It's snell Zilla Day at camel Back Ranch and Glendale, Arizona. Blake Snell making his debut with the Dodgers in a Cactus League game. And you got to have the A team in there behind Blake Snell, and they have the A team behind him. The NLCSMVP playing second base today, Tommy Edmund, Tommy, great to see you, and I know it's always busy in the morning, so thank you for the time.
Yeah, of course, good to see you too. You know, it's an exciting day to get to watch Blake pitch for the first time in the Dodgers' UNI, so you know it's gonna be a fun game today.
You faced him quite a bit over your career. How big of a relief is that you don't have to see him anymore?
Yeah, he's got my number. You know, I don't think I ever got a hit off of him, so, you know, I'm glad that we don't have to face him anymore.
This is your first spring training at camel Back Ranch. You were traded for in the middle of the year. So what's the feeling now being a world champion and having time to just kind of ease into the season with the same team.
Yeah, it's been fun, you know, to be able to have a healthy spring training, and obviously it's a little bit different schedule because we got to get ready to go to Tokyo. But you know, just getting this time to get the work in that I need and just to get ready for season and prepare for you know, the next eight months of baseball.
Yeah, we forget it. This time last year you were trying to come back from not just one injury, but a couple. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely had a frustrating first half last year. But you know, everything's feeling good now and hopefully I have a full healthy season, all right.
So I'm always looking at guys and what things they've done to try to improve every year. Now, sometimes it deceives me. I'm not a baseball nerd like other people, but it looks like from the left side, you may have stood taller with your stands. Have you decided to maybe do a couple of different things there.
Yeah, the ultimate goal is just to be able to stay taller in my backside, you know, and be able to land in a position where I'm able to adjust and cover more parts of the zone. So yeah, you know, just just small mechanical adjustments and you know, just to help myself give myself a better chance to have success, regardless who's pitching.
What's the process of making that decision to be able to say, you know, this may help me.
Yeah, it's just identifying, you know, the areas of my swing that are not optimal and you know, really hammering those down in the cage and during VP rounds and just making sure I'm focusing on those few things and staying locked in and not losing sight of what I'm working towards.
Since Tommy Edmund has one of the highest baseball iques in the room, maybe you can explain to us what's the biggest difference for a hitter to stand taller rather than do what you were doing and maybe shrink the strike zone.
Well, now the ABS is you know we're using this, it's that they pretty much just measure your height, so it doesn't really matter how tall you're standing anymore. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I'm just trying to find
a way to help myself keep that backside strong. So you know, when if I squat down, then there's the tendency to kind of get get I guess squatted into the backside so that I'm I kind of slide out instead of being able to stay strong and be able to stay firm with my back hip and be able to use that in my swing. So yeah, you know, just kind of I don't want to get too much into the mechanical side of it, but it's basically just being able.
To use the back hit better, so simplify things I've heard. Hitting coaches and great hitters always talk about you have to be connected to the ground to be a successful hitter. Are you a big believer in that?
For sure? Yeah, you're you know, the strongest muscles are your legs, so you got to be able to use them if you want to, you know, have the have the most power that you can.
Now, Tommy Edmond's playing a lot of infield. Do you feel like you're going back to the majority of your time where you want a gold Glove at second base?
Yeah, you know, it's been fun to play a lot of second again, you know, playing with with Mooki over at short it's been fun to you know, kind of communicate with him and learn about how each other works. So, you know, we'll see what this season brings. But playing second for now I'm sure I'll mix it a little bit in the center as well, But you know, I'm just making sure to stay fresh regardless of ready put me.
I saw you yesterday taking outfield drills and making throws from center field to home plate. The throws are so different from second obviously compared to center field. How important is it for you to stretch out your arm like that to be ready whenever called upon?
Yeah, I got to just make sure to do that and make sure I'm keeping up today with my long toss and making those longer throws, you know, every now and then, to make sure I'm ready whenever I whenever I got a head out there. But you know, it's definitely a little bit different of a throw, but you know, the concepts are kind of the same. Be able to get behind the ball and use my momentum to you know, to get some carry on it.
Some guys have a hard time just making throws from the position they play every day. It's remarkable that you're able to make the accurate throws from several different positions.
Yeah, you know, it's a lot of work. Hey, you gotta stay on top of it, but you know, it's that's part of it. You gotta gotta put in the work that's required.
Hey, you mentioned Mooki and you being a double play combo right now. Can you tell the confidence that he has at that position.
Yeah, for sure. You know, he's put in the whole off season of work and looked really good during the spring, and he's always out there taking extra ground balls and just making sure he can be the best defensive short stop that he can be. And you know, it's looked really good so far.
All right, Tommy, thanks a lot for the time. Really appreciate it. And I always feel like I learned something from you, because obviously a lot of people know how high your IQ is on and off the field. So thank you, Tommy. I really appreciate it, especially for a mere mortal like myself.
Yeah, of course, always a pleasure.