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October Has Arrived

Oct 05, 202439 min
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Episode description

The Guards gear up for playoff baseball as they await game one of the ALDS against Detroit. We'll hear from President of Baseball Ops Chris Antonetti, Director of Player Development Rob Cerfolio, and first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. Plus, Andre Knott from Bally Sports joins the show with a playoff preview from the sidelines. That's all on this edition of Guardians Weekly with Jim Rosenhaus on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.

Transcript

Speaker 1

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.

Speaker 2

Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians' Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with you this weekend as we join you from Progressive Field, which will be quite the place in just a little while. If you're tuned to this on the radio as it airs on Saturday mornings. If you're tuned in on podcast form, well, you'll know the results of Game one of the American League Division Series, which begins Saturday afternoon with a one toh eight perst pitch the Guardians and the Detroit Tigers

in this best of five series. Good show lined up for you Today, we'll hear from Sandy Alomar Junior, a veteran of Cleveland postseasons. We'll also visit with Rob Sorfolio a minor league report from Rob, the director of player development for the Guardians. We'll hear some of the thoughts midweek from President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti. But first we visit with Andre not who will be joining the

radio coverage during the course of the postseason. On loan from Balley's Sports and he'll be joining Tom and I during the course of the radio broadcast, and we had a chance to catch up with him earlier this week as the team was going through their sim games and extensive practice work to stay sharp during the week long layoff between games. And when we caught up with Andre, we talked about how great it is for the Guardians to be back in the postseason.

Speaker 3

It's awesome to be back because you never know and you can't take it for granted. And I will say, and on my role, my job, it's been a blessing to be here the last ten eleven years because you don't get this all the time, right, so to be able to see this and be around it and to see this team grow. I'm looking forward to the next month, maybe.

Speaker 2

After the way last season ended and the off season was kind of quiet, new manager, everything, question Mark wise, going into spring training, is this a big surprise to you or could you see some things building in the spring that indicated, Hey, the Guardians might be a better team than a lot of people.

Speaker 4

Think, Yes and no.

Speaker 3

I think at the beginning of spring training you kind of saw everybody come back and when you saw Bieber and the way he kind of came back. You're like, you know what if you got Bieber at the top of your rotation. And I'm saying this for a reason. You know you're gonna be good every fifth day, and what we saw from Bible last year, you kind of watch and you're like, Okay, top of rotation's gonna be pretty goo and you have class. So I say that because what six days in seven days in Biby goes down.

Speaker 4

Bibby, I'm sorry, Biab goes down.

Speaker 3

And no, I'm completely shocked because usually when you go from one manager to another, and look, we've got like three or four playoff teams that you know they got in this year with the first time managers. That doesn't happen often. But it was surprising. But it's not because a lot of those guys in twenty twenty two that kind of shocked the world. They're all here and I think they took they didn't like what happened last year,

and you're around these guys. You know these guys, but they were frustrated how they came off as a team last year. They felt like they left Tito down, they

felt like they let each other down. So I think I took that for granted and how much that it matters to that core group of guys, you know, like that, I'm not completely shocked, but I will say, starting off seven and two on the road, I remember coming home and kind of like, you know, your little guys like we're gonna be good this year, and I'm like and I'm like, so, I don't know, I'm buddy, we haven't

played at home yet. But so it's hard to answer because I mean, I'm still in shock a little bit, but it's kind of cool though at the same time.

Speaker 2

Well, you have a superstar in Jose Ramirez who's been a great player, and this might be his I think it is his greatest season of a lot of great ones. What did you see from the pit on a nightly basis that says this guy is just above and beyond so many other players in baseball.

Speaker 4

It starts like three o'clock.

Speaker 3

Like I always tell kids or tell people, like you want to know who the great players are, they're usually whether it's basketball, I've covered covered NBA by baseball, Josh Naylor and Jose Ramirez and Himy are in the cages at two o'clock. You know this two o'clock, three o'clock for a seven o'clock game, And it's amazing watching that work.

And in Saint Louis. Just like a couple of weeks ago, after the Friday night game, I went to Jose before we did a postgame interview and I said, hey, man, I think this is.

Speaker 4

The best year you've ever had defensively. And he snapped at me and said, who told you that?

Speaker 3

In a way only Jose can and and I laughed, and I go, no, I watch and he goes, he goes this or twenty twenty two, he goes. But it mattered to me. I lost a little weight. I wanted to move better. He said, you watch the work hem he puts in. I think that motivated him. He doesn't want to let the other infielders down, as kind of what he told me. He doesn't want to be a step behind. So I can't even mention the numbers like offensively, I'm gonna go off of the work that he does

pregame the losing the weight. He wanted to steal bases. He didn't want anybody else to have more stolen bases than him on this team. And that's not a bad thing, you know, And I think he loves he loves hear In Kwan say. I watch everything that he does. He loves that Naylor. He's taken on the superstar status and the best way possible. So forget forty thirty nine thirty nine.

To me, it's seeing him work and throw that ball across the diamond when he's going right towards me where that throws have been accurate all season long.

Speaker 2

Talking about Jose Ramirez, one of the best in the game. Andre not is joining us. You're four minutes in. You're usually on the other side of these podcasts. How are you doing all right? Over there?

Speaker 4

It is difficult? I'm where are you going with this?

Speaker 2

All right? We record this on Wednesday. We don't know the opponent yet, that's okay. We're talking about some other stuff, the teams trying to stay sharp. We were just outside. We had to do this inside because they've piped noise in to make it seem as realistic as possible. But what is your takeaway from the organized chaos that's going on out there where they're really getting some stuff done.

Speaker 3

I've been asked this question, obviously because it's the story of Cleveland, like, oh, you got too much time, and we've seen in the past it can't hurt you. I've never been concerned because of how these guys have worked all year long. And Rosie, I'm being dead serious. I've had I've told you, I've had multiple coaches from other teams go man, and I won't say teams, but one of them is in our division and not in the playoffs.

Speaker 2

Well, you've narrowed it down considerably this year.

Speaker 4

I'm believing it at that.

Speaker 3

But they people are marveling at how they work. The infield practice, the outfield practice, the throws, catching stuff. So this week is almost for this crew. This is this is what they do best. And I think it's awesome what they're doing. And I think you have a young enough team that's so hungry and knock on wood, you haven't really had a lot of you know, to the guys out in the field, had a lot of injuries.

I think this is the perfect team to go through this because they're willing to go out here three days, four days in a row and do this. The excitement is there now. Obviously at one oh seven, if you don't throw strikes early on doesn't matter what you've done all week. But I really do, and I'm I do think they're set up for it. And like yesterday, I'll be honest, I kind of wanted to see what were the Yankees doing? You know, what were the Phillies doing,

What were the Dodgers doing? And I saw Mookie Bets on the Jimmy Kimmel Live, like, so I like what we're doing more than Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Speaker 2

I saw Yankees and they might have done some other stuff, but it seemed just like standard batting practice, whereas the Guardians have their hitters facing Logan Allen yesterday. I mean it's someone who's, you know, a major league pitcher who is here with the TRIPA A club. Quite a few of them are, and we'll see that again the rest of the week.

Speaker 3

I think it's great because, yeah, you want to win the World Series, that's what you're here for. But it's also as great in development, like you have a A and look for these this team to be successful year in year out. You got to cut the corners of some places, you got to do other little things. And the only reason I bring this up, I just read a great story on Gunnar Henderson and in twenty twenty during the pandemic, because this does remind you of the

pandemic a little bit. The noise and you know it's baseball, but there's nobody in the stands. But Gunner Henderson really went from just drafted and not ready to play in the big leagues to he and Adley Rushman went to their their site and they got as many at bats as they could, and they both look at it as they made a lot of jumps. Because of that time in twenty twenty when no one was watching, I feel like, yes,

it's great for the team today. Like you said, Logan Allen's one of the lead He was one of the leaders and wins for this team this year. If you look at it, I think it's great because they it's competitive still. It's still like there's nobody taking you know, stats, but you know the guys are And I think that's

what this really is about. It's about competition. And like you said, you can hit off the cage all day long, but when you're up there and you're against a guy that you've watched pitch this year and you know he might throw me.

Speaker 4

A change up.

Speaker 3

That keeps the mind sharp for when you get into a game in the playoffs.

Speaker 2

Again, we don't know the matchup, whether it's Houston or Detroit. Taking that out of the equation, I'm gonna say it comes down to how the Guardians play regardless. If they play their game, they should be just fine despite some real challenges, regardless of who it is. What do you see key for this team to do well that they've done all season that that will get them past this round.

Speaker 3

The easy way would say score four runs. I will say the hard way is win the first three innings because I feel like if you go through the lineup the first time pitching wise, and you don't give anything up and you can scratch a run or two off early, the pressure pressure goes over to the to the other dugout because they know and we all know from twenty sixteen on. And I'm not saying we're gonna Andrew Miller fall, but we might. If you're winning going in the fourth inning,

especially at home, the other team's getting nervous. So I agree with you. You have to play your ball no matter who you're playing. And if they're leading after four innings or so, and you know that Canadian Kate Smith is getting up there and he's ready to go for an inning or two, and Classe may be available for two innings early on. I'm guessing it. No one has told me that. But suddenly, if you've got five innings and I'm telling you can get four from the guys that we know, I think that puts a.

Speaker 4

Lot of pressure on everybody in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 5

I really do.

Speaker 2

How are you doing with this week off?

Speaker 5

Ah?

Speaker 3

You know what I've been to soccer practice, softball games, baseball games.

Speaker 4

I need to get back to work.

Speaker 2

That is Andre, not who will be back to work with us, Tom and I on the radio broadcast and also doing some good stuff for five Sports as well. Andre, thanks a lot for come bye. Appreciate it.

Speaker 4

It's the best. I was nervous the whole time. If you got me through a Rosie.

Speaker 2

It's Guardians Weekly and we will have more after things don't go away, Folks.

Speaker 6

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Speaker 1

Now the payoff pitch too hemans swung and ripter Right, there's a basin.

Speaker 2

Getting third coming for home promises.

Speaker 3

He will score in The Cardinals are headed to October.

Speaker 2

Humorros announced back with you. It's Guardians Weekly from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. I hope you can join us later on on this Saturday, Game one of the American League Division Series between the Guardians and the Tigers, with the warm up show starting at twelve thirty five, first pitch one oh eight and the Guardians they earned the

buye with the second seat in the American League. American League Central Division champions and Chris Antonetti met with the media earlier this week and he was asked about what his expectations were back at the start of this season.

Speaker 7

I think we go into every year trying to be the best team we can be. And I think the mindset that we try to have is show up every day working to prepare for the game and try to get better. And if every individual in the environment shows up with that mindset and tries to do that, you know, you look up at the end of the year and

see how many wins you have. And I think that's been a defining attribute for this team from day one, is that's how this group showed up in spring training, and our coach staff and voter did a great job of cultivating that mindset, and you know, they showed up a lot every day this year, and I think that.

Speaker 5

Put us in the position we'll see it.

Speaker 7

I think Stephen a lot of the attributes that we talked about of who he is as a person and as a leader, and this great foundation of knowledge and experiences that he had, but it always seeking to learn and grow and get better and tap into resources. And every day Steven attacks a job with what can I do today to help the organization and what can I learn today to be a better version of myself tomorrow.

And I think that's not only a successful attribute for Steven, but some of our coaches and other leaders across the organization.

Speaker 1

Underrated.

Speaker 5

What is this that you got it that's.

Speaker 7

Such a in some way, Zach, It's a hard question to answer because I don't have I'm not sure I've got the great pulse of how national media might define him as, how they would rate him as underrated or so that's a hard thing for me to answer. But I think what I would say is some of the things that he does are difficult to fully appreciate because you can look up and look at the stat line and see what he brings, and that in and of

itself is extraordinarily impressive. But those of us that are around him, you guys get great visibility to see how he approaches the game, the type of effort and energy he has from throughout every pitch of the entire season, the conversations he has in the dugout, the way he's helping his teammates get better, the leader he is in

the clubhouse. Some of those things that are more difficult to observe, I think continue to help differentiate Jose and may understate the impact that he has on us as an organization and on our major league team.

Speaker 5

This is dur film It's pretty amazing too.

Speaker 1

All these games he plays.

Speaker 8

Yeah, does he play with a lot of bumps and bruises sometimes?

Speaker 4

Oh he is.

Speaker 7

Jose's extraordinarily tough. I mean, do you guys remember last year when he had probably should have had surgery on his hand and doctors are saying, you know you, most guys would have surgery, and Hosy said, no, I'm not only going to not have surgery, put me in the lineup tomorrow. That's just who Hosey is. He loves playing baseball. He loves everything about it. He wants to be out there every day. And he's really really tough and plays

through a lout basis. He's got incredible instincts. I mean he has he picks up on things with pitchers, and he puts in a lot of work and he spends time with Sandy and JT to understand how he can position himself for success. But he's got great instincts on the basis, he's a really smart, fundamentally sound baseball player.

Your concern level for the bullpen back in March, if there's a couple of you know, born pieces, if you were any offseason, if you ask me, the concern level about various aspects of the team, and in the bullpen in particular, I'll say I'm concerned. It's just really hard

to predict, as we've seen firsthand. I think what we try to do organizationally is try to expand the number of options and alternatives we have, because we recognize putting together a good bullpen and a bullpen that performs at a high level often takes contribution from places maybe you weren't initially expecting. So the more options we can have,

the better. And I think what we've seen is, you know, guys worked really hard and put themselves in a position to contribute when there were opportunities, and that's really all we can ask.

Speaker 5

Responded.

Speaker 7

I mean, it's hard when you you know, you lose a pitcher and teammate and leader like you know, Shane Bieber, because we not only would we not have him immediately around the team, you know, to contribute on the field, but we wouldn't have his presence on what is he continues to be a really young staff and young team, so we knew that other players would have to step

up and fill that void. And it's taken It took us a while to get our footing on that over the course of the season, and uh, I think we have a better group of pitchers that are more prepared to succeed today than we did. You know when that initially happened back in April.

Speaker 5

How was it to get to buy the second seed.

Speaker 7

I think it's helpful. I mean, just the math of it, right, we don't there's no chance we could get eliminated in the in the wildcard round. So that's a good thing, and it gives us a chance to advance the division series. Let our guys come in rested and ready to go. And what we've tried to do is be really deliberate this week about the environments we're creating to keep our guys ready and ready to compete on Saturday.

Speaker 5

You know, about the time off, I would.

Speaker 7

Say it's a trade off. The benefit is you get time off. The downside is you're not in the major league environment, facing live major league pitching in the normal cadence that you would be during the season. But on balance, I think I'd still take the trade off, and I'd want to buy for the reasons that we've talked.

Speaker 2

About christ Eddie talking about those pros and cons of the five day layoff. Rob Sorfolio is the director of player Development, and when we come back, he will talk about some of the things that the Guardians are doing to augment what will be a twenty six man roster. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. We're joined now by Rob Sorfolio, the director of player Development for the Guardians, and the

season is complete for the Guardian's minor league affiliates. But Rob, I wanted to start with some very important baseball activity that we have seen this week at Progressive Field, with several players who are in the minor league system coming up to help with the simulated games, and I know

for them it doesn't end when those games stop. Heading into the opener of the postseason for the Guardians on Saturday, explain what's going on for a dozen to fifteen players who you want to have on hand as a taxi squad of sorts, and where they're getting their work in and how much you're doing to keep them up to speed.

Speaker 8

Yeah, So it's you know, it's a unique time a year where triple A season is over, but you know, we have we have to have a group of players essentially that are an injury away or a move away between series, whatever it might be, to actually keep some guys hot and ready to potentially contribute to some playoff series. And so it's it's a little challenging to do when

there's no more games to play. And you know, we took the Triple A season as far as we could by getting to the playoffs, which was phenomenal, and now we kind of have to facilitate our own spring training like environment to actually keep a handful of players ready to go just in case they're needed up at the

up at the major league level. So, as you said, about ten to fifteen guys that currently are training with our group up at Progressive, and then as the postseason gets rolling and you know, the Tigers come in to start their training period, those guys will shift down to Akron.

Speaker 2

Can you rename Akrons Ballpark Ryan Merritt Field in honor of the great things that he did in a similar situation back in twenty sixteen.

Speaker 8

That's that a creative mind like yourself would have thought of that earlier than I did. But now that you say it, I wonder if we should change taxi squad or stay hot Camp to Ryan Merritt Camp.

Speaker 2

He certainly was a great example of the importance of

what's going on. For sure, Hey, you wrap up these seasons and let's first talk about your one champion and others went to the postseason in terms of full season clubs, But Lake County wins a title and you were there explain for fans who maybe were not aware or did not have a chance to attend any games during the postseason what that meant to those kids and why you think that's so important for their development, even if it is more of a team thing as opposed to an individual thing.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Speaker 8

I think that's the part you Neeller right there at the end, is playing winning baseball is more than just what did your individual stat line look at the end of the night. And we talk about that a lot, you know, I think some of our major leaguers that even made really cool comments about that during some of the Champagne celebrations in Progressive just how that's something that we value and talk about in the minor leagues and you can't just flip a switch to win in the

big leagues. Need to learn what it means to be a winning player and be there for the performance and success of the team beyond just your own individual performance. And that's why I think those opportunities and you know why it was so exciting to have, you know, nearly every one of our affiliate teams have a chance to

play meaningful baseball down the stretch. Just those development opportunities and even hearing from our players about that, it's some of you know, we had a lot of our prospects up here in Cleveland at the end of the year to talk about their season and review and exit tickets and those types of things, so they know exactly what to target going in the offseason. And we heard those things.

Speaker 5

You know, our.

Speaker 8

Players articulate just how valuable those experiences are, and I think it just kind of helps create a winning culture, a team first culture, and that's what we kind of want to be about, so that by the time these guys get to the big leagues, they know what to expect. They've had some real experiences playing together with a little

bit of added pressure. And then you know, obviously our staff at a tremendous job navigating all of those and for the Lake County guys to actually win the whole thing in the Midwest League was really something special to watch. We had a bunch of our acron players in house in between their own playoff games, rooting for the guys that were all out on the field at the end of the game.

Speaker 5

With so many of those guys that had moved up and.

Speaker 8

Contributed to early seasons success in Lake County was really.

Speaker 2

Special, awesome stuff. The pictures were tremendous just to seeing the joy and the celebration.

Speaker 5

And I'm glad I didn't make any of them. So yes, that's what made them so good.

Speaker 2

There was some shenanigans for sure, in a very good way. So we talked about team things, but you had several of the players in the minor league system who garnered postseason awards, most Valuable player awards for their leagues. And let's start first at the Triple A level. The Triple A MVP Jonathan Rodriguez, So we saw a little bit up here, and his stat line across the board just

tremendous at the Triple A level. What did you see from him in terms of growth that may allow him to stick the next time he has a chance at the major league level.

Speaker 8

Yeah, well, I mean I think j Rodd's skill set just to be able to impact the game and on the offensive side has just gotten better year over year, and I think all the way back to you know, this is a really young kid drafted out of Puerto Rico, and just how he's grown offensively and hitting the ball more productive angles and really tapping into the you know, outlier exit velocities that he's always had has been really fun to watch him be a part of over the

last five, six, seven years, so that that's been just a fun storyline in of itself. And then continue to try and push him to just be a complete player on defense, on the base running side, and you know, those are the things that Voter and alb and Tito before really care about because they help our major league team win, especially this time of year. And so, you know, just his continued interest and taking the right steps in that direction.

Speaker 5

We've got work to do, but was fun.

Speaker 8

To see j Rod really just take more investment and care into those areas and I hope that that sets him up for continued growth moving forward, and because he obviously can do some things on the offensive side that can really help the team out.

Speaker 2

In the Midwest League, Cooper Ingle most valuable Player and he plays a premium position. What did you see with some of the challenges that his position can present.

Speaker 8

Well that, plus you know, he's a first year, first year player. He was a twenty twenty three draft and just really impressive for the season that Coop put together.

And a lot of that offensively, you know, speaks for itself with what he did before moving up to Akron, and I think just the credit to him on the defensive side of learning what it means to be a high quality professional catcher and the amount of time investment and working with and learning your pitchers and the pitching coach and what are those pitchers'.

Speaker 5

Strengths and what are they working on that night.

Speaker 8

There's so many layers to that that we really pushed him to invest into. And I think, you know, those are maybe some of the things beyond the stat line that are really exciting about Coop's year and I hope that you know, similar to Jarard, we can continue to.

Speaker 5

Build on those things. Moving to the twenty.

Speaker 2

Five and Jason Curio a most valuable player in the Carolina League and we talked about him a bunch, but yeah, from start to finish as a young player, that's a challenge at that level, and was that the biggest thing you were looking for to see how he handled the length of the schedule.

Speaker 5

Absolutely, that was a huge part of it.

Speaker 8

You know, we challenged him with some things in terms of just becoming a better athlete, like his baseball skill is you know, speaks for itself, and how can we continue to push him to be a great athletes so that you can play center field for hopefully a.

Speaker 5

Long major league career.

Speaker 8

And you know, it's unfortunate with the way that the wrist injury happened. We were actually you know, getting ready to move him up to Lake County literally that day to be a part of that team down the stretch.

And you know, ultimately just having a chance to sit with him at the end of the year, he knows some of those things, and you know, we were able to calibrate on the many things that went really well for him this year and also set our sights on things that we can continue to challenge each other with as he faces better and.

Speaker 5

Better competition in the years to come.

Speaker 8

So, you know, just another young, talented player that put up a really exciting year and it'd be great to have him healthy and ready to go for spring training twenty twenty five, and.

Speaker 2

A couple of guys who received postseason recognition, not necessarily MVPs of their league, but really moved. Let's start on the mound the Tugboat Matt Wilkinson recognized for his season and Robi. I know it's sometimes hard to predict the future for these guys as they move along, But what are you seeing in him that says maybe, just maybe he can continue to progress toward the major leagues?

Speaker 8

Yeah, you know, I think the pitchability and the competitive nature of Tug, and you know, his fastball has some really unique elements to the angles and the movements, and you know, I think there's again we're we're always talking about how do we reinforce our strengths and what are the areas that we need to.

Speaker 5

Continue to get better at.

Speaker 8

And I think we just have an exciting opportunity ahead of us in the off season for Tug, both on some of the just how do we round out and deepen his arsenal and then continuing to try and move the needle on the velocity front will be really fun

tasks ahead of us. And you know, just talking with him at the end of the year and how excited he is, and we're all on the same page with what are the things we want to pour investment into, And I think if we can do that, there's some really exciting upside for how he can build on this really impressive twenty twenty four moving into the future.

Speaker 2

And the other young player that a lot of people were very high on, those who went and saw some of those games at Lake County. I know Travis Bizano was there and so many others who contributed, but everyone came back and said, hey, you got to see this on Hell he now kid, and what really elevated his game this year to put him on the map.

Speaker 8

Yeah, well, you know, this is a really talented, a really talented twenty year old.

Speaker 5

First off, I think the things that separate.

Speaker 8

Separate his season relative to his season last year is like, this is a kid that has really matured and taken some incredible steps and just how he goes about his work and challenging himself to get better both on offense and defense. And again, he's twenty years old.

Speaker 5

We're an a ball. We've got a lot of things.

Speaker 8

We got to continue to support him and all of our players with. But what an impressive season. He put together, and really he deserves a ton of credit for that, and so does our staff, from everyone from our mental performance group to our staff in Lynchburg where he started the year, to the group in Lake County of just how they supported him along along those things that we challenged and challenged him with at the end of last year.

Speaker 5

And and he just did a phenomenal job.

Speaker 8

And another guy that just talent wise has some really exciting upside. But I think the thing that stands out to me as the type of teammate he has become and the type.

Speaker 5

Of worker that he has become.

Speaker 8

And you know, I think he has a real chance to continue to grow as a result of those things and help elevate the people around him. So exciting young player that, Yeah, I hope we're having more and more of these conversations and accolades come in his way over the next couple of years, because I think that's well within his reach.

Speaker 2

Rob sorfolio joining us. He's the director of player development for the Guardians and Rob one final topic. The seasons are done for the affiliates and you will have some players in action in the Arizona Fall League, which is always a top level league to continue their development and just to highlight a couple, Chase the Lotter will be there repeating from a year ago, what are you trying to get to with him and where does he stand in terms of his health.

Speaker 8

Yeah, I think the big emphasis there right is a guy that we've talked about a couple times throughout the year that just missed the opportunity for our bats, and you know, the AFL is a really great opportunity for guys that did miss time to make up for that time against quality competition, and that's really what it's about here for Chase. You know, we spent a lot of time talking with him on what he wanted to do in the offseason to just solidify his health and prepare

his body for next year. Big part of that was the opportunity for more at bats and we're excited about that and he'll also be training with us in Arizona to hopefully set him up for success in twenty five because you know, he's a triple A player that's not far away from knocking on the door. So really it's just the opportunity to get more at bats and be able to work with him at our facility in between those out a a.

Speaker 2

Z and I know pitching's kind of tricky in the off season because of innings and things like that. But you're sending Dylan DeLucia there, Yes, explain what what you're looking for from him and how he's put himself in a good spot.

Speaker 8

Yeah, you know, really similar line of thinking there. You know, Dylan was a high performing guy that came out of college and you know he TJ right when we got him, essentially and missed time the last year and a half. So an opportunity to extend his season more so than anything else, and he deserves that that chance, given how well he pitched in Lynchburg and Lake County. I'm coming back off off TJ. So similar to Chase, chance to

extend his year. A guy that we think can go out there and compete against that quality of competition and should be fun as a result.

Speaker 2

Rob. Always great to have you on. I know it's a busy time right now, trying to figure out alternate sites and things like that, having everybody prepared for what's to come, hopefully a long month of baseball for the Guardians of a lot of games, And thanks so much for everything over the course of the season, and we'll catch up with you in the offseason as time allows.

Speaker 8

I appreciate you having me on these are always really fun to do, and looking forward to hopefully a long run of baseball here ahead of us over the next month and chatting with you at some point in the off season and next year.

Speaker 2

That is Rob Sarfolio, the Guardian's director of player Development. Stay tuned more to come after.

Speaker 6

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Speaker 2

Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhause back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland, where the Guardians take on the Tigers on Saturday afternoon. Game one of the American League Division Series. A one toh eight first pitch Game two, after a rare op day on Sunday, will take place Monday late afternoon with a four to eight

start here at Progressive Field. Andy Alomar Junior, the Guardian's first base coach, is someone who knows postseasons in Cleveland as well as anyone, being part of many as a player for the then Cleveland Indians back in the nineties and since he has returned as a part of that coaching staff, he has been again part of a renaissance, as this team more often than not is in the postseason, first under Terry Francona's coaching staff and managerial Wizardry and

now Stephen Vote, who took over in the offseason. He's brought in some of his own coaches, but Sandy has been a holdover, and he talked about what has led the staff to jail so quickly, as well as the players to be successful from day one of this season's loan season.

Speaker 9

Loan season and efficiency. You know, for so many years this organization have at least competed and made a lot of postseason and I'm kind of honored to be a part of it because I once I left Cleveland, I never saw the postseason again. That was close to get in the postseason one time with the Dodgers, and I got traded in the deadline back to Chicago White s uts. But yeah, he's an honor to have an opportunity to be in postseason.

Speaker 2

Before you got here, And obviously postseasons were different, but they had not been the postseason play since the nineteen forty eight World Series. Take us back to that first time that this team made it in this era, what that was like and how special that was not only for the team but for the fans too.

Speaker 9

Yeah, when we got traded here by Erga, myself and Chris James, we didn't know much about the organization and we heard they were rebuilding and we were the beginning, you know, pieces to rebuild a team. Then I saw

they made significant trades. The fact that from nineteen ninety we were in the World Series five years later, that was to show you how much what a remarkable job Joon Hard and Daniel Dow and Peter the people that were here organizing, and then from there on he became a dynasty and the players, you know, believe they can win they got the right talent, young talent, mix it up with a couple of veteran players and shows how to close you know, how to close that gap. But

they it was awesome. And then coming back here the same thing when thru Francona grebed the team, he became the same culture of developing the dynasty. They can you know, be competitive for many years to.

Speaker 2

Call him great perspectives as always, Sandy, thanks for coming by. Thank you always great to visit with Sandy Alomar Junior and get his perspective on so many things when it comes to historical perspectives on the Cleveland Baseball franchise. That's going to do it for our show this week. Thanks so much for tuning in. Enjoy the postseason. Hopefully we

are talking to you next week from downtown Cleveland. With the postseason still alive for the Guardians as the American League Division Series gets underway later today against the Detroit Tigers. I want to thank Brian Matse for all of his help onto today's broadcast putting together the show as always until next week. This is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians weekly on the Cleveland Clinic. Guardians Radio Network

Speaker 1

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