And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talk. All right, we're joined right now by one of my favorites. He was great as a player, he's great as a person, and he's a great broadcaster. Number forty seven, Luis Cochito Cruz joins us. Thanks a lot for the time, appreciate it.
Oh, thank yous, Dave.
I'm happy to be with you right here, and you know, ready to for all you questions you got.
From that well number one. The last time we spoke was during spring training.
You are a rookie.
Then you've got your feet wet in the broadcast booth. How are you enjoying being a broadcaster and not a player anymore?
Well, he's been a transition that I'm enjoying a lot. I'm learning a lot from Jose Mota and Pepe in Vegas. But I really like it because what I'm doing just analyzing plays and all this stuff. Basically, I studied my whole career baseball, and I love baseball, so I can I like it that I can, you know, transmit it to the people on the radio, and I like it.
You know a lot of these players too, you played against them, You played with some You also played in Japan when show Hey Otani was there. What's the relationship you have with show Hey going back to then, Yeah, I.
Mean we we was we were playing in the same division there. He used to play for the nippenham Fighters and I was playing for Shivalotta Marins, and uh, we face each other like a lot. Like there's only six teams in uh in the Pacific League, six teams in the Central League, so we get to face each other almost every two to three weeks, and uh, you know,
we build that relationship. One of my good friends, Louis Mendoza, he was playing, uh in that team with show Hey, and uh, you know, we always talk and he will start the day after show Hey, and we always make fun, you know, like and when I faced show How would tell him, you know, throw me that fastball, and we just he just laughed. He don't say much, but uh, getting to talk to him. I tried not to talk to him about you know, what's happening right now, but like everybody, he's talking to him like.
How great he is.
I knew it was going to be good, you know, it was going to be that good, you know, but I think we're still talking because he feel the confidence.
Of of of me like knowing.
Him since back in Japan. So we just talked, you know, I asked him how you feel? How do you I mean, how do you rehab going? In Japanese? Because I got to practice by Japanese?
How would that sound? Give us a taste of how it would sound.
I just saybo, that means, how's do you? How's your shoulder? How's your arm? And he responds and it's like akachan dajaba too, like if.
Your baby is okay. He's like and then I would.
Ask him, uh, what does you like you are you slippy or something?
And he's like no, like dau means okay.
So we kind of like, you know, I give him the you know, the confidence so he can you know, speak his English and my japan English and stuff. And now we just we just have fun, you know, like I just want to I just don't want him to, you know, to feel like I'm interviewing him, interviewing him.
Or do something.
And I think it's something that we have on in my side, like I can talk to the guys and I never you know, I get information about you know, the game and and maybe I can use it. Like if I see somebody using or doing something like I see Tells car Hernandez practicing something, I would ask him, you know what, why.
Are you doing this with your back leg or why you're finishing high? And then he will tell me. And I think, I don't know.
I think I play in the I was playing five months ago, so so they know that I was playing. And we have the confidence of talking, you know, like talking about the game, about the swings, about positioning in the infield. And I like it and I'm enjoying every second of it.
All right, Well, let's go back to you and Otani in Japan. How did Louis Cruz do against Otani?
The picture?
Well, the first time, I remember, I was coming from from playing in the big leagues and and I faced him in a in like a preseason game, and he only threw like two innings, and he threw fastball like a ninety nine slider cider I pop up or something to the right field and I and I remember telling my teammates, oh, this is all tiny.
I mean, it's not that.
I mean, you see a lot of guys on the big leagues like him. And once the season started, we got to face each other. He was on like like he was good, really good. But I got some hits off him too, and I get I hate a couple of doubles.
And and we hit him good in the playoffs.
Like I said, we faced him a lot, and uh, you know when you face it somebody a lot.
I mean you kind of know when he's on, when his fastball was on, when his breaking mos are on.
But we got the confidence of of saying, like he would throw me a fastball, and I followed it off and I look at him and I say, Masugo, masuga, like, throw me a fastball. And when he was nasty, he would throw me that fastball. And then he told me that slider and he said, kuzsan, today you have no chance. So obviously that day, if I walk for me, it counts as ahead because he knew he was, he had all this stuff, and.
You know, we build that relationship. You know, you knew me as a player.
You know, I like to talk to my teammates or or all the other team because at the end of the day, baseball is a game and you're supposed to have fun with it. And I always have fun, and I think I'm having fun now doing what I'm doing from the booth, and.
And I want to keep learning from you guys. You've been doing it for a long time.
You're doing a great job. And appreciate you sharing those great stories from Japan. And your Japanese is not Japanese English. It's pretty good.
How you got those time, how I got to Luis Cruise, Thank you so much.
And I'm so happy to see Clayton catch it back. And he was one of the best, you know, teammates I had. And uh, when I came to the Dodgers, I remember getting to the clubhouse and I didn't have a locker, and uh, Kersha clean up one of his lockers and he's like, hey, you just see it run next to me. So I was lucky enough to see run next to Kersha my year that I spent year and a half that I spent with the Dodgers. And now you know, like maybe we built this relationship because
we played ping punk together in spring training. Uh, and we we will it was we were the finalists for the tournament and he beat me and I got to I got to talk to him like a couple of days, like two days before he start, and I say, Kershaw, whenever you retire, I'm gonna look for you so you
can give me the rematch. And he's like, okay, we'll do so I'm like okay, So I'm just you know, like like being a former player, you have like a little insight to talk to them, you know, like you can talk about something else besides you know, how you feel, how you arm, how do you breaking.
Well, how you lag?
And we just talk about different stuff and it made me feel good and I want them to make to feel comfortable with me being there.
You know, that's an amazing story.
I never knew that about Shaw cleaning out the empty lockers so you could sit there.
He did, he did.
I remember I got to the clubhouse each Paul was the club and he asked me, what are you doing here? Because I got called up and nobody knew, and and Kirsha had.
It was the old stadium.
It was the the you know, like the three the small lockers, like the ones outside, and uh, Kersha had one with shoes and then what with his stuff, and then he got another one pre renovation. Yeah yeah, pre renovation before and uh say crazy, Uh just sit right here, and he told one of the club is to clean it up, and I got to see it right next to him.
You know, when he pitched.
He got here like a twelve every day for a seven o'clock game, he puts his bags on, and you.
Know, like it was. It was.
I was lucky enough to be there and play behind him, play there, play short and uh you know, have his uh friendship and getting to see him back again. Hopefully he get to finish his career with his three thousand strikeouts and I would love to see it.
Man, Luis Cruz, great baseball experiences.
Thank you for the time. And I know everybody loves Cochito.
Thank you.
Everybody loves you because you're the man, and you dress really nice
Not as good as Cochito Cruiz.