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A Fun Start To The Season

Oct 14, 202338 min
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Episode description

Checking in with Guardians prospect Chase DeLauter as he looks to build on a positive minor league season. Also, beginning the off-season Game of the Week segments as we look back to a couple big extra innings wins early in April against the Oakland A's. That's all on this edition of Guardians Weekly with Jim Rosenhaus on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.

Transcript

Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Gim Ro's in house along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Davey along with us as we continue our off

season shows for the Guardians. With Major League Baseball's postseason continuing, the matchups are set for their respective championship series in both the National League and the American

League. A lot of upsets in the early rounds of the postseason, so it's the Battle of Texas in the American League, the Astros and Rangers getting set for what should be a thrilling best of seven American League Championship Series, and the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks taking on the Phillies, who upset the Braves in their National League Division series. They'll have at it in the National League Championship Series. Should be some great baseball coming up as the postseason continues in Major

League Baseball. Coming up on this week's show, we begin our look back at the twenty twenty three season. Some of the great games of twenty twenty three, and we'll take it back to that first road trip. Optimism running high for the Guardians coming out of spring training, and they open the season on the road in both Seattle and in Oakland very impressively as they came home five and two after that first road swing, and we'll take a look back

at two of the extra inning wins on that road swing. But first we visit with one of the top prospects in the Guardians minor league system, hard hitting outfielder Chase de Lauder. De Lauder is in the Arizona Fall League currently and heading into play on Saturday, De Lauder was hitting two seventy three, a couple of home runs and a dozen runs driven in in very limited playing

time so far as the Arizona Fall League is just getting started. He and Kyle Manzardo another hot prospect for the Guardians in terms of position players who can hit and hit for power. Both of them off to fine starts with the Peoria entry out in the Arizona Fall League. But De Lauder just turned twenty three earlier this month. He's still in his first season of pro ball on

the field. Even though he was drafted with a first round selection back in twenty twenty two, sixteenth overall out of James Madison University, the first player ever in that program's history to become a first rounder in the Major League Baseball

Draft. He batted over four hundred in his three seasons there. Why hasn't he been on the field, Why is this just his first season of pro ball on the field, Well, he had a broken left foot that really gave him some issues at the tail end of his college career, and he reinjured that foot, needed to have surgery and as a result, did not take the field until this season, and he only played in forty two games overall this year in the minor leagues, thirty nine over at Single A Lake

County. But by season's end, he hit three point fifty five with five homers and thirty nine driven in in fifty seven games, with an ops of just under one thousand, which is tremendous. You get up over eight hundred, and you're talking about a good combination of on base and power and all the good things that make an offensive player, and he is well above that benchmark numbers. So some big things expected from Jace to Louder, and Louder

really starting to contribute in the Arizona Fall League. We had a chance to catch up with him from Peoria Arizona earlier this week and he talked about how things have been going in his first Arizona Fall League experience. Great, awesome. I appreciate you having me and I love it here. And when you talk about the Arizona Fall League before we get into your summer and and how

things are going for you, what is the vibe like out there? You mentioned playing with some other teams, but it's such a well respected league and do you feel that when when you're out there playing knowing past players who have

gone on to big things in the major leagues. Yeah? Absolutely, I mean, you know, the talent here is is like it's it's supposed to be, I would say, and you know, you got all the guys in the stands watching, you know, take a note, so I would say, it's every bit of what it's supposed to be and what it's portrayed to be. And when you look at your background James Madison University, Uh, not as well known as maybe some other baseball schools, But why was

that the right fit for you coming out of high school? And and how did it work out for you to allow you to become the player that you did there. Yeah, I mean James Madison. You know, it was awesome. You know, the huge praise of the coaching staff that was there when I was there. You know, they did everything they could for me personally. That was the only school that offered me. So that's what That's what I rode with. And I have no regrets going there, even you

know, sticking there throughout the three years. You know, those guys are awesome, very low to me, so I felt felt the need to return the favor and you know it worked out. How much did you change from from the time you you stepped on campus to the time that you were drafted by Cleveland? H you mean like physically, Yeah, it's physically and as

and as a player. Well, actually I committed. I committed to school as a pitcher only by my junior year of high school, so I was going there originally as a po you know, gave me a shot to two way once I got there. You know, just had a had a successful fall that that fall, I think that was the twenty nineteen fall would have been. So I had a good fall and he gave me a chance to

start in the outfield that spring and pitching. Pitching kind of fell backwards after that, and you know, obviously Covid had hit and just kind of hammered the weight room from there on out and started just swinging it. Do you miss pitching at all? I do. I mean, pitching is just a different It's a whole different ball game. I mean, you're you're in total control of the game and kind of you know, it's kind of like a

quarterback, You're kind of in control of what happens from the start. So yeah, I definitely miss It's a very different, I would say, like kind of mindset than a hitter. But yeah, we're joined by Chase, a lot of former top round draft pick of the Guardians who had a tremendous season once he was able to get on the field and participate in the minor

league season. And Chase, you mentioned that the development you had at James Madison and I know you also went had that opportunity to play in the Cape during one of the summers there, and what did that do for your game being able to play there? Yeah, I mean you're a Cape was awesome. I didn't really know what to expect when I first was going up there, but that was kind of like the intro. It felt like to some real real baseball, some real competition, some playing every day. So I

think that was like, that was awesome experience for me. And that was the first time I really you know, traveled far away from home and played with just a bunch of random guys that I didn't really know. So it was awesome experience. And for every player in a minor league system trying to get to the major leagues, how do you view this period of time where you're in Arizona here this fall and most likely we'll start at a fairly high

level next season. What are your goals for twenty twenty four as you round

out here in twenty twenty three. Yeah, I mean my goals are, you know, obviously to just make the improvements on my game from both sides of the ball as I need to after you know, seeing the results of obviously the season and we'll see what happens with the rest of the fall league, but making those adjustments to early spring training, and then other than that, staying real healthy, you know, getting getting in a good routine and

keep myself out there. And I think the rest should take care of itself well. Chase. It's been fun to watch your development from a distance and certainly looking forward to seeing you out in spring training. Thanks so much for

coming along. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thank you. That is Chase the Louder, a name to certainly keep an eye on next spring, along with Kyle Manzarto, two new young power hitting prospects who has certainly put together some really good numbers both during their minor league seasons this year and now

in the Arizona fall Leaf. Stay with us when we come back. We'll visit with Bart Swain, the Guardians director of Baseball Information, with a look back at the life and times of Jim Poole, who passed away last week at the age of fifty seven, a former Cleveland Indians relief pitcher from those great teams back in the nineties, And will visit with Bart and some of his thoughts on the untimely passing of Pool who had a courageous battle against als

and he succumbed to that last week. That's coming your way shortly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Net. Baseball, basketball, pickleball. Those are sports and people love sports. If you love sports, you should know this. Drivers who switch and say with Progressive could save hundreds deceiving of anything to do with sports. No, the people love sports, so I'm yelling sports out. Hockey, swimming, golf, not all sports of the word ball in

there. So save big when you switched to Progressive those sports teams Progressive Casualty Insurance Company in affiliates, potential savings will vary. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, And unfortunately, last week the Cleveland baseball community lost a valued member, certainly one of the good guys in the game when he pitched here back in the nineties for

some of those great teams in a relief role. Jim Pool a relief pitcher who spent eleven seasons in the major leagues, and parts of four of those seasons came with Cleveland, the team that he ended up pitching the most for, and that included stint for the nineteen ninety five ball club, as he was a valuable arm for that team that reached the World Series that year. And unfortunately he passed away last Saturday due to complications from als, he had

a courageous battle against that disease. He was an integral part of Major League Baseball's efforts to raise awareness of lou Garrigg's disease, and certainly sad news and

something that hit a lot of people very hard. In the Guardians organization, Bart Swain is the director of Baseball Information for the Guardians, and he was just getting started on his career in baseball information at the major league level during those nineteen ninety years when the team was a perennial contender not only to reach the postseason, but make it all the way to the World Series, and he developed a close relationship up with Jim Pool and he talks about how difficult

this past week has been, but also some great memories of a good guy in the game, Jim Poole. It was sad to read that when I came up. Paul Assenmacher actually texted us Me and Charlie Maggy and a couple other guys, Frank Mancini one of our clubhous guys, and yeah, I mean it really hit home hard. It's Jim and I were really close, kind of took me under his wing in ninety five. As you know, a twenty five year old first year PR guy and I'll just I'll never forget

him. He was a special guy. Did you mentioned that It's ninety five and at your first year with all these superstars, all stars at every position, and we were talking earlier, jim was he was a middle reliever, kind of a matchup guy at times. But you know, those pictures sometimes get lost in the show, but there's such key parts of it and and what did it mean to you to have a friend like that on that particular

team. Yeah, Jimmy. Jimmy was kind of just you know, if anyone would look at our roster in ninety five, we kind of forget about him, especially if you didn't remember what happened in Game six. But but he was just such a friendly person, good with money, went to Georgia Tech, so we had a lot in common as far as you know, talking about college and stuff, and just just someone that if you're having a bad day, he would always lift you up a little bit and it was

always there for you. And it was just a great friend, a great teammate, a great guy to have around. A lot of the players gravitated to him because he was really good with math, with numbers and financial planning, and he was really tight with some of the people in the union as far as the benefits of the players. So he was kind of like the glue in that bullpen. Just as far as a personality. Bart Swayne is

joining us. He's the Guardian's director of Baseball Information. We're talking about the life and times of major league pitcher Jim Poole, who spent actually, boy, you look at it, and this was a surprise as many years with Cleveland as with any team in his eleven year major league baseball career, parts of four seasons with the then Indians, and part you got that phone call when he lets you know what was going on in terms of his battle with

ALS, and baseball will always be intertwined with that disease because of Luke Garrett. How hard was that phone calling and what did he fill you in on in terms of what he was going through. So must have been probably May

of twenty twenty two. He said he had been diagnosed about six weeks prior and he had just noticed it, maybe playing pickleball or doing some stuff around the yard and his balance was affected and he tried to throw a ball at one point they got you know, he was walking around the neighborhood and a ball came over to him and he was going to throw it back to a kid, and he tried to and he like threw it in the ground,

and he knew something was not good. So he had some doctor visits and that's what they eventually landed on. And you know, God loved him. He called all his friends and I know it advanced pretty quickly for him, the disease, and I'm just I'm just happy to know him. It was it was a tough phone I'm sure there was a lot of tough phone calls for him there, and but that's just the kind of guy he was.

He's a stand up guy and we're all better off knowing him. I mean, you talk about a stand up person and someone that just wore it for everyone else. It was it was him and bart. Baseball can be a I mean, it's it's a fun game too, and then sometimes there's there's circumstances that maybe legion in a certain path, he actually stayed with you and

during the postseason and explain that how does why does that happen? And then you know the reality of living situations sometimes when when a team plays October baseball. So yeah, like a lot of guys signed leases for six months, so you know, baseball seasons from April to in the September. He had

signed the lease in ninety eight. I think he joined us like mid years, so he probably has signed like a six week you know, eight week lease, and his lease ran out October first, and he ended up living with me in Rocky River in UH for the month of October in ninety eight. And those were the days when October's went a long way. Oh maybe not necessarily ninety eight, but certainly ninety five and ninety seven. It was fun. It was really cool. We had an extra bedroom and there was

our our son, Jim. Oh listen, you know, it's obviously hard to get that news, but sometimes you can think back to some fun times and hopeful, oh yeah, hopefully this has allowed you to do that a little bit. Absolutely. I mean, it was I had forgotten about ninety eight and him living with us, and just all the times that we would hang out on the road and hotel rooms or lobbies and just you know, or clubhouses and just talk about life. It was. It was great.

He was you wanted a kind well, we thanked Bart for his contributions to our show this week and for stopping by and sharing some memories of someone who really made a nice impact here in a very short period of time with the Cleveland Ball Club, and he certainly will be missed. Stay with us, We'll have more to come after this the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Network. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jimm rosen House back with you from Progressive Field in downtown

Cleveland. And once we hit the off season, what has become a yearly tradition and certainly a fun portion of our shows each week during the offseason, or at least on a very much regular basis, I'll look back at some of the great games of the prior season, and in twenty twenty three, well those got rolling early in what turned out to be a year of a slew of close ballgames, the Guardians trailing only the Cincinnati Reds, and the

amount of one run games that they played that got started on that first road trip of the season, you may remember, coming out of spring training, the Guardians opened the year with a West coast road swing, four in Seattle and then three in Oakland, and on that opening road swing, they ended up playing three extra inning games. They won them all. Two of them turned out to be one run victories. They lost a one run game in Oakland. There was a two nothing, shut out victory over the Mariners.

So the close games started early for this ball club. And we're going to highlight a couple of the extra inning wins in that Oakland series, starting with the opener. Now, this was after an extra inning victory to close out the Seattle series on Sunday, April the second, So then it was down the coast to Oakland, California and the Oakland Coliseum and on a Monday night in Oakland the Guardians after taking three out of four from Seattle. It was

a wild start to the series with the Athletics. They got things going in the first inning when Stephen Quan and Jose Ramirez reached base and that brought Josh Nayler to the plate. Josh Nayler the BA and he swings drills of ase hit into center field. Quan around third, he is heading home, Ramirez

will stop at second. Guardians leaded one to nothing on a two out RBI single to center by Josh Naylor. He has now knocked in three and the Guardians have jumped on James Kaprillion for a one nothing lead, and they still have runners at first and second. Boy, and who knew at that point Naylor would have a tremendous season, falling just shy of the one hundred RBI mark. But that got the game going one nothing Cleveland. The next batter

was Andre Simenez. His next delivery swung on line toward first, fair ball down the right field line, rolls into foul territory for extra bases. That'll score Ramirez into third is Nailer and an RBI double down the right field line for Andre Cemenez and another clutch two ot RBI hit. The Guardians lead two to nothing. Now, the A's would cut into the lead with a run

in the bottom half of the first inning. Then a five run second inning put Oakland on top six to two, but the Guardians would not beat a turret. They started to chip away in the fourth with a blast from Naylor. I'll try and get something done here against the starter, James Kaprillian, who is set down seventh straight. He goes to work on Josh Naylor and Naylor hits one high and deep to right. This one is into the seats home run Josh Naylor, his second on the season. Guardians cut into that

lead. It's now six to three Oakland. Later on in the fourth inning, two men on and Miles Straw at the dish. Here comes the two to two pitch to Miles Straw. It's on its way, swung online, drive left field that gets down for a base at rounding third, heading for home. As he meant is he scores big waved around third is Brennan. He will score standing up. It's a for Straw that drives in two,

and just like that, the Guardians are right back in it. In the fifth inning, Ramon Loreano, who would be a future Cleveland Guardian later on in that twenty twenty three season, he game to the plate for Oakland, trying to extend the Athletics lead. Here's the pitch swung on and here's a high fly ball deep left field. Back there looking up, but Quan won't get this one. It is gone. It's a two run home run for Loreano and Oakland is now out to an eight to five league Well, once

again, back came the Guardians, this time in the sixth inning. They had a man on third and Stephen Quan hoping to deliver. There ain't handers ready. Here it comes, swinging a fly ball to left, medium deep near the line. Brown makes the catch, tagging is Sonino. He's coming home. Throw to the plate is cut off and it's a sack fly to left by Steven and the Guardians now trail eight to six with a runner at second and now Timan out here in the sixth inning, and then I'm d

Rosario came through with a big two out hit. Familia is ready here. It comes a swing and a shut up the middle base at center field that'll score Will Brennan from second, and it's once again a one run game. And once again Cleveland gets a big two out hit. They have had three two out RBI hits tonight. Onto the eighth the ballgame went Guardians down by a run. Miles Straw and Steven Kwan both singled to get the inning started, and then Rosario got the job done again. The pitch swing in a

little fly ball not very deep and left. Brown will make to catch straws tagging He's coming home. Throw to the plate cut off at the mound by note of the first basement, and we've got an eight to eight game. So Ameda Rosario didn't hit it very deep to left, but it'll go as a sack fly. Second RBI tonight his third on the year, and Cleveland's come all the way back to tie this game at eight. And then who else but Jose Ramirez to put the Guardians on top. The pitch swung on

line drive, that'll be a base hitting the right. Kuan Well go to third over running the ball is capling right. It rolls to the warning track. Quan is going to score the goal ahead run. Ramirez is into third with a little league triple and the Guardians have a nine to eight lead. Josh Bell was next trying to get Ramirez home from third. Bell sends a little bloop in the air to left. It's not deep near the line. Brown running catch, he'll throw to the plate. Here comes Ramirez throw slide

safe for the head first slide. Ramirez eluded the tag of Langoliers on a shallow fly to left near the line that Brown made a running, charging catch on and throw of the plate. But the best base runner in baseball, Jose Ramirez scores from third on a head first slide. Why would you do it with the type of night where Oakland just wouldn't go away. They tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning a two run home run by Seth Brown, and once again the ballgame went to extra innings. In the

tenth Stephen Kwan was the runner starting at second base. I'm at Rosario singled, and then Jose Ramirez came through again. Now the right hander fires, runner goes pitch swung on line towards second base, hit right field. That'll score Kwan. Rosario hesitated. Now he'll go to third and Jose Ramirez with his third straight hit tonight his second RBI in this game. And the Guardians still have runners at the quarters. And now we're back on top of eleven

to ten. And then the Guardians got a little help from A's reliever Trevor May. The pitch down in the dirt kicks away from Langoliers. He doesn't know where it is coming home to scores Forsario as the ball trickled behind him about fifteen feet. Langeliers lost where the ball was and it'll be a wild pitch and a huge insurance run as Cleveland now leads at twelve to ten. That proved to be a huge run, as once again, Oakland would not

go away bottom half of the tenth inning. Eli Morgan was now on to try and pick up the save as Emmanuel Classe suffered a blown save in the bottom half of the ninth inning, so his night was done. Morgan came on. He got the first two outs, but then a double drove in a run to make it a one run ball game at twelve eleven, and the pressure was on as Morgan faced Tony Kemp trying to nail down the save. Here's the pitch, swung on fly ball left feet near the line.

Kwan Is there makes the catch. Ball game Now that was a breeze, wasn't it. In ten innings, Cleveland is able to survive Oakland by a final score of twelve to eleven. What a wild game early in the season. Twelve eleven, the Guardians win it, and they continued their hot stretch. They had won four straight heading into Tuesday's game, another one run game in Oakland. This time the Athletics went it four to three, walking it

off in the bottom half of the ninth inning. So the road trip concluded on Wednesday afternoon, April fifth, in Oakland, Guardians trying to go five and two on the trip. You knew it wouldn't be easy and it wasn't good pitching on both sides in this game. It was scoreless until the sixth with Hunter Gaddis getting to start and he had it all working in this one. He deals and the pitch head in the air third base side foul Arius

has played of room. What an inning for Hunter Gaddis. He had an eight pitch inning, and then in the sixth inning the Guardians finally got the scoring started with a couple of men on for catcher Cam Gallagher. Domingo as Savedo in the pitch to catch a Cam Gallagher and he swings and drives the first pitch deep left field on the runners brown track wall and it's off the top of the wall that'll score him and his straw round third will score.

Had a two out, two run double off the fifteen foot wall and left and left center off the man of Cam Gallagher and the Guardians have a two nothing lead. Gallagher jumped on the first pitch from Domingo as Savedo and blasted it high off that fifteen foot wall and the Guardians get the desperate hit with two down that they have been lacking and give cam Gallagher his first hit and rbies as a guardian. And in the seventh, two men on, it

was Jimenez getting it done at the plate. Bases loaded, two down, four, Jimenez the pitch and he rips one in the right center. That'll

be a base hit, that'll score Ramirezan. Gonzalez on his way to third base to throw the slide to tag Arius is out at third, but the run scores, so give Andre Simenez a huge two out and a two run single to right center and Cleveland now leads Oakland Ford to nothing stretch time in the Bay Area, But in the eighth inning, two home runs and four runs for Oakland tied the game at four, and it's stay tied through nine. And once again it was on the extra innings, third time on the

road trip. In the top half of the tenth, a walk in a wild pitch put runners at second and third for Will Brennan. Brennan awaiting the payoff pitch from Za Jackson. Here it comes swung on grounded towards short that'll score a run and get a runner over. Alan will throw it first and he almost was late. Brennan made it close. He is out, but Hemanta scores the go ahead run, and just as important, Miles Straw advances to third. Heck of a job by Will Brennan and he almost beat it

out. And then Stephen Kuan added a huge insurance run. The next delivery swung on line towards short over the head of Alan. That'll be a base hit to left scoring Straw, and that's another critical hit for the top RBI guy on the Guardians. Stephen Kwan, with his eighth RBI gives Cleveland a six to four lead here in the tenth inning. And nobody has had this kind of a start driving in runs for Cleveland as a leadoff hitter since Kenny

Lofton in nineteen ten ninety eight. And this time am annual Class A came on in the bottom half of the tenth. They ain't trying to finish things up, and he got the job done. Now he bats with two down two on Cleveland up two in the tenth, the Pits line drived a deep right field but right there's Gonzales ballgame and the Guardians, for the first time in twenty one years, opened the season on the road and come away with two series wins. Cleveland again in extra innings for the third time this year

has won as they beat Oakland six to four in ten innings. So what a season opening road trip for the Guardians as they went five and two against a very good Seattle team that had big time postseason aspirations and of course the rebuilding Oakland Athletics. But you catch a young team like that early in the season at home and it can always be a challenge, and the Guardians got through it, taking two out of three from the Athletics. Look back at

some of the great games of twenty twenty three. When we come back, will visit with a pair of rookie relief pitchers and sometimes a starter in the case of Xavion Curry. That's coming your way shortly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network score pass out of bounds. Those are sports words. Some people hear any sports word and they can't help but listen. Like drive drive is another sports word, and drivers who switch and save with progressive could save hundreds.

You might say those savings are on par with the best in the league. You see, parr is also a sports word, so I know you're still listening, and that's called covering our bases. Okay, I'm done now, but I'm serious about drivers saving big with Progressive. Now I'm really dumb. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House back with you for our final segment of

this week week show, and we're going to talk pitching with Xaviyon. Curry had made the ball club out of spring training sort of, we'll get to that in a moment with him, but he ended up being on the ball club coming out of camp and provided a big boost for the Guardians in terms

of long relief. His first appearance came on that wild twelve eleven victory at Oakland on the first Monday of the season, in which he worked five innings when the team was desperate for length from their bullpen and they got it from Exavion. Curry was just terrific and that really set the tone for what turned out to be a tremendous season. Most of it was in that long relief role, but when some pitching injuries cropped up midway through, Curry was thrust

into the starting rotation and he held his own there as well. We caught up with him at the end of the season, but had him look back at the start of the year when leyden spring training it looked like he would open in the minor leagues, and he talked about what those days of not knowing what his future would hold, at least the immediate future, what those were like for him, and then finally getting the news that he had made

the ball club. Oh yeah, you know that, You know that that couple of days, you know, towards the end of the spring training, just going back over to the minor league side for a couple of days, and then getting a call that you know, I could possibly be departing with the team once the season starts. You know, just you know, I do think about that, and like I just kind of look back at and

just say how blessed I am to even still be here in September. You know, It's been a whole season now, and you know, the kind of the way I say is, somehow, some way, I've still been a part of this team the whole time, and that's just that's just a blessing. Guy has a plan for me. We saw you a little bit last year. You made your debut. Most of your season in the minor

leagues, but your stuff has been good up here this season. Are you that much better of a picture you think from from this time a year ago? You know, honestly, I would say no. Me personally, I probably feel like, you know, maybe even last year, I was probably just as far as the minus, like a little better. Like I,

you know, might've had a little better stuff. But I would say I feel like here, you know, just and even through spring training, like obviously just stand in the weight room, staying in contact with the pitching staff, and the off season just trying to work on things to improve. And then I think a big help was getting here, and like like you said before, just playing here, like having an opportunity to just pitch in that

long relief role. You know, it allowed me to how I say, it allowed me to get reps and at the major league level, allowed me to go out there and to test my stuff, like to be able to say, Okay, I've been working on this on execute my slider like this in the bullpins with the pitching staff, so let's see how that plays when

I go into games. And just honestly, just even talking to the other guys on the pitching staff, picking their brains and just trying to figure out like, okay, like you know, how do you pitch this guy? How what is your understanding of the zone, like when you're trying to throw

a curveball where you're trying to start it. And just like like I said, I would say, I think I just learned more about pitching at the major league level and just you know, and for the most part of the season, just honestly even being able to just watch, you know, our guys go out there and pitch and just you know, kind of model my my game plans after theirs and just watching how they had how they had success.

So just being able to just be up here and play here and and watch here and just just learn and just kind of soak up everything that I felt like I needed to soak up to make myself better, you know, kind of like the like the Kobe Bryant effect. You know, he said something in the video that I saw, but just basically he used the world to help him become better at basketball. You know, everything was kind of catered towards you know, how can this help me in basketball? And that's

kind of the approach that I take. You know, just soaking up everything that I can to to be able to, you know, use it to make myself a better person at a better baseball player. Xavier, and thanks a lot for coming back. Appreciate it, no problem. Thank you for having me Atlantic. Xavion Curry one of the good guys in the game and certainly had a fine rookie season for the Guardians. Oh, we hope you enjoy that look back at the twenty twenty three season. We'll do that throughout

the off season. Here. That's going to do it for this week's edition of Guardian's Weekly. As always, thanks to Brian Motze for all of his help on our show each week. We'll join you again next week from right here in downtown Cleveland. Until then, this is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly, How's it been brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance

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