Alex Bregman
Appearances
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
No, it's, it's definitely different, but it's been great.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Just first and foremost, when I got there, just trying to get, get to know all the guys and get to know everybody's name and kind of get to find out a little bit about everybody and kind of what makes them go and what makes them, what makes them tick, you know, and trying to learn, learn my teammates, learn the coaches, learn the front office and, kind of learn everybody in the organization.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And once I've been fortunate enough to get to know all these guys, it's been awesome. It's been a great time. I think everybody is the right mindset. Everybody's motivated, ready to compete this year. And we got one more exhibition game and then it's go time.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Yeah, 100%. I think a lot of it just goes to communication, talking with everybody and getting on the same page with everybody. Obviously, like you said, I've been fortunate enough to play in the playoffs for the last eight years. I'm planning on continuing to do that this year here with Boston. And I'm super excited. I think we got a really good ball club.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And for me, I think it's just go out and do anything I can to help the team win in all aspects of the game. and yeah, just kind of have good baseball conversations, talk to everybody and, and, and try and, um, share experiences, um, and share things that I feel like help make good teams, uh, win.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And, um, just being able to talk to these guys, everybody's so motivated, everybody's locked in, um, and, Everybody's focused on what they need to do to get better at baseball and make this team successful this year. It's been really cool, really energizing. There's a lot of young guys here, but they got their mind in the right spot and they're focused on the right things.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
This organization is in a really, really good spot, so I'm excited.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Well, I think I was super fortunate to be surrounded by some great veterans right when I got there. Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, Josh Reddick, those guys came in and they were like, hey, don't take this for granted. The postseason is very hard to get here. It's very hard to win in the postseason.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And they kind of settled everybody down and were like, Hey, just, you don't have to do anything more in the post season. You can play your game. You can, you can take your approach and it's still going to work. You got to know who you are and, and play your game and don't try and do anything more than that.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And they, they taught us, they taught us, they taught us how to play in the post season and we'll be forever thankful for them. And hopefully we can, hopefully we can kind of give that same message to these guys here.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
We didn't, we never really, we never really spoke about it. We always just talked about like our team and kind of the goals for the year and just kind of getting to know each other. I feel like both of us from the get-go have been under the same mindset of hey, we want to win baseball games this year. We want to do whatever it takes to win. Wherever they put us, we will play.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And we'll play for one another. And I think it's been great. Honestly, I've admired watching him play from across the field for the last eight years. I mean, he's one of the best hitters in all of baseball. Just an MVP candidate every single year. So it's been awesome, though, be his teammate now.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
It wasn't so fun when he was hitting homers against us, but now, uh, now that I'm on his, uh, now that I'm on his team, I'm very excited.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
No doubt. Obviously, it took into February, and I was joking with everybody. I signed two days before spring training even started, so I was early for some of his clients in the past. Yeah, right. I, uh, I handled it good.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
I think the biggest thing that you have to do during that time is literally just put your head down and work and just work on the game, uh, practice the game, um, get in the gym. Um, but the non-human to be like, Hey, where am I going? Where am I going to go? Where am I going to go in the back of your mind?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, so for, I'll, I'll say when it, when it, when it was done, it was a, it was a, it was a big sigh of relief for myself and my, my wife and, and, uh, We figured out we were we were a big seven months pregnant at the time. So we had to we were going to have to get some stuff going into motion here pretty quickly. And, you know, they've been awesome about getting her all set up in Boston.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
So it's been it's been great.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Oh yeah. I feel like multiple times throughout the process that happened. And we were mentally like, Hey, we're going, we're going somewhere else. And it ended up not happening. And then like the last, last second Boston came in and now, I mean, I'm very happy they did. I'm super, I love it here. I'm super excited.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
No, I think that's the nice thing about the optionality in there. But I think, honestly, being able to get rid of the qualifying offer was a big factor in all of that. I think the qualifying offer is part of the reason why a lot of these players are signing later and later into... the free agency.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, and we'll see what happens here coming up with the qualifying offer, but, um, yeah, it's not, it's the qualifying offer. It's not very good for players. So, um, so I think, uh, I don't know. Um, I think I'm, I'm excited with it. I'm excited with the contract, but I'm super just focused on winning this year. I just want to win, win baseball games and, and do, and do that.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Oh, it's going to be, it's going to be great. Actually, I don't know if I'm, if I'm playing bad, if I'm playing bad, like for homestand, I might need them to bring it out again. So you can get me back, get me back going or something.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
It's, uh, it's going to be nice. I feel like, um, I feel like the biggest difference is like left center and center field. Isn't, isn't super deep, obviously right. Field's pretty far. Um, but, uh, kind of my, my batting batted ball profile. I don't really hit the ball in the air to right field or not when I'm feeling, not when I'm playing well, I don't, um, when I'm,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
When I'm swinging a bat well, I'm hitting the ball high in the air to left field and low to right field. And I feel like that kind of fits that mold of the layout of Fenway Park. But I promise I could hit other places too. Last year. Everybody's been telling me, I can hit elsewhere too, I promise.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, I'm not going to make any excuses for it, but obviously, um, it's all, it's all better now. We got it. We got it. Uh, we got it cleaned up in the off season and, um, it's feeling a hundred percent for this season. Um, but I think, yeah, I think obviously there are some things that I needed, needed to address offensively from last year. Um, I, my walk rate was cut and cut in half pretty much.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, contact rate went up a little bit. And then, um, so it was basically like if I was swinging, the ball was going in play and it's a blessing and a curse. Sometimes when you swing at good pitches, it's a blessing when you swing it pitches around the edges of the plate. Um, it's kind of a curse cause you're putting those ones in play.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And last year, uh, I think that the pitch selection, um, could have been a lot better. And, uh, I think we've kind of addressed some of the reasons why, um, here in camp, why my walk rate went down a little bit and, uh, I think it's back up over the 15% mark now here in spring training early. So hopefully, um, continue to just swing a pitches that I can drive out of the ballpark.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And if they can't, I can't drive them, um, out of the ballpark or in the gap, don't swing.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Yeah, they always say you don't want too many cooks in the kitchen. But at the same time, I have a. I always like taking in as much information as I possibly can. And, um, I feel like, uh, just a short time being able to work with the coaches in the front office here. It's been, it's been pretty awesome.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, they showed me some, uh, some stuff with my swing, how it was different earlier on in my career and how, how it's, how it's changed over the course of my career. And, um, yeah, We're going to try and get it back to where it was before. It's pretty cool, some of the technology that they have. Some overlays of my body in different positions.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Some different things that I'm doing mechanically that could be... more beneficial if i went back to how i was how i was swinging about mechanically in 2018 and 2019 um whether it's my head position or the speed of which i'm loading or um where my center of mass is um
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
There's a lot of things that we've been how far how far my hands are back when I'm swinging the bat, as opposed to like how they used to be inside my frame. Like some some different things that they've showed me that have been really cool and really helpful that looking forward to implementing this year.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Not yet. No, we haven't been back there yet. We went Arizona straight to Florida. Now we're in Mexico today. We're in Mexico today and then up to Texas, Baltimore, and then finally home. So I cannot wait to get up there.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
It's really cool. I feel like, um, I was, I was drafted by the Red Sox out of high school initially before I went to college. And, um, my best friends growing up, Blake Swihart was the first round pick of the Red Sox the year before me. So, um, I got to watch Hugh came up through their system, top prospect, made it to the big leagues, finished in the rookie of the year voting.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, and I was fortunate enough to talk with him about it forever. And, um, I mean, he raved about it. He loved it. And he also told me how awesome like Red Sox baseball is big time in, in Boston. And he, and he told, he told me how a bunch of, a bunch of different things and stories about, um, how intense it is there.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And obviously playing there in the post season against the Red Sox, um, in 17, 18, 21, um, It's pretty cool.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
No, I called time. I called time right before that. I called time. And he was mid-delivery. And he kind of threw it up and in. And then the next pitch drilled me. And I was like, oh my gosh.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
He's nasty. He throws 100, like you said. His stuff is electric, so...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
No, I wasn't. I was, I was not. Um, I had told my college coach that if I was taken in the first round, I was going to sign. But if I wasn't taking it in the first round, I'll give you my word. I'm coming to school. So as soon as I didn't go in the first round, I ended up going to, uh, Going to school and had a great time at LSU.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
Um, I don't really, I don't know. I kind of, I was, I was a sophomore in high school when I went on my recruiting visit to, to LSU. We, uh, we went to a football game and, um, I actually went with my mom on the, on the visit. And, uh, there's this song that they sing and they score a touchdown. And, um, It's called Neck, and I don't know if you've heard of it. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
And my mom was standing right next to me like, what are they saying? Are you kidding me? And we laugh about it as a family because by year three of me going to school there, she was singing along with it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
It's sunk in now. At first it was a little it was a little weird, but now it's up. Now it feels good to be here. It feels normal. Obviously, I miss all my teammates. Playing with them for a while is awesome. I'm going to miss playing with them and the coaches in the front office. It was a great organization, but... I'm super thrilled to be here.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Lack of Upsets and the State of College Hoops With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus, New Red Sox 3B Alex Bregman.
I've had a great time getting to know all my new teammates and coaches in front office. And I've loved every second of it. And I hope we can go out and get back to the postseason and win some games there.