever reason the approaches with that situation when it comes about no matter who it is is hasn’t been very good and just some of those numbers right they’re 20 for 77 that the 20 hits ranks 27th in baseball their average is 260 that’s 29th in baseball they have 13 sack flies that’s tied for 18th in baseball they have seven extra base hits with a runner at third and less than two outs like that’s tied for 18th in baseball like again it’s it’s the little things when when you’re you know not great throughout your entire lineup it’s those situations where you can get some cheap runs some add-on runs like John Snyder always you know says when he when he’s doing his little scrum after the game it’s just those little things right it’s those where don’t hit into a double play Swing at a better pitch you know don’t over swing earlier in the count trying to hit a three-run homer instead of just putting the ball and play hard the air to the big part of the field to drive in that runner at third you know slow your heart rate down a little bit those are the little things right that’s very frustrating to watch if you know you’re a coach on this team and and you know you preach certain things and then you go watch your team your lineup do this the opposite of what you’re trying to preach so you know it’s it’s I think it’s just sort of added on to what the lineup sometimes consistently is not doing and that’s the frustrating part is you know what if you did have a couple other guys who you know run producing can can look many different ways and I think those are one of the situations where the guy that walks to the plate with the runner at third and less than two outs just look at where the defense is at right know what that guy’s trying to throw you to get you out know what he throws with two strikes know how hard he throws like it’s just the little things that getting very athletic of trying to catch a ball out front and you can understand if you’re a Jays fan how frustrating that look I know whenever I watch that I’m very frustrated I took pride in that you know again I wasn’t the best of big Leaguers but if I wanted to stay in the big leagues situations like that so it’s just one of those things where I noticed that last night where you know big boy was you know first baseman come up touting around swing a pitch he probably shouldn’t have swung at because he over swung a pitch before that it’s just yeah that’s little things like that I think it’s frustrating again it’s get to 500 then you’re facing good teams you may not have to do this against a doublea team like the white socks but you’re going to have to do it against the you know the Brewers and the Guardians and you know the Orioles obviously so just little things like that if they clean up they can be a better team they can help the guy stand on the mound take a little breath exhale every pitch doesn’t act like it’s the seventh game of the World Series yeah if you’re wondering we were talking about a little earlier Jared Jones pitch today they had a double header Detroit in Pittsburg and uh Jared Jones Lost eight nothing he of course is one of the uh uh one of the real exciting prospects he lost in a matchup with uh Terk scoo who’s making an early season Run for the ALS sa young and Paul SK is going in the second game of that Series right now but the reason I mentioned the Pirates of course is the Pirates are coming in town for three games after tomorrow’s off day and um the Jays do miss they’re two front end start it’s lined up it’s lined up for them to get to 500 play some good baseball get some good pitching get a timely hit when they need it you know get themselves out David Schneider looks like he’s turned the corner you’re it’s a lot of fun to watch him hit right maybe some other guys maybe Turner you you look for a ball down it’s it’s sort of ingame adjustments know that A team’s trying to get you out with elevated hard stuff don’t swing at it until you have to swing at hopefully guys that are you know not going so well can start going well helping out the guys who are consistently having that competitive at bat and maybe they can string together some things here gain some confidence and maybe their gym will go out and help them out a little bit and bring in another bat maybe maybe asking too much uh don’t ask difficult don’t ask me difficult questions here don’t ask me difficult questions too early that so I’m G to ask you this in all honesty now David Schneider this has been been going for a while been going for a while um if you look at his numbers since he’s been called up yeah um there I mean he’s he’s been a very not not just good he’s been a very good major one of the best in theer one of the best in the americ League absolutely yeah are we at a point where we stop being surprised by that I think so you know what I’m you know what I’m most surprised about is how he’s willing to make an adjustment whenever like you if you notice we’ve seen the toe tap from him we’ve seen the leg kick from him we’ve seen the taller posture which is what we’re seeing now from him we’ve seen the more bent knee approach from him we’ve seen them all day after day it’s not like he’s married to if I’m doing it this day I got to do it three or four days in a row uh if what if I show up that day in batting practice and I don’t like this I’m G to stand taller if I don’t like it like last night he looked to me like he had a little bit more Bend at the knees like you know you haven’t seen a guy before you don’t know which way it’s moving you don’t know the situation of the game when you walk up it’s like you’re trying to hit a baseball hard right he’s got a little hitch with his hands that he’s trying to calm down you know not eliminate that’s to do is to eliminate that but it’s just how he’s willing to you know it’s like the vlat thing right it’s just it’s just so minor little move he’s made moving around the Batters box and this dude doesn’t care he’ll kick it to his ear if he has to it’s just that’s a breath of fresh air to watch a guy actually not care however he needs to get it done he’s going to do it I guess it really I guess it really surprises me is the extra base pop you know he’s played 82 games now over two years so a little more than half season we’re talking about a guy with 25 doubles got one triple hit that last year 14 home runs 47 RBI so roughly 162 game average for David Schneider huh 49 doubles 28 homers 93 ribbies a 914 Ops a 156 Ops plus which relative to what other hitters are doing in baseball he’s really good yeah if you look if you look too he’s sitting a little over 260 off the fastball sitting a little overs 260 off the breaking ball like he doesn’t really have a true weakness right and he goes up every time he talks to anybody who wants to ask he goes up and sits fastball like I’m going to look for that I’m going get it athletic I’m going to get my foot down the leg kick allows me to repeat you know just me being on time and balanced and allowing my hands to sort of stay in the same slot not move below the baseball like it’s just little things like that which allow him to you know sort of self-correct in swing right if I’m looking for a fast ball away he hangs a slider it’s middle end because I’m athletic and I got a lot of bat speed I can pull my hands inside the baseball and I can hit that ball in the air to the pull side and I can be rewarded for it because of all the work and just the willingness to do whatever that is what’s the coolest part out the list right is he made it to the big leagues doing it one way and then they made an adjustment now he’s just sort of okay you want to do that all right I’ll combat that with whatever I have to do to be the best David Schneider I can possibly be I mean it’s something else and he’s forced the blue Jas hands to basically say dude your name’s the line of every day we’re either going to put you at second or put you at left or we’re going to DH it like you’re in there basically every single day and again coming from basically somebody who if you fell on him a year and a half ago you’d have no idea who he was like no no idea who he was which is just the this is the absolute coolest thing in the world so it’s right he’s a remote stopper now well and it’s I see us for me it’s a uh you know it’s a great organizational Story I mean we’ve talked about how the minor league system is not a lot of people in baseball have a lot of great things to say about the Blue Jays minor league system let’s be clear it’s it’s real good now routinely ranked amongst the the worst in baseball W bottom me yeah I mean I mean potato po exactly there you go uh but here a guy they drafted they developed and you’re absolutely right he is it it’s funny because I think a lot of a lot of people are happy to see this for a variety of reasons but I think it’s also there there was a feeling there was a sentiment among the fan amongst the fan base for a long time that they had to move David Schneider up in the order and for a while I kind of thought okay you this is Toronto Toronto falls in love with guys I mean they just do they fell in love with John McDonald they fell in love with moori kaaki now I’m not I’m I’m that’s just it’s Toronto it and May and they probably do it in other cities too you underdogs you know you you you glom onto those guys but here here it’s it’s kind of a it’s a it’s a Toronto thing he earned it I it’s well and and and that’s my point is he’s not flavor of the month NOP he’s not only has he earned this job but I think maybe more importantly I don’t know how you feel about it but I think maybe more importantly he’s earned the right to scuffle a little bit out of the leadoff spot and stay up there yeah I mean what other option do they have I mean if Say Say Bo is a little sporadic all over the place with approach and and you know the foam boo thing what I mean by that is everything’s happening in a very small window right mechanically and just because it’s all moving around in all kinds of different parts still got to happen in that little phone booth right it can’t get outside of it that allows him to be able to use his hands and stay inside the baseball and ball go where he wants to go that’s what I mean by the phone booth so yeah look I I I I just think sometimes the the you have to earn and be in certain situations that dictate where your manager’s going to put you and Jeff we talk about this all the time even guys choking up how sometimes it’s surprising that they do it because it’s odd it’s hard it’s it’s a weird feeling this dude does things after every pitch like it’s just a just because one thing’s not feeling well you just change it up to give yourself a better chance of hitting a baseball hard because of how that TR dude’s trying to get you out you know again it’s kind of cool and I I’ll ask you this you need you need wanted bat right now right now Absol wow yeah I mean you could throw his name in the Hat oh I would throw I mean it’s a small hat it’s a I don’t it’s I was GNA say I don’t need a hat I I don’t need a hat I don’t need a hat to he’s right there yeah he is I he’s right there you know I was thinking vlad’s been in a bit of a heater right now but ask me this I need to drive a I need to drive a guy in oh yeah not at second gu at first you know next said big part of the field can pull off speed pitch David Schneider would be one Janna would be two then maybe bashet and then Guerrero I mean Danny Danny sort of cooled off a little bit right you can you know add and subtract they’re starting to pull the string they’re you know they’re they’re starting to make better pitches against him right that’s what happens when you’re you’re hot you got a game plan against him you’ve been moved up in the order they paid a little bit more attention to you but look I mean this it’s you know again it’s like the Dalton V thing Dalton V’s made enough a adjustments that you know he’s earned the the lead in homers and RB on the team because of the the mental adjustments the the mechanical adjustments and just saying basically this who I am I’m going to try and be this until you force me to do something else and right now it’s sort of working out for both guys and it’s again I don’t like to say they’re good stories but man alive like I just you go back to that David Schneider thing and I’ll say this I I know a lot about the Blue Jays a year and a half ago you fall on and you’d had to ask him what his name was and I just think that’s the coolest part of it is now you must have him in your lineup and you’re okay with him playing Left Field and you don’t hold your breath when a Ball’s hit to him in the Outfield and I mean it’s just again you you hear him talk about Matt Haag and the adjustments they make and you know how it’s just refining the hand movement right it’s the if it goes lower I don’t likey the ball up I got to keep the hands up to be allowed to to sort of keep the barrel on the same plane to at least give myself a chance that’s what it’s all about you’re not always going to hit it cuz not everybody can hit everything but at least you can give yourself a chance so you give everybody credit like everybody can throw their hat in the in the in the ring here and sort of take credit for what’s going on with a couple of guys on that team David Schneider will join us at 5 o’cl from Guaranteed Rate field we also have a chance for you to see the Jays and Orioles at the Rogers Center next week courtesy of our ticket trivia um and Paul yanish the director of Player Development with the Chicago White Socks he’ll join us in a few minutes as well we may have a special guest at 530 we’re waiting for fingers crossed it’d be fun if we could get this I hope so earn in it you could say I’m not going to give away but you could say if da if David Schneider wanted a template yeah this guy we’re talking about you give this guy a call ask ask him how I did it ask ask him how he maintained it yeah that’s uh pretty cool story hopefully we get him on the air and hopefully we get him on we’ll get him on at some point in the next two days but hopefully we get them on uh we are going to take a break and when we come back we will be joined by a former teammate of Kevin barkers of course what would a day be without a former teammate of Kevin barers Paul yanish is director of Player Development with the Chicago White Socks he’ll join us next it’s Blen Barker on sportset 590 the fan and sportset first pit of flight 74 tonight from Guaranteed Rate field as the Jays go for the sweep against the Chicago White sa it’ll be Alec Mano on the mount Chris flexon tomorrow is an off day although the Jays are unveiling their City connect jerseys tomorrow so I can’t wait yeah it should be cool it’ll be it’ll be I mean I don’t know what people are going to do when when the jerseys are actually released because there’s an entire cottage industry out there of people making up jerseys and leak jerseys and saying none of that’s true Jeff I I’m just saying that it’s a jersey that’s that’s all it’s it’s a jersey there’s obviously a lot of people with way too much time in their hands yeah way too much time in their hands or just simply not enough to worry about in their lives maybe both any yeah well no tomorrow tomorrow there you go can’t wait excited and uh then Friday the Pittsburgh Pirates are in town and uh starts a little bit of a home stand we’ve got uh tickets to see the Jays and Orioles next week we’ll give that away in the 5:00 hour after David Schneider joins us but as we mentioned the uh Jays uh have got a third game tonight against the Chicago White Socks at guaranteed great field you know of course the white socks are I mean I don’t know if you’d say rebuilding are starting to rebuild trying to lay the groundwork I mean they’ve got some pieces the pieces don’t stay healthy they’re at the beginning I but there at uh well you know what we’ll bring in our next guest Paul yanish is director of Player Development with the Chicago White Socks former Barker teammate uh and despite that he’s gone on to have a very successful career as a as a baseball executive Paul thanks for doing this man good to talk to you again yeah good good to hear you guys good to be here and yeah overcoming adversity of of uh playing with Barker never heard anybody well and no that that that’s true it was a good it’s been a good learning experience for me as well I can tell you that much um Paul I’ll just ask you right now what are the white socks like where are the white socks in terms of a development curve or a you know just trying to reestablish themselves where is the organization exactly yeah I mean I think you have turnover in the front office you got a new GM with Chris gets um a couple new assistant GMS they you know hire hire myself on the on on the player development side you know I think it’s it’s evident Chris is is making a push to to try to try to try to acquire some Talent um in the last 12 months you know the minor league system has Gott a lot a lot stronger obviously the major league team struggling up to this point in the season but um yeah to your point about you know rebuilding or whatever term you want to use I I just think it’s one of those things where there’s some assessing going on and and um and at the end of the day you gota you got to try to add Talent where you can and and and evaluate you know who makes sense moving forward and those kinds of things but um but at this point yeah we’re uh it’s exciting to to have you know be part of a regime kind of just getting going and and be on the ground floor with with with a bunch of like-minded people trying to accomplish something Paul how do you dayto day how do you relay messages I’m I’m assuming this is what you did right you relay the message from the people the higher ups to you know the the everyday guys who are trying to grind it out and maybe become a a big leager for the White Soxs how do you do the the translat of the messaging on an everyday basis yeah it’s a good question I think ultimately you know you just try to have first of all consistency of the message right and and to be totally honest bark and you know you and I can sympathize with this it’s it’s it’s a good time to be in the in the in the White Sox development system if you play well you’re going to have the opportunity to advance and and and hopefully get the opportunity to play in the major league so you know from that standpoint it’s it’s kind of a message of of opportunity on on on the deel on the player development side and um you know like like I said it’ be a system to be in right now and if you’re trying to prove yourself to be honest with you Paul when uh when a new general manager takes over or when you know president of baseball operations whatever when that person takes over and obviously their focus has to be on the major league team as well as as well as the minor league system is is is there a noticeable change right away in how business is done in the miners or does it take a while for you know the stuff that’s being talked about at the uh Major League level to percolate down to the minor league level to the coaches and and to the to the you know to the development folks like yourself yeah I think I think like we like we mentioned before it’s it’s first of all you want to have consistency of message I think I think when you get you know the new guys at the top like we have and they hire the guys and put them in place like myself that it’s it’s because they you know we’re all on the same page trying to carry out the the ultimate goal I know Chris has been very very upfront very straightforward with with saying he wants to be more more athletic at the major league level wants to be more versatile defensively and obviously you got a pitch and and those kinds of things so it’s you know there’s you we we we share some philosophical um you know opinions with regards to how you want to how you want to construct on his side of major league roster and then on our side how we want to you know what message do we want to promote and you know the style of play if you will that we wna that we want to have coming through our system to to to be ready to to supplement the major league team when the time comes Paulie how much have has this helped you being a former player you know you going to watch a player and you know you being a former player and seeing and being around really good baseball players how much has this helped you sort of transition to going and looking at a certain thing from a certain player and going man he’s athletic or man he’s got baseball IQ or do da da how much has that helped you you know selfishly I think it helps a lot you know you you and I both you know I think I think that that all all all always look through a player’s lens and I think that there’s there’s some benefit to that when you are evaluating guys and it’s different if you’re talking about a 19 or 20-y old kid you know in the lower levels versus a you know 24 or fivey old guy trying to break into the big leagues right like those are two different things but you know I think it’s a huge benefit per personally and and I think I think in this current landscape you got to understand too there’s there’s there’s a lot of resources that we have in a major league organization you know with regards to you know the analytics team and and things of that nature so you go to you got to we got to put all our hands together but I think when you when you’re talking about a macro view um I I think it’s incredibly beneficial to have had the playing background when when do you know when to start throwing analytics at a player man that’s it’s it’s just it’s it’s a unique question Barky it’s like if if I had you in our system you still wouldn’t be ready for the analytics you know what I mean so it’s uh you every every every player is different man it I think you just gota you gotta you got to trust your staff and that’s something that we talk about honestly it’s it’s it’s a really good question because we talk about that a lot and and you got to be careful giving players more than they need or more than they’re ready for and you know you got to you got to you got to trust your staff be a little bit of a filter and you know we’ve seen it already and and my my background having been at the college level as well and you know dealing with you know a similar age group there’s so much information out there now that you got to be really careful because because the the the players they they kind of they kind of understand it and they they want it but you know there’s there’s certain certain times in which you know that that may or may not be beneficial within a game setting maybe it’s in a in a training setting and I know you guys had I believe the other day you know the power went out and the iPads weren’t there and and some of y’all’s players had said something and I I think that was a a good example of of of understanding look let’s not lose sight of the fact that we got to go out there and and see the baseball and Trust our eyes and Trust our ability so Paul I would imagine though that a lot of a lot of young guys um you know guys whether or not they’ve come through the college ranks or whatever I mean I’m sure if they’ve if they’ve been playing perfect game or whatever they’ve been whatever they’ve been in travel travel teams whatever they’ve probably had some exposure have they not to to maybe not the high level analytics that you’re going to get at uh you know once you join an organization but they probably have some some base understanding of it when they get to the minor leagues don’t they 100% that’s that’s the world that they’re growing up in that that’s what they’re exposed to whether it’s social media Andor you know it’s very difficult for a good young amateur player to grow up somewhere where they don’t have access to a facility that has has this type of data accessible to them so they’re they’re 100% familiar with it it’s just the application of it right like for you know the example if you’re talking about a position player you know trying to understand what a what the metrics of a pitch are whether that’s the in vertical break or or versus the velocity and the perceived velocity it’s just it’s some of those things it’s like if I was talking to bark you know back in in the cage weing Louis together trying to figure out a way to get to Cincinnati you know you talk to each other and and and a lot of times will tell you a story as well if you can compare guys to another guy and things like that at the end of the day that’s what the numbers tell them but we just have to make sure that they’re interpreting it appropriately Paulie how do how do you judge a pitcher is it is it power obviously velocity I’m sure you throw in there or do you look more at pitching I know injuries now all of a sudden are a giant thing and we’ve had front office people on and and they’re trying to make adjustments at the lower levels to get these guys to add and subtract a little bit more not so much of you know you know let it eat for five innings have you seen that in your organization are you guys looking at it a little bit like that or is it still man that velocity is really good that that’ll play at the big league level too yeah you know you you want them all to be big big and strong and BR hard right yeah the uh the nature of it is is is that’s what the game is is rewarding so you got to be careful with with uh with how you present that to guys but your point about health is is really the main thing we want to try to you know we want to try to help guys let their body move the way that it’s supposed to move and everybody’s body is different so like that’s number one where we start try not to try not to put them in counterproductive positions but and I I do think there’s a lot to be said for what you guys are describing I’m going to call pitchability right like there is some add and subtract there is some like hey pay attention to the swings that you’re getting you know the catcher can obviously help a pitcher that that’s a trait that from calling a game can be extremely beneficial but you know at the end of the day the the game is rewarding power stuff and and and that’s what guys are looking for and so you know you just got to you got to use some discretion with in particular on the development side when you’re talking about younger guys that you know their body may not even be fully developed yet right and so there there’s those things to consider but I do think we’re we’re approaching a time where you know some some pitchability you know within the realm of of of some power stuff is is going to be is going to be going to be sought after Paul I wonder when you know when you see a team like the Baltimore Orioles that has so many prospects and they they’re kind of they’re in a situation right now where they’re sort of trying to figure out how you don’t you don’t have guys blocked but you don’t rush guys at the same time of course we saw what they did with Jackson with Jackson holiday having to send him back down look you both you and Kevin play the game you’ve been promoted you’ve been sent back to the miners uh how do you is there any way Paul of doing it right and what I mean by that is how do you go about telling a guy after he’s been brought up to the majors that he may have to go back down to the minors again yeah I mean I I think it’s it’s a moving Target so to answer your question I I don’t know that there’s a way to get it right per se you know we all every organization has their evaluation and you know the Orioles know Jackson holiday better than anybody does right so and and in his defense he never hit a speed bump he played good all the way through the minor leagues and it took him getting to the major leagues before he even hit a speed bump and let’s not lose sight of the fact that he’s doing that at 20 years old right so he’s he’s a little ahead of the curve but um I think I think people lose sight of the fact that the big leagues is hard right and so like we you know we try to do on our side we try to do a good job of of preparing our players you know just as much physically as we do mentally and and understanding like look this this this this ain’t it’s it’s not supposed to be easy you get to the major league you get to play on TV you have the opportunity to make you know good Financial living like that’s that’s a difficult thing to do you got to you got to be you got to have your game right CU nobody body feels bad for you as we talked about when you get to the major leagues but um I don’t think it’s it’s it’s a bad thing though like if if somebody gets to the major leagues and struggles a little bit has to go back down and and then come back again that there there’s a lot of really really good players over the course of the history of our game that have done that and it’s it’s okay right like I I don’t think just not getting it right on that first try it’s it’s um that’s that’s not necessarily a bad thing and I think what we can all agree is that’s going to provide perspective right just more information in the database so that when you come when you come back up that second time that that heart’s beating a little bit slower and you got a little bit more expectation of what’s going on so far in your new gig what’s been the toughest thing I know I’ve talked to you you’ve had to release guys before already in your small little time here doing this hardest thing what’s been the toughest thing where you’ve went home and you had a conversation with yourself man that’s not the easiest thing to do what’s been the toughest for you yeah you know the release thing is is is uh is a big deal right you know we all have experienced that and at some point in time and um you just don’t want to take it lightly so like for me I you know we we’ve got some uh some systems in place to where we try to do the best that we can to include some people on some of those some of those tough decisions so that we don’t we don’t miss anything let hopefully not let anything slip through the cracks and um as we can all sympathize that you know you’re not gonna get them all right like there’s guys that have gotten released have gone to other teams and become All Stars right so um that that for me is is is probably the most difficult thing because it’s in in in the current landscape with you know the reduction of the number numbers in a lot of instances you’re telling a guy he’s never going to play again at least not in Affiliated baseball and um that that’s that’s that’s a tough deal Paul what can you uh what can you tell us about Coulson Montgomery he’s a guy that uh you know the Arizona fall league was very impressed in the Arizona fall league is a short stop I think he’s like 63 230 225 um is he going to stay at Short Stop is he a guy that you that may end up having to move off just just because of his size how and and how would you approach that as a as as a former infielder how would you approach making that decision as to whether or not maybe not specifically to Coulson but whether or not it’s time to quote unquote move a guy to another position yeah it’s um coulson’s a you know really talented kid he’s um same similar to kind of what we’re talking about Jackson he’s had a lot of success in the minor leagues and you know it’s he he’s he’s in in Triple A right now he got off to a relatively slow start you know he would tell you the same thing and he’s just kind of getting his feet on the ground and starting to get going hopefully offensively but um you know the position thing’s tough man I I think at the end of the day you got to let them play and you got to let them prove that they can’t do it before we decide that they can’t you know you got there’s certain guys that you know there’s a knack for playing in the middle of the field right and so like over the course of time you you develop you know some instincts and some awareness to you know with certain guys pitching vers certain guys hitting maybe you don’t have the most range you know via stat cast but you still get to the same amount of baseballs I played with a guy named JJ Hardy who won some gold gloves who you know by the by the letter of the law he wasn’t like the fastest quickest guy but he converted more ball more ground ball stops than than a lot of guys in a lot of years so I just think you got to take those things into consideration you got let him play and and coulson’s young man he’s again just getting going super talented you know he’s we’re just hoping that kind of to the conversation we were just have having when when he gets to the big leagues he’s there to stay and and ready to play there every every day Paul really good of you to join us to talk to you again congratulations buddy man keep it going man I appreciate it congrats you guys good good to be here I’ll be again hopefully we’ll do it again absolutely thanks buddy see you soon see you Paul Yannis is director of Player Development with Chicago white sock and I always like to tell the story uh Derek Jeter in his first year had so many errors that the Yankees there were some in the Yankees organization that wanted to move him to center field yeah and Brian casman will tell you the story about how I mean there were some there were some fights in that organization a lot of the Player Development people wanted him MH out yeah in Center they just didn’t think he was going to be a good defensive shortstop I mean you know we could there’s a whole cottage industry of criticizing Derek Jeter Derek Jeter’s defense especially he’s a got older but he had a pretty good career as a short stop in the Hall of Fame play make it yeah that’s it yeah and you know it’s um yeah it’s it is a difficult the whole idea and the Jays face the same thing I don’t think you ever you never crossed paths with Josh Phelps did you no I don’t think so big big catcher I I want to say it was 64 65 maybe a little maybe around there and and there was and I think he ended up playing DH and and and and playing for base cuz the thought was he was just a little too big to be a catcher yeah and um I mean you see that it’s It’s Not Unusual you know and then you look at what is it the San Diego Padres opening day they started a line up with nine converted Short Stops yeah right or eight guys were converted Short Stops yeah uh so I it’s always it always has kind of intrigued me but when you decide to take a player who was drafted at a certain position and I mean it’s one thing to say we want you to play a little bit of second he want you to play a little bit of third he wants you to be versatile okay yeah yeah fine versatility is great but another thing to actually say to a guy we might want to move you across the diamond or maybe we want to move you into the Outfield that’s yeah the benefit is he’s with the white socks I mean he’s got time like they’re Paul’s point was great if hey if if you’re if you’re a minor leager that’s a good organization to be in right now absolutely might get look you can well you can impress quick like they’re going to you know they’re going to advance guys quicker because they want to be somewhat relevant at the big league level and not be in embarrassment like they are now like right now that that’s I it’s it is truly amazing how a baseball team at the big league level can end up looking that way it’s very hard to have 14 or 15 wins this late in the season but again I I think again I think the white socks at least are trying to outline the sort of the the the biggest part of how they’re going to develop their organization with guys like Paul like Paul’s a a very heartful uh thinker when it just comes to having a conversation with a kid because he’s been there before that’s why I wanted to ask that about the you know how’s he translating the former player to what he’s doing now you got to remember how hard it is and I think that’s what you could take away from that is it’s not the easiest games dudes are going to go through it and to actually have a guy like Paul to walk up and go hey I’ve been there before like Paulie wasn’t the greatest of hitters I played with Paulie I used to make fun of him all time that’s just the way it was he’s talking about that cage thing that was more me ragging him because he wasn’t very good at hitting but the more he did it the more he hung out with people that can hit a little he got better at it because he worked at it and you surround yourself with the right people and you know because he was a great defender gave him opportunities absolutely OPP point I don’t think so I think he was more second baseman and short stop and had a really good arm that’s what I remember right he could throw a lot of flat foot from short left field to first base and I think that’s sort of what kept Him in the big leagues and you know it was Dusty Baker was a big fan of his too so you know it was again I just think you got to surround yourself with the best people people who have been there and done it before you know you can throw all this analytics you want to throw at it sometimes organization have have to have experience people that have been there and done it before and have been through tough times not the superstars but the people like Paul yanish and like Kevin Barker who have been there before and and been through hard times and been released five times twice the last day of spring training not the easiest thing to go through Paul’s been through the same kind of thing so for to actually have an organization be willing to put Paul in situations like that is it’s going to Quicken I think the process which is a big deal yeah it um and you know we’ve talked about this a lot baseball is skewing younger um teams are certainly less reluctant to bring young players up than they used to be uh for a variety of reasons not the least of which is they’re cheaper yeah your evaluations have to be quicker and on point more yeah it’s harder to do that with baseball I and experience because they just don’t have a ton of and you know and I’m sure everybody like everybody who you know any reading you do in Jackson holiday every he’s GNA be fine he’s not like it’s not like going down to the miners is going to set him back but you know uh there was there was a graphic on uh MLB Network a couple of days ago and they were sort of they were plugging in orio’s prospects at different positions and who is already there yeah um right now they’re not going to be able to fit you know and I’m not going to say that they’re all it come July 29th all nine Orioles prospects are going to be major Le readyy I’m not saying that but they were talking on the MLB Network about how you do have to have a plan to bring these guys up or trade them I mean they need Bullpen arms they they need they’re trying to win a World Series right they got a team good enough to do that they don’t have a bullpen good enough to win a World Series you’re G have to F in the blanks that way one of the the the discussions was their their talent is their topend minor Leaguers are so Elite that to trade one simply to get a bullpen now it’s one thing if you’re going to trade one let’s say you’re going to trade one to get Mason Miller a guy who you’ve got control of for four or five years three or four years that’s different but the point they were making is some of these guys are so good that to trade four years of them for a year of a reliever yeah you probably wouldn’t do that right but again you’re not getting real but at the same time you you hey we know an organization that hasn’t been able to win during their window of opportunity if you’re the Baltimore Orioles you know this is your window of opportunity yeah and you know as well as anybody organizations think differently of every other team’s prospects like you know their ninth or tenth Prospect maybe the the Oakland Athletics like him more than they like the fifth or fourth Prospect right the top end you’re probably not going to get rid of those guys right the future matter for the Orioles it’s you want to bring up a plethora of athleticism listening to Paul that’s the first thing they’re looking at is line your organization with athletes running all over I can teach them how to lay off a breaking ball or not get thrown out going first to third like I can teach them how to do that I can’t teach them how to be a great athlete so yeah look it’s I think the organizations are you know you you got to sort of know how to give a little and not overwhelm them with the process that’s the thing right you got to remember it’s a game you’re supposed to have fun it’s just not supposed to be always be a job you you your job sort of takes place when you you know get to the big leagues and know that you’re a big leager now now it’s probably no more fun as it was when you were trying to become a big liger I went through that a lot of people go through that it’s how you handle that to which determines on how much money you’re going to make so yeah it’s intriguing yeah the White’s got a long way to go I mean paully would never say that obviously cuz he’s you know sort of leading the pack when when it comes to that lower level kind of thing they got a long way to go they got a long way a long way to go and it’s just odd in the division they play in that they have as long as they do have to go and it’s because again we’re going to say this the division is not waited for them it’s not but it’s not the greatest of Divisions either I mean you can you can get it going a little quicker and and figure it out in a little bit more of a of a hurry it’s not shouldn’t take you five or six years to figure it out you know better like K shouldn’t no but the you are chasing teams that have a that have a good head start on you Kansas City’s got a head start on you Minnesota is always going to be you know they’re always going to some figure it out somehow they’re a little bit like the twins or they’re a little bit like like the raay but in a bad division or a worse Division and um you know and the Tigers have got some some arms but U yeah you’re right me look if you were going to if you were going to pick a division to do what they’re doing do what they’re doing yeah the NL Central might be the other division but certainly in the American League I don’t think there’s any like if it was me I’d figure out how to keep Lis Robert Jr on the field I think I’ve read some stat where since 2021 he played 58% of their games he’s not played a lot he he’s like the Mike Trout of that division like I that I think is something they need to figure out change positions DH him like I I think something there has to give where if you want to start somewhere Young young enough He’s got everybody says he’s got six tools like hey you know you got to I would think if you want to start somewhere and build around a guy six2 guys aren’t the easiest to find right you already got one figure out how to keep him on the field side probably start there that might help yeah I know the other way to look at or trade to the blue J I was going to say the the other way to look at it though is if you’re three if you think you’re three years away maybe you trade him now and try to get something years away yeah they are they’re two years away from being a year away right David Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays joins us next we’ve got Jay’s ticket trivia your chance to see the Jays and Orioles at the Rogers Center maybe we’ll have another guest or two as well see if we can work it out it’s Blair and Barker on Sportsnet 590 the fan and Sportsnet all right well I don’t think anybody needs to uh tell you how good David Schneider has been this year or how good he has been uh since he’s up to the major leagues but I’m going to give you some numbers anyhow his uh this is through yesterday his 914 career Ops since he made his major league debut on August 4th is third in the majors behind Aaron judge and Kyle Tucker uh 156 weighted runs created plus is also third through a player’s first 82 MLB games in Blue Jay’s history Davis Schneider this is ranks second in extra base hits second in doubles second in non-base percentage second in Ops and fourth in slugging pretty pretty good yes indeed pretty pretty pretty good he’s uh uh got in his career off to a great start and we’re very pleased to be joined by David Schneider Davis thank you so much for joining us today we greatly appreciate you taking time out um before a game to talk to us and we we trust that you’re doing well um so you’re the everyday leadoff hitter right now for the Blue Jays has that changed anything in your mind in terms of approach in terms of mental preparation anything like that uh no but I appreciate you guys for having me on um but when it comes to the lead off no I try not to change too uh too much up when it comes to my Approach just because um I feel like no matter what position you are in the lineup um it shouldn’t really change you’re still trying to get on B you’re still trying to get put together good at bat so doesn’t really change that much um along the lines of my Approach but I mean if if we’re at a home game and our pitcher kind of goes long in the first inning I’m definitely going to take at least the first pitch or kind of see a couple pitches so our pitcher kind of gets a little bit more rest um other than that really nothing really changes when it comes to um being the leadoff guy David adjustments are so hard to make at the big league level as an everyday offensive player but we’ve seen you with a toe tap we’ve seen you with a leg kick kick we’ve seen you stand taller we’ve seen you bend at the knees like and we’ve seen you make an adjustment like every other day how have you been able to do that um I’ve been doing it uh since I was really could really remember playing baseball I’ve always kind of Tinker with my stance and my setup and everything like that obviously my swing is basically the same but it’s just like my stance and my setup it all really depends on the feel I have that day I like to kind of like switch things up and sometimes I like my hands higher some times I like my hands lower um I like a little Crouch of a stance I like a little bit being a little bit wider so it really depends on the day I think change is good sometimes um if you feel uncomfortable in the Box I mean I feel like you shouldn’t really stick with that I feel like you can change a little things to feel a little bit more comfortable so you can see the ball a little bit better so I believe in you know making minor changes obviously your swing is going to stay the same but if you can feel like you’re more comfortable in the Box I mean I feel like you should go for it no matter what Davis why do you stand taller and leg kick why how does that help you at the plate um it makes me kind of see the ball a little bit better when I’m a little bit lower to the ground um I can’t really see the high pitches as uh as much um makes me get on top of the ball a little bit better when I have that high leg kick um sometimes I feel like when I have a high leg kick I can really um be a little bit more on time sometimes so I got have to tone it down a little bit but it really depends on the day depends on BP and the way I’m feeling but um it really it switches from time to time so you might see me in a different stance in a day or two never never know in your swing are your hands in a good spot now um yeah they feel in a good spot I mean maybe tomorrow they feel they going to be uh in a bad spot so but as of now they are I mean I’ve been twink uh tinkering a little bit um with my hands a little bit higher just because I’m missing under the ball a little bit too much so feel like hiring my hands for right now is put me in a good spot to make sure I’m in a um higher higher zones where I can hit the ball a little bit harder um on high pitches Davis your consistency against different pitching is one of the things that really has stood out us against fast ball off speeds you know pick a pitch uh the the numbers are pretty consistent how would you explain that has that just simply come down to consistency of approach because you know as well as anybody there even great hitters sometimes there’s a huge dispar disparen in in in terms of what they can handle and what they can’t handle yeah I mean you big leek pitching is the best in the world and but at that at that same point I try not to over complicate things cuz if they were that good they would have Z Ras all all the way around so I try not to put them on a pedestal even when it comes to like the best pitchers like gck Cole like bur Landers all those guys they’re going to make that mistake so it’s just um up to me that day to be ready for that mistake and sometimes it’s one mistake sometimes it’s three you just got to be ready for it and sometimes it’s not at all but as long as you’re ready for it you’re putting yourself in a good position to make sure you’re doing some damage on that pitch what’s been the biggest challenge for you I I know mine when I was a player I tried to play it was the the plate awareness I I chase balls in off the plate because I really didn’t know where the plate was at that’s why I moved around the Batters box a lot is there something a key that you tell yourself every single day that if I do this I’ll have success at the big league level yeah I mean just kind of like what I said before try not to over complicate things try to simplify as much as you can um try not to do too much when you’re up there um your swing is your swing and if you to try to do too much with run Runners on or even with Runners not on you’re you’re going to put yourself in a little bit of a hole so just try not to do too much when you’re up there and just kind of simplify it the best you can and you know go from there just try not to make big league pitching a little bit more bigger than it is yeah I think long think wrong I mean that’s pretty easy approach uh defensively how hard is it to go from Left Field to second base um it’s not too hard as long as I’m putting in the work before the game it’s you know it’s pretty uh I wouldn’t say easy but um it’s a easy it’s an easier adjustment um just because you know I’m getting used to the Outfield now I feel like I’ve played enough games out there to get a little bit more comfortable and feel like that’s like kind my second home but um you know as long as I’m putting the work in the practice then you know I I feel like I’m good that day okay tell me if I’m wrong it looks to me like when you’re at second base you drop down sidearm a little bit more when you throw the ball wherever you’re wanting to throw it I saw you do it on the the double play I’ve even seen you do it on a routine ground ball you’re throwing it to vlat you sort of drop down sidearm in the Outfield you don’t do that is that something you have to think about or do it just come second nature to you knowing that I’m in left field I got to stay on top of the baseball I’m at second I can sort of throw it because I’m closer to where I need to throw it to any way I want to throw it yeah I mean it really depends on the position like when I’m out left I think about it a little bit I got to get on top of the ball to get a little bit more spin on it but when it comes to Second um that’s kind of more of my natural throwing motion I like to kind of drop down I don’t really have to think about doing that um that’s just like my natural position to throw um from down a little bit lower um just because I’ve been doing that majority of my life um even from when I played third base I kind of dropped down a little bit but I was just more comfortable throwing from down there so I try not to think about it one at second but left you I got to think about a little bit just to get on top of it and get more spin try to get a little bit more on it but um you know it really depends on where I’m playing Davis when did you get a sense that you were on the cusp of going to the major leagues what was it a particular month like was there a time where you kind of thought man okay I can see this coming um the day I got caught up was the only time I really thought about getting to the big leagues I mean because mean even when I got drafted I I didn’t think I was to be honest I didn’t really think I was going to go to the big league just because I I thought I was talented enough but like the odds of getting there was pretty slim I just kind of wanted the opportunity but um know I didn’t even when I was doing well in Triple A I didn’t really think it was you know a possibility just because you know the guys up in the big leagues were doing well I wasn’t on the 40 man at the time so being getting on the 40 man was kind of the toughest part about it um but um you know sometimes I still don’t believe out him here you know it’s just that much of a dream come true for me Davis is there a player you met that you went home to your family and like yeah yeah I finally got to meet this guy that I dreamed about meeting and and he was pretty awesome is there is there a certain guy that you looked up to that you finally got to meet and it was pretty exciting um no I mean trout was my favorite player growing up he’s obviously from the same stay at me he lives about 25 30 minutes from me back home so I mean I haven’t played the angels yet um obviously trout is hurt but um you know playing against Otani judge stto those are those are cool guys to kind of play against but um you know I like I said earlier I try not to make a big deal of playing against these guys you know they’re all human they all put on the pants the same way I do so like obviously they’re good at baseball but you know they’re just human beings at the end of the day are you and Ernie having as much fun and enjoying it as much as you seem to be enjoying it and I mean that in a I mean that in a positive way like it it just seems you know Kevin we were talking about this this is It’s a good organizational story guy gets drafted you know you say yourself think you’re going to make it to the majors just because of the way things are you talked about how just getting on the 40 man roster was hard and you’re in the majors like it seems to me it’s kind of a that’s a good organizational story a lot of people yourself included must have done a lot of right things and made the right call at the right time to to to make this all happen yeah I mean it is cool to share this experience with Ernie I mean I just met him last year so when he signed with us he was with the Indians and the Athletics before so we didn’t really meet until last year and we kind of just grew into a friendship just because all the things we have in common when it comes to golf off the field stuff um but yeah I mean like just playing in the big leagues is just an awesome thing to experience like if I go 0 for four with 4ks like there’s worse things in the world than you know going over for in the big leagues right so like you just got to make sure you take a step back some time to kind of look at all the things that you know um I have and you know like there’s worse things in the world like I said than doing bad in the big league so you just obviously I work hard and try to get better each day but you just got to make sure you’re you’re grateful for the things that that you have you know Davis how’s the clubhouse I mean it’s been a sort of a slow start for the Blue Jays you guys are trying to find your way it looks like offensively you’re starting to you know come into form and be the the team offensively you guys want to be but how’s that sort of whole Clubhouse being sort of through the struggles here early yeah I mean The Vibes are good I mean the guys are great we we have a very talented team we’re capable of doing great things I feel like we’re we’re on the verge of doing that we won two against Chicago um we have hopefully we can win the third one tonight but um no I feel like we’re just about to put the pieces together because like I feel like we haven’t really been firing all simers at the same time and once that happens I feel like we’re one of the best teams in the league so I think we’re right there and you know we’re we’re we’re bound to um turn it around right here Davis we’re going to let you run and get ready for tonight thanks for doing this man keep it going it’s uh it’s been great talking to you and uh believe me it’s been a whole hell of a lot of fun watching you play too so keep it up man good luck buddy guys appreciate it thank you have a one David Schneider the Blue Jays and uh you know he said something to me that um that really really stuck out from that interview and and I think uh kind of puts into context how hard it is to get to the majors when he said it was just hard enough getting on the 40-man roster like we forget about and you’re smiling cuz you I’ve done it you know we it’s they’re there’re make more money on the 40-man well yeah and you know what there’s it’s political in baseball guys who were chosen in early in the draft a lot of Scouts put their reputation at stake there scouting directors got his reputation at stake there some general manager in some ways too he got so you’re going to give your top guys an awful lot of opportunity yeah and you just are and the guys who were drafted what was Davis was he in the I don’t know even know what round he was LEL lower level draft but yeah you know it’s it’s I’ll try to put this politely I’m sure the first year or two years in the majors he may not have had a lot of people in his corner or some other guys in the organization oh absolutely I again what he’s done mechanically to be noticed overall he was the 849 pick in yeah just to be noticed is a is a big thing right to to go to a different level to get called up to double a to get called up to triaa to to even be in the in the conversation getting but even then you got to get on the 40 men before they can and we look we know I mean how many times have we heard and this is not just a Ross aining Alex anthopolos used to say it too how many times would a general manager say yeah but we got to create a 40-man roster spot for him but we all roll our eyes because well come on I mean look at this guy in this Rost you can get rid of him but you got to understand that organizations have vested interest in some of these players and they have value attack to them it’s just not always the easiest thing and the thing about guys like David Schneider is those are the guys that fall through the crack sometimes and those are the guys you end up who end up playing for the San Diego Padres and you’re looking and going hell I think I saw that guy in spring training oh yeah they they DFA him or they you know two years ago and he’s I mean they are those are exactly the guys that fall through the cracks so well put it this way where would the organization be without David Schneider yeah I mean they’d probably be in last place still it’s look I I I I’ll just sit back well I think it’s again I think just the the good story I’ll put my p no he’s he’s earned exactly what to be a big leager and I think listening to him talk you can understand how he’s pieced it together right you got to believe it you got to know that you got to do this to be noticed he did that now you got to you know make adjustments because this this guy’s trying to get me out this way you can’t be stubn and say I got to the big leagues doing it this way how dare you force me to change and do it another way he ain’t that guy he can’t be that he has to change to sort of succeed you know stats matter to him it’s not hard hit percentage it’s stats matter because if he’s not hitting he’s not playing simple can you explain to me as someone who’s played the game what David Schneider means when he says he’s talking about all the adjustments he makes y but it doesn’t really change my swing yeah well again hands I would moving your hands would change it’s it’s timing right it’s it’s how you get your foot down an athletic position to get the stretch I think that’s what he’s talking about right he does have a little hitch in his swing meaning his hands sort of follow his lower half he doesn’t want that he wants his hands to more go in a in a backwards motion instead of a downward motion because when it goes down where’s it got to go got to go back up right and when his weakness is the elevated fast ball it’s going to create a loft in his swing and it’s going to be real hard timing wise to get it back up catch it out front and be able to at least foul that off to fight another pitch so his lower half sort of is dictating what his hands are doing it’s the old saying it’ll never change your hands are going to do what your feet do it’s not the other way around if my feet are all out of whack and I’m ask Justin Turner if your feet are all out of whack your hands are going to be playing catchup everything’s going to be late you’re not going to be having contact or the point of contact is going to be all over the place it’s going to be very sporadic so with him what he’s basically saying is as long as I can get my foot down that will allow me he’s changing so he sees the ball better not to do different things with timing of his front foot or where his hands go which is I think why he can sort of change on the flight yesterday he was Crouch more he wasn’t as tall could be different things could be just woke up and didn’t feel right and said in batting he said his back batting practice sort of tells him what he needs to do that day I mean hey so it’s actually genius to think that batting practice actually matters you you’ve watched enough batting practices do they actually go out there and always work or is it haha look my buddy’s playing I need to run over there and talk to him Davis is not like that he needs to get a good feel I I was that way if I couldn’t hit homers in in batting practice I was going in mentally defeated because I was thinking something was wrong he sort of sounds like the same kind of way so yeah everything he’s doing and saying and and is acting is It’s Working Man good for him hopefully he continues to do that because it’s a great story they’re going to need him like they’re going to need him to continue to do this they need somebody to have an MVP month could be Davis could be GL could be bo but somebody’s going to have to do it you know what I was thinking what I was thinking is because of the way the allstar game is now um and because they have that fan vote which I I happen to like the fan vote for the the final vote whatever it’s called you know where they you vote they they pick a couple of players and you’ve got to choose between them and quite often it’s a player who you know it’s a player who’s aemerge a fan favorite if you want to call it that if David Schneider can keep putting up numbers yeah he might be a guy that gets in one of those one of those things which and I’ve said this before I listen you know I love the All-Star Game I love the fan vote I I mean I I know what it is I know I’m not always going to see the best players in the game but by and large I’m going to see first of all the game itself is going to generally be pretty good but I like the fact that the doors so many doors are open for good stories to get into the allstar game and that’s something I keep thinking of when I see David Schneider I mean who else you going to vote for other than brius for the Blue Jays like if you’re a fan of the Jays yeah well and the pitches are chosen by the manager so but but I mean that that aside um he is David Schneider is the type of guy that people get behind yeah he is the type of guy people get behind I’m behind that that’s pretty cool I absolutely um you know I’m not saying it would be the same as you know the hosie Bautista Mania when uh when when when Jose Bautista kind of had his Renaissance and and people basically it was the fans that got him in the allstar game well he’s hitting home but like lots of homers DAV like big homers like big big homers like I said it’s exactly the type of guy that people get behind though absolutely um yeah and it’s as I said it’s a great story and I I like I mean I like watching the guy play and I’ll admit I you know i’ as I said I’m used to Toronto fans in every sport falling in love with guys that are just yeah you know he doesn’t seem Star Struck either I was a little first time I met Sammy Sosa and he strikes me like man look at that that’s bar I think I think it’s fun in games for David Schneider but I think he also realizes it’s a business he’s he needs to get paid I think he realizes that I don’t think there’s anything wrong window there’s anything wrong with 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 after two seasons with Pittsburgh in the mid 1990s this longtime pitcher and current MLB analyst joined the Blue Jays from 1997 to 2002 the answer was Dan Pac I would not have gotten that Mei today’s question this one I got this one’s easy today’s question is to win tickets to see the Jays and Orioles at the Rogers Center on June 3D this pitcher turned position player is the only Canadian to play for both the Orioles and blue jays again the question is this pitcher turned position player is the only Canadian to play for both the Orioles and the Blue Jays you can text the answer to 59590 for your shot to win Z rules sportsnet.ca 590 and you two could be off to see the Jays and Orioles so we’re going to be joined by Jeff pass and MLB Insider at ESPN in a few minutes and uh we’ll keep our little secret secret for another day perhaps well I mean yeah he’s he’s he’s working hard so oh he is yeah hitting homers playing very well I mean we got to stop we’re going to give it away but anyhow 740 is the first pitch tonight don’t forget uh right here on sportset 590 the fan of sports night and sportset uh Blair and Barker will be doing blue J’s talk following the game providing it isn’t too late because I can’t stay up have to be in in bed by 11: I’m with you I have to number one you’re old where did that come from some somebody’s been waiting to push that button oh that was passing okay apparently passing he presume he’s talking about me no well yeah I guess so anyhow uh there you go we’ll be doing blue J’s talk tonight uh I’m I’m reasonably certain of that you he positive huh positive 740 first pitch I’ll have my I’ll have my milk and cookies and I’ll try to stay up I’ll try to stay up through it or my Bourbon and cookies or whatever it is Jeff passon joins us next it’s Blair and Barker this is Sportsnet 590 the fan and Sportsnet all right welcome back to Blen Barker 740 will be the first pitch tonight as the Jays take on the Chicago White Socks and it’ll be Alec Manoa on the mound for the Jays Chris flexen for the white socks and we’ll see if Alec Manoa has a little bit of a rebound finish his finish them finish it like man well they he knows what the problem is stop falling off that side of the just I mean every once in a while you got to go okay what if I did this build your prision I know he’s trying I know they put in a lot of effort between starts so hopefully does it and they need a really good start they need to sweep this team period yeah yeah end of story well I mean we’ve we’ve talked about this stop messing around you’ve got three games against the Pirates coming up um and uh you missed Jared Jones and Paul SK who by the ways he’s currently pitching a game two of the double header six Innings pitch two and runs nine K he seems like a handful Tigers Terk scoel pitched today seven Innings pitched eight strikeouts one B some ball say those yeah there’s a future there with the Pirates no that’s I think that better be that’s what the point is like they’re close well spend spend a little money on some offensive players getting in there and yeah you’re close yeah that’s I and you could refine the pin absolutely they’re close don’t forget though I know they don’t like to spend money Pirates don’t spend money we have that trivia question Russell Martin’s contract is still that’s crazy still biggest free agent deal they’ve given out um but yeah look I mean can’t waste the SK thing I mean I maybe they’ve never had a guy like skin right to to sort of force them into holy moly this dude’s really good maybe we have to spend money I don’t know I would if I were an owner yeah absolutely AB absolutely but um that place sold out every day you don’t think that’d be fun for baseball it’s a g gorgeous placees it might be sold out anyway but yeah yeah we’ll see I like I said we’ve seen it before with the Pirates but yeah I mean you you you just look at that pitching and you go my goodness um anyhow so uh Paul sches is currently pitching and six Innings pitch 200 runs nine strikeouts bring in Jeff pass and MLB Insider with happy SK day happy SK day it’s all yeah happy SK day yeah pretty much is it might as well be a national holiday absolutely I’m I’m currently in an argument with a colleague of mine because I just sent out a tweet that said four starts into his time with the Pirates here Paul skon is Numbers 22 Innings 15 hits two home runs five walks 30 strikeouts 2.45 erra it may be just the beginning of sk’s career but he’s already establishing himself as one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball and a cooworker of and said really and I was like yeah um name me guys you’d take over skin right now well we had this and I’ll ask yeah we had this discussion the last time and and about must-win game and schemes was Barker’s choice I mean you know I mean then Phillies guys they’re pretty good Wheeler’s pretty good like no is pretty good like you know some of them Braves guys I would take him over Nola I would take SK over probably yeah just power that time of the year plays man it really does Jeff this may be one of these things exactly right this may be one of these things where he is so good that people are are instantly going to have a reflex reaction that okay yeah let’s see it the second time around etc etc he may be one of those guys that so good that people don’t want to give them credit for being so good it just it does happen we do see that in sports I think that I think that is such a good point Jee and I think that’s exactly what’s happening here and and it makes like it makes you wonder is it almost better to be Jared Jones where you don’t come up with any hype yeah and all of a sudden people are like who’s this guy that’s interesting oh he throws 100 no schemes is just you know he’s he’s been doing this for really for like three and a half years now but on on the national level for a couple of years now and it’s almost like we take them for granted um I don’t think there’s such a thing as being too good too young uh but in sk’s case I think it it is a little bit of a detriment because people get sick and tired of guys being Overexposed and the the problem is like he backs it up he is the goods he’s not hype like the stuff plays and he keeps it in the zone and it’s really hard to square up and he’s got five pitches and all of them are nasty and it takes a mistake like he hung a slider to Matt beerling and it got hit over the fence but uh you know if if the worst thing you can say about the guy on a day where he gave up three hits over six Innings and punched out nine is that he made one mistake it’s like okay yeah don’t take that absolutely Jeff you think that would that would force the Pirates to make moves like would Jeff passon be breaking Pirates trade moves here pretty soon because of the pitching they got now I don’t know if that’s going to happen this season uh um but I will say this it is incumbent on Bob nutting at this point to add this winter they need bats yeah and they need to go out and spend some damn money for the first time in nutting’s tenure as owner and really for the first time in the history of the Pirates like the Pirates have never spent you know you can you can go back and look and and it was interesting um I was I was looking at the A’s uh path yesterday right and they’re they attendance essentially and back in the early 90s uh you know coming off the World Series appearances and and win um the the Oakland A had the highest payroll in Major League Baseball um you can look back in the in the mid 90s it’s right around when the Yankees started spinning but at one point I believe the Cleveland Indians now Guardians at the highest payroll in Major League Baseball um when you go and look at at what the Pirates history has been it’s gross I mean it it really is let’s just look at let’s look at the last like oh my God I’m see I’m going back they’ve not been higher than 19th in opening day payroll this Century right the last let’s go the last 10 years 29th 27th 28th 30th 30th 28th 27th 24th 20th ooh 20th at 9.94 million uh 24th 28th that’s the last decade it’s it’s absurd and if if you’re gonna if you’re gonna own a major league baseball team they don’t run it like a minor league team yeah we’ll see and that’s unfortunately what the Pirates do yeah we do we had a uh we had a trivia question uh to give away Pirates tickets of the biggest free agent contract given out by the Pirates is Russ Martin 2 years 17 million which is bizarre when you think that’s not true is it it better be CU we gave away tickets based on that and if it isn’t Mark baffo if it isn’t Mark baffo why you saying his name out loud oh there you go but free agents that aren’t their own players okay there you go so yeah they say it right there you go well I mean you said it wrong and then you thw AG aren’t their own players there you go so yes and it it there you go two years17 million we’re not afraid to throw people on the bus on this show you notice that especially our leader our leaderly it’s part of why I like you guys well you know no no sacer cows man no we we take our lead from the GM here we we have no problem throwing somebody under the bus and backing the Greyhound over back it over also Al also that is that is not correct um it may be the biggest contract ever for a position player agent but didn’t didn’t they get Francisco liano well well you know what let’s just pretend they gave away the tickets anyway so we’re trying to give him away like somebody got them yeah got if you got those tickets give the damn tickets back give them back now send them back to me because there’s nothing worse than having a trivia question where you what what actually I’m going and looking at the baseball reference page now they they signed him to a one-year deal for 2013 and uh then I believe after 2014 or a two-year deal in 2013 then after 2014 they gave him a threeyear $39 million so you know what Mark you are you are off the hook there you go my apologies for slandering your name Mark there wow there you go I had no doubt I mean I I I you’ll notice how quickly I rushed to his defense he was smelling Mark’s last name for everybody oh Oh that’s oh there it is that’s the Ross Atkins bus just keep driving it over until keep driving it over till the body stops squirming once the body stops squirming you can go on um I don’t want to be a part of this so I’m I’m I’m in I’m intrigued about uh oh Ross he knows we’re just kidding he knows oh yeah he does uh I’m intrigued about the incorporation of Negro League staff into the baseball record book Jeff for a couple of reasons first of all my you know my reaction is great I mean I I anything anything that can kind of that can bring that chapter into a bigger picture I very good but you know I had a discussion and you may have had this discussion with our friend Howard Bryant about this and I think it was Howard that was making the case that yeah as long as you know we don’t forget why you know their stats were kept separate I think it was Howard that said that right you know there was a reason that that negro league stats were kept separate there was a reason the leagues were segregated and you know of course when I saw the thing the the the news I immediately tweeted it out with a clapping hand emoji and then I just kind of thought and then again that my reflex reaction is I think it’s great but I keep I sort of keep hearkening back to that Jeff you know it it’s good for me because I know the history of it and I’ve read about it yes I’d hate 253 years down the road for that to be forgotten you know I I think Jeff that every opportunity to retell the story of the Negro leagues why they existed and why they were such a fundamental part of American History not baseball history American history is a really important thing to do I also do wonder if Major League Baseball’s efforts um to to shed light on the Negro Leagues and how important they were um have have gone a little bit off the rails here because it’s it’s it’s almost like the idea of of taking history that was really ugly and trying to rewrite it yeah is making it a historical yes um The Negro Leagues were a major league the Negro Leagues were not major league baseball and they weren’t major league baseball because racism and because it was pervasive in the United States and uh you know particularly in the sporting world where people were actively excluded to to me uh the greatest way to write a historical wrong is not by changing what history says it’s by making sure history doesn’t repeat itself and in those efforts I must say Major League Baseball is not doing a great job when it comes to having black players in its game right now right I mean we’re we’re we’re at a ner and it’s been going down toward that year after year after year and you know getting young black youth to play Major League Baseball African-American um you know black Canadians uh I mean there you know we we can get into a discussion about uh skin color and and Dominicans there you know if you talk with Dominicans a lot of Dominicans I is black it’s not just Dominican that their skin color is black um so uh you know regardless in North America in particular uh black youth doesn’t really play baseball I I see it every single day during the spring when my son is playing for his high school team and I see it all the time in the summer when he’s playing on his travel team um they’re just not a lot of young black baseball players and granted I’m in Kansas so that’s a little bit different you know you you get to places with uh larger uh centers of black population that’s a little bit different but by and large it really hasn’t changed a lot in Major League Baseball and and to me as nice as it is to have the statistics uh getting the due uh that they are owed and to see Josh Gibson’s name rightly up there with that of all the other greats in Major League Baseball history I personally would rather see more black players in the game today I think that to me would be the greatest writing of the wrong that was in baseball for as long as it was and for far too long yeah that’s I mean that that’s really well said and and I um you know I I guess the I I mean I guess the best thing out of it is the fact that that it does there will be um a lot of people now who will learn about the individual histories of those players right people will now maybe pay more attention to Josh Gibson’s uh absolutely if you if you see that’s that’s the benefit of this and why even though my instinct is like you can’t call Negro League statistics Major League Baseball sta statistics because they were different leagues it’s why I look at it I’m like the greater good here is that when you’re looking at these you’re going to ask yourself whoos Gibson and how did he put up this outlandish 1171 Ops over his career and how did he bat well over 400 in the season and why is he at the top of the leaderboards if if that gets a kid who’s looking at uh career leaderboards on baseball reference to to look into research acknowledge and understand the Negro Leagues better then it’s done its job and it’s it’s a net positive in that case yeah Jeff how should I feel about Angel Hernandez living baseball pretty good I mean look uh he he missed a lot of calls a lot more than more than his peers and and I think the amount vitriol guided toward Angel Hernandez was disproportionate to the percentage of calls he missed versus his peers a lot of it was reputation based and frankly by the end I just I kind of felt bad for him because you know he’s trying you know he doesn’t want to blow calls it’s embarrassing when you screw up in front of a stadium of 40,000 people and television audiences of hundreds of thousands of people in some cases millions and like that that’s a bad bad thing um but I think it also is a really interesting case study in the effects that social media has on our society I think it’s you know before social media came along Angel Hernandez was a guy you just rolled your eyes at after social media came along Angel Hernandez was someone that you and a million of your closest friends could go and rip on whenever he did something bad even if the last 50 calls he made were right and it look those good calls don’t make up for the bad one particularly his propensity to make bad calls and big situations but at the same time I think a little bit of context there would illustrate that uh as bad as Angel Hernandez was compared to his peers um he is better than you every single person listening right now barring some sort of a Major League umpire or or tripa or dou a umpire listening to the show right now Angel Hernandez is better at calling balls and Strikes than you he knows more about the game of baseball than you do and I I’m not saying that he needs your respect I do think that we should acknowledge that he was still even compared to his peers not good he was still among the best in the world at officiating baseball games Jeff why now you know 50 games into a season why not before the start of the season why not after the season I don’t know why not in the final day of the regular season I mean I’m I’m trying to think uh who I’m trying to remember boy which umpire announced that he was that he was umpiring his final game Joe Joe West Joe West did in like February right before spring training I think that’s right I was thinking of somebody else who announced the end of the this is like back in the 90s who and his final game was the final game of the season and you know they they he came out and at the end of the game and people gave him around I could I don’t know if it’s Frank py I’m I’m just I just remember this and I thought okay that’s kind of the way you do it you’re a longtime umpire you’re retiring you got your final game final game of the regular season you know people will show you some respect boom you’re gone why now though uh the sense that I’ve gotten is that it had just become too much for him and his family like the the the amount of blowback that that he would get and you guys remember the JP France why Langford at that it was a clinic in just awful umpiring just awful ball strike umpiring um it was like the plate had expanded by six inches it was in Eric Greg Le Von Hernandez Zone like it was that bad and I I think Major League Baseball was frankly tired of Angel Hernandez being being one of its most recognizable characters yeah like that’s that’s not an exagger guys an exaggeration that’s absolutely he really was and and when when somebody whose job it is to be invisible is one of your most visible characters there’s something absolutely wrong there why why did he come back he missed most of last season with back injury and I think he wanted to go back out there and do it again and and I get it you know you spend 30 plus years in a job guys it’s really hard to say goodbye yeah really hard to go away and and he could have continued umpiring at infinitum because the Major League Baseball umpires Association you know for all of its failures in the past is a strong enough union to keep a lot of guys who fans if they had their choice would get rid of employed and and Angel Hernandez may have been at the top of that list Mr passon we are going to let you run thanks for this as always my friend appreciate it way to go buddy pleasures of mine gentlemen have a good one take care we’ll see you that’s Jeff passing and they’ll be Insider with ESPN and the uh yeah the athletic and ESPN have done uh really good articles on the Negro League the sort of the incorporation of Negro League stats into Major League Baseball stats uh and it is it’s uh I mean if you’re kind of of a historical Ben sure it’s uh it it’s like like I said just there are many many layers to this particular story I like the fact that as I said a lot of people are now going to learn about some of these players who haven’t been given the rightful individual recognition they deserve but I don’t like the possibility that the entire history will be sort of swept under the carpet I I that’s thing you know that’s a thing that concern concerns me and but I mean I’ve always had this we’ve we’ always had this debate it’s the same thing with the Hall of Fame and steroids and putting an asterisk on a on a on you know I like to think that Baseball fans are smart enough that they can yep figure it out when you go to Cooper’s town with your child and you’re looking at Barry bons or sorry Barry bons if you’re looking at somebody’s plaque you can say you know yeah anyhow but uh there you go I can’t believe Pon said that Angel’s a better umpire than I am oh he is he not as good as me but he’s better that’s what he said he said he’s a better umpire than me he listen he’s not a good umpire that box on the TV screen is the worst thing that ever happened to Angel he’s not that’s the worst thing ever happened it is the worst thing that’s ever happened to him a lot of umpires without question yeah without question and yeah this gets into that argument we have you know we talked to Morgan sort of the commissioner’s office and they don’t even view the Box they view the strike zone as as something more of an oval well that’s what they think about unar but my argument is always well then why are we like I understand why we do it’s just I don’t want to get in that because then I get then the TV people get upset with me because it’s like I’m I’m crapping on their product I just don’t I don’t need the box I don’t need the St Bo like you just like the bock you want to pick an umpires no I like it that you you’re held to the same standard that I was when I stunk I was in double I watch your game I can aren’t you I like to think that I can figure I can figure out what an Umpire strik Z is the first inning of a game oh it stinks or it doesn’t yeah but I can tell no but I can tell and I don’t need I I can tell I was they’re shooting for Perfection Jeff yeah right we’re shooting for shoot for the moon so there you go so do we are we feel okay with our trivia thing we’re okay with that I don’t really care I mean we gave away the tickets that’s what this Show’s all about right we’re we’re show for the people and we’ll give you tickets for the people no matter if it’s wrong or not it’s not wrong like it’s right as long as you got it right at least the answer that we had which would in fact make it even more trivial yeah yeah just remind me never to do this with you so you’d be throwing me under the bus I mean you did everything but I sort of right yeah there it is Mark just I mean you did everything but write his name on the TV screen did not write his name on the TV screen he did that’s not that’s not true that’s two ifs buff see now you just did that you something else boy bu said said the answer was right I was so confusing but you know you were boy you were so quick though wasn’t me buffo you talk about you want to talk about respons ability and taking accountability read it you just accountability yeah you just read it yeah and you’re the first one to raise your hand say what me I know maybe I need maybe I need to exercise maybe that was just poor leadership on my part you think it was you guys try to get line won’t you it was poor leadership on my part it’s going around it’s going around Jeff that’s it for us we’ll be doing blue JS talk tonight we’ll be back tomorrow with another trivia question have a good night
2 Comments
On Jays talk tonight Blair talked way too much. Went on for 10min about the Jays trading prospects. Why? We are not there yet. Wait another 20 games please it's boring. Listen to the tape Jeff. You went on and on. It's a call in show. Don't be such a windbag!!!
this is stupid. don't bring wokeness into baseball. If black kids don't want to play baseball, then don't. Why do you need more black kids in baseball? How come you don't care if there isn't more chinese kids or indian kids?
Stop empty virtue signaling.