And an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talking. It's an exciting night here at Dodgers Stadium and we're joined right now by the President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. I know Clayton Kershaw said yesterday it feels like the players are fans wanting to see Otani pitch.
What's the feeling for you tonight.
Yeah, I feel the exact same way obviously, what he's done in the batter's box. For us, this is a guy who went fifty to fifty last year, leading the league in homers, and then you watch him pitch and it's hard for your brain to reconcile that the guy who is throwing with that kind of delivery, arm action, the deep mix is also the guy on the other half of the inning that does what he does offensively.
Can you take us through the decisions, the conversations about why tonight is the night that he makes his Dodger pitching debut.
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, a lot has been written in discussed about how we kind of got to this point. But going through this progression, there's been really good communication and talking through it. And after his live in San Diego, we had another live setup for today, and talking to him over the weekend and just understanding more the fatiguing effect it had to get up, get hot, throw three innings, four innings would have been tonight, go cool down and.
Try to ramp back up.
Just how taxing that is, and so in his opinion, he felt like he would be way better served to kind of finish his rehab process at the major league level being active and not having basically doubleheaders.
So what are the expectations for you tonight and what will you be looking for?
I mean, I think you know, coming back from a lot of miss time on the mound, you know, I have no doubt this stuff will be Their execution is something that takes guys a little time to get comfortable repeat their delivery over and over with him, who knows he could have it, you know, from the first pitch on. But it's just about us being patient, continuing to build up a foundation for him. Obviously, whatever you know, we're able to get to this year in terms of workload,
hopefully he'll be a presence for us in October. But it's also about the longevity. He wants to do this for as long as he possibly can, so setting a really strong foundation this year is important.
There's been former players, Hall of Fame caliber players that have voiced their opinion unsolicited that they believe this is a little bit of a risk to have him come back to pitch and he's doing so well as a hitter. What do you think about you know, these unsolicited opinions, and is that the equation in your mind leading up to this decision to allow Showhy to become a pitcher again.
Yeah, I mean I think part of it is it's hard for the human brain to comprehend this.
Yeah. I mean, he's one.
Of one in the modern era, and so a lot of guys weren't able or capable of doing it. It's hard to imagine. This is really important to him. And I don't blame him. We've talked about this a lot. I think he is incredibly underrated, which is amazing.
I mean, just what he can do on both sides of the ball.
You know, when he didn't win the MVP in twenty two, he finished fourth in the say young he is a really talented pitcher, obviously a really talented hitter, but in twenty three, when he was pitching, he was also really good in the batter's box, excellent in the batter's box. And so I just think it's too simple. People apply too much of Well, if I had to do both, i'd be exhausted or one would really suffer. I agree for most people, Yeah, show it is not most people.
Yeah, no doubt.
It seems like when the lights are the brightest and the expectations are the highest, he delivers. So I wouldn't be surprised tonight if he strikes out the side in order.
Yeah, And I think for us just being thoughtful about this, and obviously we're all really excited about tonight, we'll get through tonight, figure out how he's recovering, where he's at, and just kind of keep taking steps towards it. We're not gonna sprint to get there, and just make sure that his body is adapting and that the fatigue isn't affecting him offensively. And so you know, it's kind of
serving two different purposes. One is to make sure that he has a good foundation to pitch for a long time. The other is to make sure that his body is adapting, feeling good, recovering well so that he can stay a productive force in the lineup as well.
You've surrounded him with a great roster.
How much do we have to appreciate the fact that you're able to do this? Otani's able to do this, to come in for one or two innings and build up in a game and have a guy like a bank Asparius or a jag Dryer to back him up. Would that be possible if you didn't have guys that were able.
And be willing.
Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it. It's both. It's being able and willing. And we're very fortunate with a number of our homegrown guys who've gotten some opportunities. It's one of the silver linings and upsides of some of the injuries we suffered is guys being given opportunity and a number of them have really run with it. And watching Ben's development has been really fun. And his mindset is I'll do whatever it takes to help us win.
I'm good with whatever, And so we actively are communicating with him, just trying to make sure that he's in good position. But his ability and willingness are off the charts.
All right, Before I let you go, your kids are involved in you sports. So once this was announced yesterday that Otani was going to pitch tonight. How many ticket requests did you get, Andrew?
I got quite a few.
We were joking that we were going to set the Internet on fire when this news came out. I stopped short of saying that my text messages were also going to catch on fire, but they did as well.
Do you want to make a public announcement to stop texting you for tickets?
You're tapped out, tapped out no more. All right, thanks a lot for stopping by.
Appreciate the insight on everything that's gone into tonight being the night that Otani pitches, So thank you, absolutely thanks for having me on