A Whole Different Ballgame For Tyler Naquin

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Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with you from Goodyear Arizona Guardians spring training. With less than three weeks to go now before opening day in Kansas City. So things starting to wind down in terms of spring training, believe it or not. Not really, there's still certainly plenty of baseball action left and some things to be decided, but we are inching closer to that March twenty seventh opening day in KC against the Royals.

Well.

Also here from starting pitcher Tristan McKenzie, outfielder Will Brennan, and relief pitchers Paul Seewald and Kate Smith. So a lot to get to on this week's show, and we'll start it off with a visit from outfielder Will Brennan, who last year hit two sixty four with eight homers thirty runs driven in, did spend a little bit of time at Columbus in when he came back, certainly swung the bat better, split some time and right field with John Kenzie. No, well, that could be his role for

Yeah, it's good to be back.

I think everyone had a really good winner, you know. I think we're ready to go out and play against some really good competition in spring and compete and see where it lies.

After that.

When you say it had a really good winner, I think in today's day A. You almost have to. For you, what does that mean? A good winner?

What'd you do?

Oh?

Spend time with family, all the other things off the field. Took care of that, and then you know, spend a lot of time in the weight room and made some really good swing adjustments and you know, tune ups and really got after in that arena. And then you know, came out here early, face some lives and got ready to go.

And when you look at making some adjustments or changes, obviously you have a routine that you're comfortable with. Did you get out of that comfort zone a little bit and try some new stuff?

Yeah? I have to. Every year, you got to adapt. Every year is something different. You know, I think it's the best game of the world. You start back at zero and and you got to work your way up that ladder again. You know, definitely got out of my comfort zone, worked out with some new guys this year, and so see where it goes from there.

And when you look back at last season, I know, is it some up and downs? Obviously? How did you assess it at the end and how did that allow you to make some adjustments in the winter.

Yeah, I mean, you know, I always look at it from a team perspective. Made to the ALCS, I think that's a really successful year as a team. You know, for me, it was just you know, being able to you know, start in right field or come off the bench whenever they needed me and help the team win ball games. That was how I always operate.

You know.

Definitely a rocky year, but improved on a lot of things and definitely something to build off of.

When you look at where you're at in your career, this is always going to be a young team and you're still a young player, but you've been around a little bit. Do you feel I don't know veterans the right word, but do you do you feel like you've kind of established yourself a little bit or you're getting to that point?

Yeah.

I mean I think that's gonna be the biggest hump for this team to get over. As you know, we have a lot of young guys that have been in the league for you know, one and a half to two and a half to three years, and you know, establishing that we belong here, you know, and we do belong We've been here and now it's just go out and win games. I think I don't think veterans status is ever gonna hit and we have guys like Carlos and guys like Jose. You know, those guys are going

You mentioned Carlos Santana. I know spring's just starting, but what do you see from him so far or maybe from what you've heard from others that played to them.

Yeah, I've already seen a huge, you know, leadership role just kind of get filled up. You know, he's obviously somebody that's done it for a really long time, had some really you know, a lot of success here and kind of everywhere. He's been so guy that's you know, be a sponge around and you know he's going to lead the charger.

Can't wait.

That's outfielder Will Brennan getting ready for a new season, his fourth It would be in the major leagues when things get going at the end of the month in Kansas City, hoping to be a part of the starting rotation.

I felt good last year, but I think I felt a little bit behind the eight ball when I was out here in spring training. I just felt like I was moving a little bit slow, and right now, I feel right on time.

And when you look back at last year, obviously some frustrations there. What was most difficult that you were trying to get to and it just wasn't working out for you.

I just felt like I'd lacked like a certain level of like intensity or like edge out on the mound, like early on in the season, and I just felt like there was some stuff that happened in the in the previous year in twenty three, where the off season was a little bit different, and this offseason I had a norm offseason, so like from like a physical I.

Felt ready last year, but this year I.

Just feel more mentally ready to take the mound and stuff like that.

And when you say normal off season, what does that look like for you?

I mean I'm home working out at Christy's Sports Performance. I really didn't travel.

As much this year, but usually I'll travel for a little bit.

I went to the Bahamas for a week, but outside of that, I was really just home training, playing some video games.

And I know one of the things that is a great thing that you do is your camp. And when you told me earlier this week that how long you been doing it, explain how long you've been doing the camp and what it means to the kids.

Yeah, I mean this year was my eighth year, and for me, the camp is really just about giving back to the community that raised me, the community that made me into the baseball player in the man that I have today, And just wanted to give the kids want a good outlet via baseball, teaching them the right things and then two teaching.

Them to get back to their community as well.

So they're learning. What do you learn from now?

A ton of stuff I learned that I have or negative aura or something I don't know, Like they were telling me all kinds of things. I learned so much from them and they're super open minded and they always shoot you straight.

So's it's a good experience every time.

How old are so?

We range from about six to fourteen fifteen shy. We might open it up, open up the age brackets a little bit more moving in the future.

But is it something that's that's really gaining momentum down there for you.

Uh a year.

Maybe I don't know about momentum, but it definitely feels like a mainstay. Like I feel like every time we get close to the time of the year, I started to get questions about when's the camp.

My cousin's interested. People definitely want to come down and be a part of it.

So you get back out here for spring training, you have a nice first first outing and it doesn't I don't care who you are. It seems like that first outing for pictures you just don't know and what did it? What did it mean to you to have a good one at least results wise?

Yeah, I mean I was really just trying to go out there and not do too much. Really just go out there myself or strikes get the team involved get some quick outs, and I felt like it went really well in terms of like me just executing my stuff and setting out with my goal in mind, and really just working on some of the stuff that we've been working on with Carl in terms of delivery, just attacking hitters, and like what the mindset.

Is this year, We've seen you at your best and that was as good as it gets in baseball. A couple of years ago. You're starting to get that feeling and is there a certain feeling that you're looking for when you're on the mound that lets you be you?

I mean, I don't think I'm looking for anything specifically. I think it's more just like knowing the team that I have around me, knowing the guys that I have around me, that I can just go out there and pitch.

And that's really what I'm trying to get back to.

And I think that's what a majority of twenty two andenty two was for me, is like just going out there and getting out for the boys.

And you know what it looks like for this team to be good. It seems like a lot of the ingredients are there, and are you seeing that here early in the spring yeah.

I mean, I think we all saw it last year, and we've been talking to meetings about what last year means to us in terms of like that now being like our floor, that's what we have in our mind, is like that's the minimum we can do. So going out there and just putting our best foot forward and looking forward to the end of the year.

This year actually always fun to catch up with Tristan McKenzie and you probably could tell just by listening a real positive outlook, and he's looked good so far this spring. Stay with us when we come back. We'll hear from the senior member of The Guardian's Bullpennies in on a free agent contract, talking about veteran right hander Paul Sewald. Is it with him? Next seventh in two Down the Pitch, swat a set of slider a new career high fourteen.

Strikeouts for Tristan McKenzie.

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Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Guardian Spring training in Goodyear, Arizona. It's been a great spring and the Guardians are back at it this afternoon. If you're tuned to our show on Saturday, they'll take on the San Diego Padres in Peoria with a three ten first pitching and hear it right here on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Paul Seawald is hoping to

It's easy.

I've played against these guys. I've kind of reports against these guys. They wear jerseys, so you get to know their name. We will.

Staff is a lot harder. Staff is a lot.

Harder to make sure you kind of know everybody. Wannie printed me out, you know, the headshots and names and jobs, so I could try and figure out who everybody is, so I'll get the hang of it. When I did that in Seattle, it was twenty one and everyone had masks, so by the end of camp I still didn't know anybody. So I'm doing way better than I was in twenty one.

And most importantly, the pitching coaches are trying to learn you, and then I'm sure you them. How long does that take for them to get comfortable with helping you along the way.

I felt that they were comfortable trying to help me in my recruiting video zoom. So that's who these guys are, and I'm excited that if I feel like I need the help that they're there. Hopefully we don't have any conversations other than way to go, so that's not necessarily realistic, but I think that's kind of their perspective, is they don't I don't need to be fixed. I am a great pitcher and that's why the team wanted me, and

The connection with Steven Vote explain how that came into play getting you here.

Yeah, he was the center focus of telling Chris, hey, I want you know, I think paulsy Won is a perfect addition to this amazing bullpen already. And and so they reached out and got to have a zoom meeting and got to talk to him, you know, one on one, a little bit about what the Cleveland Guardians are all about, who we are, what he thinks of me as as

And you mentioned amazing bullpen. It was the best in baseball a year ago. How aware of that were you last summer as it was happening? And then obviously when you're looking for a team.

Yeah, we came here in early August, right at the turn of August, and everyone kind of came out and we were looking at stats and it was like, my god, they're throwing just bullets over here, so aware of it as a competitor against them, and then you know, it was obviously a question I had for Chris, like why do you feel like you need me? This is you know, you guys had a pretty good bullpen. You obviously have arguably the best closer in baseball, and you know I've

So you mentioned being there in August seeing the team as a member of the Diamondbacks a lot of hard throwers, but the best bullpens could show a variety of looks and explain for fans who haven't seen you pitch, what are we looking at?

Yeah, I mean I was part of a bullpen that had Matt Brash throwing one hundred unders, Munnos throwing a hundred, and then me throwing ninety two right after them, and everyone kind of shook their head, like, I don't really know why that guy pitches the ninth. But I am most effective when I'm throwing the ball at the top of the zone and sweeping sliders off of that and throwing two different, two totally different pitches that go to different directions and have a ton of deception and it

It's the beauty of baseball right there, Paul, see you while joining us. You're on a stage in your career where you're looking for a team for a deep end of the off season this year maybe compared to past years. How difficult was that and what was going through your mind as the off season continue to wear on.

Yeah, without saying a lot about the free agency process, it just you know, the reliever market didn't really get going until the turn of the year, and so I was very confident that I was going to have a place to play. And at the end of the day, training in December and November has nothing to do with whether you have a team. I knew I was playing this year, so not being on a team had had no impact on my work ethic and in my work.

And you mentioned the plus is about knowing Steven Voden and the bullpen. We were talking before we got started. You had a chance to pitch in a World Series. This team obviously has those aspirations. How important was it to be with a quote contender?

Yeah, I you.

Know, there were possibilities for me to close on teams that won't have many closing opportunities. That was never something that I wanted to do. I'm here to try and win games. I've spent the last four years winning a lot of games, and you just have a lot more fun on winners. It's just doesn't matter your role. It's just a lot better to be on a winning team.

Paul, great to meet you. Thanks, Thanks, that's better and right hand or Paul Seawald getting ready for another season in the major leagues and really looking forward to being part of what was Major League Baseball's best bullpen a season ago. Stay with us, We'll have more to come as we continue from Goodyear. After this time out on the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network, Guardian's Weekly continues from Goodyear, Arizona.

Yeah, just as I told them, just it was a pretty brief discussion and parking lot of my buddies, Jim that we really Clay Tillman in College station. We just decided, Hey, we're going to pitch, and we started playing catch, and you know, we never stopped lift. He owns the gym and he writes my programs and whatnot. And then I work with Jase Hutchins and Jack Mahala at Texas A

Circling back though to that conversation in the parking lot prior to that, though, how did that come into your your line of thinking? Were you looking to get back in the game and this was the avenue or was it something different? Yeah?

No, I mean I you know, I was missing baseball obviously, and I hadn't got a phone call, not one single time. So I just kind of looked at him. I was like, man, maybe I should just pitch, and he was like, all right, let's do it.

And that was it.

And we started throwing and you know, getting the arm acclimated to just you know, throwing more often, and you know, started touching the mound. And that was all of twenty twenty four, you know, and just figuring figuring stuff out. I went down to Houston and did some stuff with David Evans for about three months and just continued and continued to touch the mound and develop and lift and figure out what worked for me.

So to make that next step where a major league organization I actually wants to sign you. Uh, how did it? How did that develop?

And how did you end up.

Here with Cleveland, right, And I think whenever I realized like, hey, we have something here, probably back in August of twenty four I started a throwing program at Texas A and M with the head athletic trainer, Kayleie Swain, and just working you know, you know Michael Early at A and M and that coaching staff. They allowed me to use the facility as well as I was on staff there and just having that and knowing like, hey, there's a

Did you talk at all of to Chris Antinati or Mike Chernoff or that high up or or was it more pitching development and scouts things like that.

No, I mean I didn't speak to anybody.

There was a.

Scout, Brett came from Austin, Texas down to College Station, Texas watched me and I had a really good day and he was excited about it. So I was just as excited and we kind of got the ball rolling from there. And they're in.

Contact Tyler Nike when joining us. He's a pitcher now in the minor league system for the Guardians. And you walked into this building, the complex here in goodyear. You are a part of some really good teams, the World Series team in particular year of rookie year. What kind of memories maybe came back to you when you walked into this place thinking about some really good times in your career.

Yeah, a lot.

I mean it's I was very thankful to come back to a team that there's you know, familiar faces and some good energy here.

You know, it could have been anywhere.

And you know, from what I've heard and what I've been told is that Cleveland is you know, you know, top of the pack, if not number one in developing pitching. And that's something that I've been saying this whole past year and twenty four.

Man, if I think.

If I could just with what I have built now, with all of my resources back home, if somebody could just get me and mold me and help me out, I think that I could really really do something with this. And you know, to be here at the at the number one spot with it is and be familiar with people here is just you know, it's a great opportunity.

Obviously, you have to have a big arm, and that was a big key for you as an outfielder in the major leagues. It's a little fuzzy because it's a long time ago, but I think we might have first met in a spring training when you were in big league camp and and I might have asked you about your throwing arm, how that developed rocks throw throwing rocks in the in the water in Texas. Would you have ever thought it would lead to this at this point in time.

Yeah, no, especially not that early. But you know people have asked me, you know, where's the arm strength? And I you know, my older brother had an incredible arm as well, and he him and I would you know, we'd leave a football out or baseball's out, and you know, they'd get rained on and stuff, and so we would always just pick up some type of ball and we'd back up and see who could throw it over the power line from the farthest back.

No warming up or nothing. So it's like, I don't.

I've never done bands or you know, the weighted balls or anything, so I just don't. That's the only type of weighted ball or anything that I had done up until, you know, last year when I started this pitching. And so I mean I've done bands and stuff obviously, but not consistently.

So I think at a young.

Age, I think just throwing a bunch of rocks at the creek with him and and just throwing footballs and baseballs and water logged ones at that.

For sure probably helped.

He didn't definitely didn't hurt it.

I thought it was interesting because you mentioned the throw from the outfield compared to working off a mound and trying to to reach your full potential. That way very very different. Explain how different that is.

It is you also have a little bit of momentum.

You know, some guys crow hop or whatever, but it's more of a shuffle from the outfield. But you know, you can tend to have a little bit longer of an armstroke from the outfield, and you're working more uphill, your shoulders are tilted more uphill. And now on the transitioning you know, it's tough with a really long arm to sync that up. But also I haven't been doing it, you know, with That's why I'm excited to do it

Do you have a timetable you put on yourself to to see if this thing works? And if so, where does it begin as you get started here in goodyear?

Yeah, I would say the timetable starts now, you know, just.

Enjoy it.

It's it's a lot of it's already been a lot of fun. But I mean now that I'm you know, I've put pen to paper, and I'm here. It's extremely exciting. It looks and feels like it's gonna be a lot of fun, especially being here. And I know that you know, this organization, you know, would like to see me succeed, and so I couldn't be happier with that. I think I'm in the best spot that I could put potentially could have ever been in. So I think there's really

Tyler, great to see it, Good luck with everything, Thank you, thank you. Great story. Tyler Andnquin trying to make it back to the big leagues on the mound and knowing his competitive nature, I wouldn't put him past him to get there at some point at a time. Stay with us so we came back. We'll hear from one of the best relievers in all of baseball, young right hander Cade Smith. That's next on the Cleveland Planet Guardian's radio on Netward.

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The mainor league debut of Cage Smith Smith with that mid nineties fastball. He's also got the slider and the split finger six five two thirty out of Vancouver. That next, offering a swing and a miss, Kate Smith strikes out the first major league hitter he faces. The pitch a swing in the massonic right slider. Kate Smith has faced two and struck out a pair. Now the two to two got him swinging out a wicked splitter. Kate Smith strikes out Riley Green. Three Tigers face three punch outs.

I think the biggest thing has just been being consistent with the way I do things right, sticking to you know, my prep, my routines, my work, like knowing my strengths inside and out, not trying to deviate from anything to try and overcompensate or do too much but just sticking to what, you know, what qualities are that make me effective in really trusting that and trusting the work that I've put in. It's not about trying to do something different,

How much trial and error was there to get you to a good spot where you're confident with that? Especially at this level.

I mean there's been a ton of conversations, tond of you know, trying different things, seeing what sticks. Kind of learning process, like the ability for Cleveland to develop pictures is you know phenomenon. I've learned a ton from them, and you know, there's been a bunch of conversations there to figure out things that might work for me and what would be specific to me. So that's been a huge part of it.

Certainly you can do that in the minor leagues as you're developing, but you get up here and it's so much about performance and you know, being successful. Are you still able to try some things up here or do you have to be careful with that?

I think the adjustments become different in the sense that they probably become more refinements. There's no you know, scrapping everything and throwing it out of the window and trying something completely new, Like there was you know, big overhauls as part of my development right when I signed. But as you continue to build and find things that work for you and build on those things to improve them, the.

Injustance you make become smaller and smaller.

And the things that I think separate guys at this level are such small difference is that the adjustments you're making are just as small but so significant because we're playing a game separated by such a thin margin.

How thin is that margin, like, for instance, with a with a grip or maybe release point, things like that, How small can that be to be the difference between success and maybe leaving pitches out over the point?

I mean, there's like everything is measured right and measured down to decimal, So if you want to, you could say that that's as thin as a margin is. Right, they have everything measured and recorded, and there is you know, data and feedback for all those super small changes and super small differences, and so it is really pretty fine tune in that aspect. But also, like I mean, you're talking about filling up a strike zone, right, like that's

Is not a big difference either.

Everybody's different and how much they use the information, analytics technology all of that, how much do you welcome that and how much do you dive into all that.

Yeah, I absolutely came into the mindset I wanted to learn when I signed and so I've definitely really tried to dig into that and learn what I could from it. But there's definitely a balance, right. You don't want to be overwhelmed with all the information. You want to have a you know, be able to take themes and lessons from it and then also filter it through what you know your strengths are so that you don't get overwhelmed and just so bogged down with all the information that

And it is a couple of years ago when you signed here. When you look back at that, I remember you saying last year you went to school on the teams that were interested and how different is it here maybe than some other teams that were interested in you.

I don't know. I have no frame of reference, never han't been with the other team.

But I can't you know, speak highly enough of Cleveland's ability to develop and and the time and effort that they've put into me to develop me, and and so extremely grateful and thankful for that. And I've enjoyed it too. It's been it's been a fun process to learn and to improve and you know, to put work in and see that.

Kate Smith joining us as the Guardians continue spring training here in Goodyear. Okay, you look at last season, durability such a big key and being available, especially out of the bullpen. What do you think allowed you to be so available and then pile up appearances and then most of them being effective.

Yeah, I think that there was a you know, one of the biggest lessons I learned from the other guys in the bullpen is seeing how they know what they need to do to prepare themselves and they're not gonna, you know, waste time doing things that are not effective for them. They're not going to spend time doing you know, unnecessary very extra prap or whatever.

It's.

They know what they need to get themselves ready, and that's what they do. They stick to their routines, they're consistent with it. So that was a big lesson I learned. And then other thing was, you know, the culture down in the bullpen was all about just making sure that you are ready whenever the phone rings, even if it's not you know, for you, it's about having.

That kind of shared mentality of preparing yourself.

And it's just such an individual game, but you kind of touched on that team dynamic. And and then the bullpen's a team within a team. What's it like down there on a nightly basis? From a fun standpoint and then a serious standpoint.

No, it is so much fun.

I mean, there's just you know, it's a collection of unique characters and they come together in a way that's you know, never going to be replicated in anything else. And so you just enjoy that, enjoy the inside jokes and the you know, all the gimmicks and teasing and stuff like that that goes on. But from a serious standpoint, like I think that is you know, very fortunate to have a culture that was set by the older guys in the bullpen.

That was so.

You know, significant and so also think healthy, like having that perspective of it's not about individuals down here. It's actually about can we you know, maintain the lead. Can we do what we can to put the team in a position to win or keep them in a position

When you look at everything that happened last year, some some great things for you personally, and then a run through the postseason, how has that change your perspective as you come in here this season.

I mean, that was such a special experience to be able to experience post season baseball in my first season, and so I think that everyone in here wants to do that again.

You know, we got a.

Taste of how good we are and how good we can be and you know, falling short and understanding that, like that's what we're striving for, right Like, that's that's the standard we're measuring ourselves against. And the work that we put in is not to you know, get to that spot and fall short again, but it's to get there and go farther and so you know, that's a

Answer reliever Kate Smith. Looking to have another big year out of that Guardian's boltpen as they look too equal if they can some of last year's outstanding work. That really was a huge key to this team reaching the postseason. That's going to do it for our show this week until next week for Brian Motsee, who does great work

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