We're joined right now by mister October of the bullpen, or one of them, one of the dogs of that Dodger bullpen, and that is the lefty himself, Alex Vessia. Thanks a lot for the time. Appreciate it.
I mean, mister October, I don't.
I mean, I've seen you pitch in October Vessia.
That's a heck of a intro.
Thank you as to what that's what I believe. If I didn't believe it, I wouldn't say it.
All right, all right, I appreciate that. What questions do you have in store for us today?
Well, let's start out with your personal life. You've been on social media announcing that you and your wife are expecting a brand new Vessia, your first Vessia addition to the family. How exciting is that?
Yeah, yeah, super exciting. We've had a secret for a little while and uh a few teammates have known and then helped me my best friend and whatnot. And then we announced it to my parents and case parents on opening day, and man, I was just super special, you know, for for myself and for k it's both, you know, the first grand baby of our family. So that that was very very special. And yeah, man, it's been very,
very exciting. And we will know gender and everything like that on the twenty fourth, so basically like ten ish days and then yeah, after that, we just well we'll keep knocking off days and this baby's gonna gonna grow, so it's gonna be fun. Man, I'm very excited.
How does that just change your perspective on what you do in baseball?
Yeah, I think that, you know, and I you know, obviously providing for my family and whatnot is is a huge, you know, objective goal however you want to explain it. But now you have you know, you have one more thing to play for, you know, And I think that that, you know, when I get to hold him or her and you know, my for the first time, it's gonna be very special. And yeah, it's definitely I got a lot to play for.
Alex Vesia is our guest. We're off and running in twenty twenty five. Alex and the Dodger bullpen again has been a big part of what the Dodgers are doing right now. What's the vibe down there with this new group of guys.
Yeah, I mean our new additions have been picking us up big time lately, it's it's been nice, you know, having been and Jack and even Garcia, Right, we just them three alone and have done really great. And you know they they learn and adapt every day, and you know, I try my best to make sure it's loose and fun down there. And yeah, we've we've been having a good time. It's nice to be back in La have
some nice weather. The road trip was was kind of tough, but yeah, you know it's at the end of the day, Yeah, we're ready to go.
When people ask about what's wrong with the Dodgers and you look at your record, it's pretty good. Do you feel like you guys have set the bars so high for yourselves that to a certain extent people are spoiled.
I mean, I'm not too sure. Obviously, that's a that's a tough question. But at the end of the day, our job is to go out there and do the best we can and to win that day. Right, And it's one hundred and sixty two games. We're not gonna win them all, yeah, but we want to win every single game. You know that that's at stake, So taking it one day at a time, right, and you know, it's it's very early in the year, and you know, we're gonna have ups and downs. We're gonna you know,
even when you look back to last year. Last year, a lot of people have had a lot of opinions, and our season turned out pretty darn good, right, So you know, take it one day at a time, right, and not to to not get too far ahead of ourselves. And you know, we we do have a really good group of guys here with you know, our our leaders and the guys that are out in front. You know, we have full faith in them. They have full faith in us, right, And that's what I think makes this team so special.
You're not a young buck anymore, ves, Yeah, you've been here for a while. Do you feel like you're starting to evolve into that leadership role to go along with what you've learned from past veterans and current veterans like Blake Trining?
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's every year there's new challenges, right, There's there's different you know, not every year is the same.
I think, you know, the adversity that I've faced over the last five years, it's you know, it's definitely helped me, right, and it's also helped me teach guys like Ben and Jack you know, just how to how to be a big leaguer and you know, and what might work for me might not work for them, right, But we do have a very good communication down there to where we're able to bounce ideas and topics just anything off of
each other. And you know, with with that open and honesty, knowing that like everything that I say is is in good spirits, you know, and I think that that's that goes a long way. And yeah, man, you know, every every year it's you know, it's a new opportunity to uh, to go out there win World Series.
I hate to bring it back to last year, but when you when the Cubs were in town, you guys went over to give Ryan Brazier his rink as a bullpen. What was that like? What was that moment like to see his reaction?
Yeah, very special. We wanted to do that, you know, because he was a very big part of our bullpen and you know, we we do miss him. Man. He was a great, great addition to our bullpen and you know, he he deserved all the recognition and whatnot, so it
was great to present that to him. I don't I don't really I didn't really know if he knew that that's what we were gonna do, but you know, to we did play a little prank on him where we had a calf sleeve in the ring box so when he opened it, he was expecting a ring and there was a calf sleeve in there, and then Blake had the ring in his pocket. So you know, it's all fun, man. I mean, we we have such a good culture here and you know it's for Brazier, I know it's very special for him.
Hey, you're part of that culture of Vesia. You've been part of this for the last five years and certainly a big part of the Dodger bullpen. Always great to catch up with you, and congratulations on the upcoming addition to your family, and we'll catch up with you soon.
Yeah, absolutely, thank you. I appreciate it. And let's go get one today.
Let's get one today.