Reds Chase Burns hype is reel. Oneal Cruz Hustle Issues. Paul Skenes, Jacob Misiorowski Matchup

Reds Hall of Famer Sean Casey is fired up about what he’s seeing in Cincy overall and we dive into the electric debut of Chase Burns. Oneal Cruz got benched and owned it. Case dives into the importance of hustle – especially as a big leaguer. Plus, we preview the flame throwing matchup between Skenes & Misiorowski this afternoon.

boo coming in hot Shiny what’s going on man
coming in hot chase got the charge outfit on he’s charging behind you
i am charging bro
yeah do you get the elbow pain yet from or the the armpit pain from the crutches yet or not
you know what’s funny dude um crutching around I guess with with my leg throbb so much that like I like
sitting’s not comfortable either cuz I can’t sit on my right side but like I do find a position on the couch where I can get the pillows right so I haven’t really like grinded like I dude I’ve been on these things before one good thing is you can’t teach experience two two times in my life when I broke my feet I’ve been on these things for four months
and so I know what these are like and I do feel like I get around pretty good with them like up and down the stairs So I I haven’t had the chafing yet bro
i got you oh the chafing
the chafing will get you that It That’ll lock you down make you not want to go anywhere
yeah um one guy doesn’t have to worry about that because he’s 22 years old is Chase Burns bro mr burns cincinnati Reds let’s give you something positive to watch on TV you’re Reds dude this kid is legit
yeah dude well listen i think one of the places that the that the Reds are doing really well is in starting pitching obviously Hunter Green’s been banged up a little bit but you know you look at Andrew Abbott what he’s done nick Leola’s got nasty stuff nick Martinez has been good um you know top to bottom you know and and Hunter Green was one of the best pitchers in the game and then you add Chase Burns the number two pick out of Wake Forest last year who throws 100 miles an hour and if you watched last night Chinch in his debut against the Yankees first off not an easy club to debut against punches out the first five guys obviously Judge is in there too hits him with a nasty like 92 mph slider just off the plate i mean dude this guy looked like the real deal no doubt about it well and talk about I I mean I look at like kind of side story things and you know you’re 22 years old you’re coming up you got the this fan base which is amazing behind you and you got no walks over struck out eight zero walks that’s there’s a mental discipline that goes into that where you’re like that’s why he’s the 11th prospect in in all of baseball right
well exactly you’re you’re he’s attacking the strike zone he he looks at his stuff and he and this is also one thing about college pitchers too he’s had three years you know down there at Wake Forest you know doing his thing with Tom Walers who’s one of the best I think coaches in division one baseball and really developing his game really you know having all the uh you know all the tools they got all these tools and gadgets at at Wake Forest i feel like they’re a cut above everybody else especially pitching wise and you know to watch Chase Burns with just the you know looked like he knew what he was doing where he wanted to go where he wanted to attack you know that that thing I talked about yesterday with skiing saying “Hey when he watches school boy he sees he sees a predator out there.” Like I watched Burns out there it looked like a predator you know he wasn’t nervous he wasn’t scared to face judging these guys he came right at him filled up the strike zone said “My stuff’s great hit it if you can.” And uh dude if that’s part of the future in Cincinnati you don’t think Terry Francona was in the dugout going “Let’s go.” And dude I was just there the other day because I went down with Dr creme check and I got the chance to see Rick Stowe and got a chance to sit down with Tito and Mike Napoli and a lot of the guys you know Brad Mills and Freddy Benvitz all these amazing guys in that organization bro they’re good and and I I said to him too I said “You guys haven’t made that run yet the Cardinals made a run the Cubs made a run the Brewers made a run they’ve won eight or nine in a row all that stuff the Reds haven’t made that run yet dude they’ve won 20 don’t look now but they’ve won 12 of 17 don’t look now but they just walked off the Yankees winning back to back-to-back nights against uh one of the best best clubs in the uh in the big leagues like Ellie de la Cruz his numbers are the best in his career you know in a with a mid8 OPS and start to elevate still stealing bases i think he hit his 18th home run the other day or 15th or you know whatever like putting the combination together gavin Lux has been a nice sign for them walked it off last night adio Strand is back in the mix with a big hit last last night spencer Steers starting to get rolling matt Mlan starting to go the other way and swing it aj Fredo at the top of that lineup he’s swinging it that bullpen starting to match up like watch out cincinnati Reds are 42 and 38 they’ve won 12 of 17 they’re starting to make that run they’ve been hovering around 500 all year long i’m sure it’s been frustrating at times for Tito you know they got a real leader and José Trevino who I know has called a couple team meetings to be like “Hey let’s go.” Like some let’s play the game hard like let’s It’s unacceptable if we’re not out there busting it out every night so they got some pieces in place Jinch that the Cincinnati Reds are about to make some noise and and and they’re doing it right at the right time
yeah dude i mean you said it there you go we got a lot of Reds fans that follow this podcast because Sean Casey if you did not know is a Reds Hall of Famer uh to your point dude that crowd is ready for it 39,257 last night dude place was rocking terry Francona to your point was he excited quote “Yeah that was pretty cool.” He didn’t get too excited as we mentioned earlier i think he enjoyed the competition there’s a lot to like with their starting pitcher so let’s go man baseball’s better when the Reds are good say
oh it’s the truth it’s the truth man they are and uh you know Jake Frillley made a play into the wall just so many guys dude like they’re a true team and Tito is the ultimate guy to bring men together and uh you know and I know and one other thing I’ll say you know I’m not gonna obviously it’s clubhouse talk so I’m not going to say it but I know they’re having fun after the games they’re like they’re getting together as a team they’re having something they’re doing things that that is team bonding that Tito’s brought them together so you know we start to have that kind of stuff people start to play free they start to play loose and all of a sudden you start to see the athleticism come out and the team that they’ve assembled nick Crawl’s done a good job of that and also too they hey they just got rid of Jr candelario they just let go and he was their big free agent sign last year three for 45 i mean that’s not nothing right
you know you know so
hey well that’s a culture you got Terry Frona there he knows what he’s doing
right right and and and Tito’s starting to find out you know when you’re around the this guys now for spring training in 80 games you’re now seeing okay he’s my guy that’s my guy that’s my leadoff guy that’s my number three hitter that’s the guy I’m platooning with right there there’s my setup man he’s my closer you know what I mean like now Tito’s you know you’ve given him enough information now for Tito to go work his magic that’s why he’s so good to say “Okay now I see the pieces now we’re now we’re playing chess.”
There you go beautiful all right be excited Reds fans you heard it here from the mayor himself all right now we got to go to the opposite end of the spectrum another team you played for you’re living in that city pittsburgh Pirates man O’Neal Cruz has everything that you look at to be like this guy could be a superstar bench last night the hustle has been an issue is hustle an issue in the game today well it has to be i mean it takes no talent to hustle i mean that’s the at the end of the day you i think one of the biggest things is you got to have pride and respect the game of baseball at the end of the day because you know this game’s been around 150 years it’s going to be around another 150 years and and longer after that and too many guys have played the game to not play the game right and respect the game so if you’re not respecting the game if you don’t remain humble and respect the game this game will humble you i’ve seen it too many times i’ve experienced it myself where you start to think you got things figured out you don’t but one thing you can figure out is your effort is your is your attitude and your effort every day you can choose that every single day that no matter what I’m busting it i pop up to the infield I’m busting it i ground it at the pitcher I’m busting it and for O’Neal Cruz you know he has had two instances in the last few days the one in center field where the ball was hit to him and went under his glove and he didn’t run and go get it you know I know this game can be embarrassing you know talking to a guy got thrown out from left field it’s embarrassing at times and when you show up in that batters box and you have the courage to show up on a big league field you’re you’re you’re probably going to get embarrassed at some point and as a human being that’s probably our worst nightmare alive there’s so many things that stop us you know what do they say there’s two two phrases that have killed more dreams than fear ever could is what will they say what will they think
right you know what I mean that’s what will they say what will they think stops us from doing so much in life hey guess what when you’re on a big league ball field and you and you have have the courage to cross those white lines those questions are going to be asked tonight what will they say what will they think and you got to be mentally tough enough to say you know what I’m going balls out no matter what if if I have a bad game I’m playing it right i’m playing it hard i’m If I remember Dave Collins telling me when I was with the Reds my first big league spring training got us together he said “If you don’t have four a 4se secondond sprint down the line for your teammates you shouldn’t be wearing this uniform m
you can’t give your teammates 4 seconds you shouldn’t be wearing this uniform and I and I’ve always took that adage there wasn’t you know one day I didn’t sprint everywhere on the field off the field to first try to turn a single into a double all that kind of stuff try and score from second for my teammates get big secondary leads so there’s a way to play this game change and I I think Donnie Kelly did the right thing i mean he he missed the ball in center then last night he hits a ball to to short and just and he’s the fastest might be the fastest guy in the big leagues you know five steps he’s at first base and he was out by like three steps you could tell he was jogging to first um and then he took him out of the game which you got to do you got to send a message i remember Aaron Boon last night doing that to doing that last year to Glabber Torres but there’s no excuse for not hustling dude i don’t give a crap if they say this is the way they’re doing it in 2025 bat flips i get all that that has nothing to do with hustle you takes no talent to hustle attitude and hustle are two things you choose every single day and if I’m a manager I got to police that because if I don’t then anyone could the inmates run the asylum anyone can just do whatever they want and I saw O’Neal Cruz say something that that I respected cuz if you’ve watched Andrew McCutchen play the game all these years in his career and especially in Pittsburgh this guy hustles no matter what tommy Fam hustles no matter what so if you’re a young kid looking at these veterans you know that there showing you the way
i got Cruz’s quote for you to your point he said DK had all the rights to do what he did and I’ll back him up on that it was my fault because I thought there were two outs in the situation that’s why I left the uh running off first base but he’s like “Look it’s my fault that like at least you take ownership of it you get better.” What’ you say uh
yeah don’t get bitter get better
yeah i go back to one of the greatest quotes in baseball history from one of the greatest baseball players of all time reporter asked Joe Deagio once why do you play so hard the quote is because there might be there might have been somebody in a stands today who’d never seen me play before and might never see me again
oo you like that don’t you
if we could all take that adage i remember my dad used to tell me I remember he told me you know that you know listen people are spending their hard-earned monies to come to a game and they might be able to afford one game with their son all year long that might be the only game they see me play or anybody play give them their money’s worth and if you’re 0 for four don’t disrespect the people that are there and you’re just walking out there when people would die to be a Major League Baseball player you know you got to get perspective you know at times the ego creeps in that you’re bigger than you know the game and you never are and I’m not saying O’Neal Cruz thinks that i’m saying for anybody that plays the game for anyone that that that has the privilege and the honor to wear a big league uniform dude the privilege and the honor to wear a big league uniform are you kidding me or just the uniform i’d say the same thing i think about you know uh you know saying I I talked to a couple clubouses recently and and I say that to them like this is going to be done one day you think it’s going to last forever but it doesn’t so don’t take it for granted and when you’re dogging it out there and not playing 100% you’re taking it for granted because one day someone’s not going to want your autograph one day nobody cares you know nobody does care and uh you know at the end of the day play it right play it hard and and no one will say anything to you and I think I said that to you about Mike Piaza one day the way he played the game he came to first base i said “Man how do you do it how do you play in New York?” He goes “Case I just play as hard as I can all the time.” And he goes “If I don’t get a hits that day people respect the fact that I’m still playing hard and doing it the right way.”
Yeah man hey there’s been a lot of baseball players willie M quit playing the game still went on derek quit playing the Yankees still play baseball every day you know you you mentioned your your line is great when you you saw the ticker just say Sean Casey retires
it’s Yeah off it goes there goes 12 years threetime All-Star yeah no one cares dude life goes on life goes on and the other thing about O’Neal Cruz right now dude at the end of the day like I know we get all enamored about exit VO and this guy’s got a lot of potential he’s hitting 208 i mean those are the facts i’m not making that up it’s just the reality is hitting 208 so I always felt like when I sucked
I’m gonna hustle even more because that’s one thing at least I can do is like play the game play the game hard yeah hustle doesn’t slump
hustle doesn’t slump so you know you can’t steal first in this game at the end of the day you got to have a good approach
you got to be able to slow the game down you got to be able to start hunting zones hunting fast balls and get out of and get out of that rut but you know I I I for me you know I don’t care how hard you hit the ball you got to get hits you got to get on base yeah well let’s let’s make it a little positive for your Buckos right now because they do have the guy on the mount today dude in a this is going to be like hardest pitched game of the year potentially between these two dudes firing you got Paul skins going
yep yeah and was it Misarowski dude i mean this guy throws this guy has electric stuff
yeah i got to pull up this Chipper Jones tweeted earlier today and it’s best believe I’m going to tune in till Milwaukee this afternoon electric stuff on display ski vers Miseroski i’m here for it chipper Jones dude
dude Chipper I’ll be right there with you dude call me if you want to talk and and uh you know you know talk hitting or something like that but no dude I’m going to be watching i tell you what I after I get off this podcast I’m going right to that couch i’ll have nothing to do i’ll be get my journaling in a little you know my protocol and then bam I’m going to sit and watch that game we better book that
go all right all right you said it all look at Casey with all the adrenaline freaking
Hey I’m looking for I look forward to this dude i got nothing else to do and this kind of gives me some energy so I appre appreciate you Chin i love you man and appreciate everybody out there listening enjoy that game at two o’clock today ski Mesarowski and uh we’ll see everybody tomorrow see you