Well, the Tampa Bay Rays are in town, which means old friend Ryan Pepio is back in Los Angeles. Great to see him and his butler Mullet. Thanks a lot for the time appreciated.
Thanks day, good back man.
It is so good to see you. How's your season gone in Florida.
It's been great, you know, really happy with where I am. Been a great group of guys in a great clubhouse, to be a part.
Of one of the best pitchers, the Rays having their rotation. Despite my tweet, I feel shamed.
Now, No, you're good. You had to do what you gotta do to your job. No, no, no, it's okay.
It's okay. I don't need the spotlight. Yeah, Boz and Tajh and they're throwing the ball really well. So it's been fun to watch.
You're having a great year too. Nineteen starts.
Your era is below four three and a half in a tough Al East. Your whip I don't have to tell you. How have you been able to navigate such a tough division.
I don't know. I think a lot of it was starting here in Los Angeles, you know, a tough division here and then going to another tough division just kind of feel like it prepared me a little bit, and then the pitching staff and department over in Tampa has been has been great, and just continuing efforts to just keep me throwing the ball and zone and letting guys get themselves out.
It feels like young guys when they get traded. It kind of makes the the maturation process speed up a lot. Do you feel like you had to grow up really quick after being traded?
I don't know.
I feel like I kind of grew up a lot between my first and second year here in LA. But I think going through that whole experience and you know, getting the spring training and meeting everybody, getting down there early so I could get accimated to Florida and get accimated to everyone staff wise and the team really helped. But I think just going there and just fully buying in and just trust them what they had and what they saw in me and believed really helped.
What's it? What's it like to be with the Rays?
Kevin Cash and their pitching coach I heard is amazing. Does it feel like you just put on a different uniform but it's the same process.
Yeah, I love also was similar. I think a lot of just the main difference is maybe just the way things were messaged, you know stuff. Aaron Tampa's very simplified. Cash is great, really supportive, you know, he's he's always pulling for us and wants to steal our best and then snides on the pitching side and the rest of the pitching department, they've been great. They're just doing whatever they can to help help us continue to get better each between starts.
Ryan Pepio is our guest in front of first pitch between the Dodgers and Rays. Pepio is not pitching in this series. He'll be pitching in Seattle against the Mariners. But it feels like the change up and everything else is still very Ryan Pepio this year.
Yeah, I mean, throw a lot of change ups. The fastball isn't good, slider mixing a little cutter, no more lefties, and then uh we talked about a five pitch mixed the other a couple of years ago, and that have about the curve ball back. So a little bit of a grip change that they helped me in Tampa with. So just you know, tinkering things and adding extra tools with the toolbox.
How much are you keeping tabs on some of your former teammates like Gavin Stone or Bobby Miller. Are you watching those guys?
Yeah?
Absolutely, you know, you go through the minor leagues, you go through seeing those guys get called up, you know, playing on the same team, you obviously want to follow all your buddies. You know, you go through a full season, you go through the grinds of an actual season with all those guys, You really get to know them because you end up spending more time with them in your
own family. So just being able to see the success that those guys have had, and obviously I'm going to keep tabs on them because they're my buddies and I want them to do well. You know, you always want your friends to do well.
I'm sure you're the guy that is least surprised that Gavin Stone was able to make this jump. What is it about Gavin Stone that he has such an even keel personality.
He's always been that way, always been even keel, had always been stone cold, So you know, he just goes out there and pitches. You know, I think similar to me my first year. You know, you kind of get your teeth kicked in a little bit and you kind of learn from it, and you know, sometimes you need that experience to you know, make the correct adjustments to see that when you do have some success, your stuff does play in the big league level and at this level.
And just to watch him go out there and you know, take what he learned from last season and then go and have a stellar season like he has this year. It's it's been fun to watch them far.
When you're part of a staff like you are with the Rays, you guys have some pretty good young pitch. And also next year you're getting back Shane McClanahan, so the future is even brighter with you part of it. What's it like getting to know some new pictures about the way they go about things.
Yeah, it's cool because you know, coming from here, he had a lot of guys that he could bounce ideas off of, especially with kursh and Walker and Tony t May, all the guys and veteran presents. And then you go over to Tampa and you got the young guys like Baz and Taj, and then you have Springs and Rass
and Shane. Because Shane's over a rehabbing in Tampa, so he's there every day, so you know, you get to bounce ideas and you get to learn stuff that I learned here and then also stuff that I learned from the guys in Tampa. And just take ideas from every single person and you know, fit what makes work for me, and maybe take a piece from one of the young guys, take a piece from somebody who's been doing it for a while, and you know, make it my own.
Before I let you go, I was at Brad Paisley's bar when Eric Neander and Andrew Friedman made the trade to send you to Tampa Bay.
I got to know Neander that night.
He seems to be a great guy and really cares about his players.
Have you had that experien with him?
Yeah? Absolutely. Eric's been awesome. One of the first people to call me when everything went down and really just made me feel like I was at home, really made me feel and my wife, make us feel like we're coming to a good situation, and really eased our minds when everything was kind of going crazy. So you know, I'm really thankful for him and all the effort that he put in to make us feel comfortable and welcomed, because without that, you know, I would have been going
crazy in my mind. But he's been great, nothing but nothing but great things to say about him.
Hey, I watch more Raise games now than I ever did in my life, but I only watch them every fifth or sixth day when Ryan Pepio is on the mound, and I'll be watching on Monday night.
You can't forget about Johnny and Clove too. You know you got other view Come on now, I.
Want to see that blonde stash of Johnny DeLuca.
It's there, it's there. He did shave it off for a little bit, but it's back. It's back.
I get to watch de Luca when you pitch, that's when I check in.
Yeah, there you go, there you go.
Thanks Ryan, great to see you, and I'm glad you keep me honest. I needed that in my life again. Somebody's got to Yeah right, Ryan Peppio, he's the fact checker right here. Thanks a lot for the time. Great to see that smile, and man, you never know full circle things sometimes happen in baseball. But we're keeping tabs on you in South Florida.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.