The Dodgers remain on the East coast here in Washington, d C. And I'm joined right now by one of my favorites because he's Italian. I'm Italian, and we need more Italians on the Dodgers, and that is the one and only Michael CONFORDO. Michael, thanks a lot for the time.
Yeah, should I agree, we need more Italians on the team, for sure.
No doubt, no doubt. Hey, how Italian are you though, That's what I want to know.
Uh So, my dad's one hundred percent, which makes me fifty. You know, my most of my family is back in Pennsylvania, so I had some family out there in Philly, and uh so, my dad grew up in Altuona. My grandma has six sisters, so I have like sixty cousins out there, and they're all pretty much still around Altuna, and uh you know, we go back every every so often, but it's it's one big Italian celebration, you know, for family reunions and weddings and and all that kind of stuff.
So we ended up in Seattle, away from most of most of the family. So you know, I'd probably be a little bit more Italian if I stayed in Altuna.
But hey, you got sixty cousins. That's legit right there. That's when I know you're Italian.
Yeah, exactly, a big, big family.
It's always good to go back there and see family.
Michael Conforto is our guest in front of first pitch. Now, I gotta ask you, all that Italian blood in you and all that family, what do you love the most about the food of Italy?
Honestly, there's there's not really any kind of Italian food that I don't like. It's definitely my favorite food. My grandma always did, you know, big Sunday gravy. You know, she wouldn't call it gravy, but you know, like a Sunday red sauce with you know, she'd like the meatballs, the sausage, pepperoni.
Let it all cook, you know, in the.
On the stove multiple times, you know, so the sauce kind of soaks up all that flavor, and the meat soaks up all the flavor of the sauce. You know that that's our that's our Christmas celebration, our Easter celebration. It's been a while since I've been able to have it from her, but I've learned to make it. I try my best to make it and it's never like hers, but it's, uh, it just reminds me of home.
Hey, good for you for trying that. Michael Conforto is our guest. I know it's only eleven games into the season, but it feels like as a group, as an offensive unit, it feels like you guys are starting to find that chemistry.
Yeah, I think so, you know, I think it.
You know, we just have a lot of really good players, guys who know who they are, and uh, you know, it's it's it's uh, it's just a matter of all of us kind of getting our timing and and uh and you know, just starting to just kind of feel free up there. I think it's kind of one of those things that cream is always going to rise to the top. You know, when you've got guys like Mookie and Freddie and Will Smith and show Hey and Tay Oscar and you know, you can just go on and
on down the lineup. You know, we're gonna score some runs. We just have to, you know, I think just some of the little things we just have to make sure we don't lose sight of, and we'll be pretty hard to beat.
I remember in spring training you were in the cage and Dave Roberts was behind you and he was shouting out situations that you might see in a game. Is that kind of what the identity of this offense needs to be to reach its potential, to be able in situations that aren't ideal, to come through two strikes, two outs, and you've done it so far.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean I think, you know, take taking that next step is kind of in the margins where you know, the odds aren't in your favor. You know, with two strikes it's hard to hit, but to be able to come through in those situations is big, and so you know, I think that's why Doc likes to do that.
He you know, he wants it to be hard.
He wants you to be uncomfortable, and you know, we train those things, so you know, we really want to, you know, take advantage of every advantage, you know, every every little thing that we can and and just try to keep getting better every day.
Is that one of the biggest ways to succeed. Have a plan?
Yeah? Absolutely.
I think understanding the situation, you know, what you're walking into, you know, is it a guy on second base?
With with less than two outs.
You know, or or with nobody out that you you know, the biggest priorities to get him over, you know. Or are you in a situation where you're able to swing free and try to slug you know, when you you know, maybe in you're at bat the plan changes, You're you're looking to slug, and then later in the at bat you're looking to, you know, do a job and move a guy over, or be a tough out, try to drive the pitch count up. You know, There's a lot
of things. I think you just have to understand the situation. I think our our hitting coaches do a great job of just making sure that we're aware of, you know, what the plan is and what we want to do in each situation.
Are you a big believer in the guy hitting in front of you and you hitting in front of the person behind you that affects the pictures that you may see and also who may be on base. Are you believer that even in this day and age of baseball, that remains true.
I think there's definitely situations that that that comes up. I don't know if it's every you know, every single time you go through the lineup, but I think, you know, on a high leverage spot where you know, they see show Hayes up fourth and they really don't want him to come to play with somebody on base, you know, it may change the way that they're going to attack the hitters, maybe a little bit more aggressive, you know, not wanting to walk anybody, you know, and just attacking
the zone. But you know, that's just one example of how things can change.
And I think.
There are a lot of just like you know, they the pictures and our pictures, they have a plan for each guy. You know, they know, you know, the catchers and the pictures are going to try to exploit, you know, whatever weakness that you have. So there's that, and then there's also you know, the game within the game of you know, they see who's coming up down the line and who they feel like is a better matchup, you know, in each situation. So I think it's there's just a
lot of things at play. I think that still holds true, but not always.
You know, Yeah, you mentioned Otani, you've heard about him, you know about him, but now your teammates with him. Is there anything that surprises you or is now that you're behind the curtain on the same side, what have you learned about how he's able to be as great as he is.
I never got to see how he worked. He works his ass off. He you know, when he trains, he trains to swing hard, trains speed at speed. Obviously there's technique in there, but like when he's in the cage, it's it's loud, and it's impressive how hard the ball comes off, and it's every day. So that that was awesome to see, not that I wasn't expecting it, it's just impressive to see in person. And you sometimes you
like to sit down and watch. You don't like to necessarily get in the cage after him after he puts on that show. But aside from that, he's just he's a normal guy. He's he's got a great sense of humor and he's goofy, likes to mess around, and you know, I think that's why. You see how his teammates react to him doing things, and you know, he always seems to come through in a big moment.
So that's great.
Hey, Michael Conforto is fun to watch too, sit to hit. That's what I think about when I see Confordo in that batter's box. From the last left side. Thanks a lot for the time. Always great catching up with you and man LA's love and Michael Conforto.
I love the sound of that.
That's great. I hope they I hope they enjoy. This is gonna be a fun team to watch for sure,