Dave Riske
speaker
184 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jan 2025
last heard Jan 2025
Dave Riske’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
You know what I mean? And I want to be the best I can when someone says that.
Yes, but I did pitch a little bit in high school, so it wasn't that big of a deal. But to become a full-time pitcher and not hit anymore, that was tough mentally. Because I was like, wait, I'm not playing a position. I'm not playing short, so I'm not hitting. This is boring. Were you always a reliever? No, I was a starter in college.
So that took off, and then I had good results and then just stayed with it.
With the game of baseball, it's the easiest job because hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. So I realize that. But just when you're a strike thrower, you just go up there and you just throw the baseball. Especially at that age and in junior college, I was just going up there and trying to throw strikes.
But at the highest level, being a reliever, I think, is the hardest job in baseball because you have to be perfect every time you go out. You can't give up a starter's run. You can't give up your own run. You can't blow leads. Like, you have to be absolutely perfect.
Yeah, because starters can give up runs. They can throw seven innings, give up three runs, and have a great start.
A reliever can't throw an inning and give up a run, and it's a good outing. It's not a good outing.
Yeah.
after my second year, scouts started coming around and my velocity was going up and they were starting to give me a lot of feedback. And they're like, we're going to take you in the draft. So I committed to Texas Tech University after my second year of junior college. So I was going to go there. I didn't plan on signing in the draft. But then the scouts, this is another funny story.
The scouts told me that I was going to go the first or second day in the draft. The draft comes around. I don't go till day three, the 56th round.
So what was that like? I mean, and I was in no green room. Like the third day is just like maybe draft for favors or kind of fill roster spots.
back then my story wouldn't even happen this year because there's are now nowadays because there's only 20 rounds i was drafted the 56th round the 56th 56th i mean at that point they just kind of let like the interns yeah sometimes they do a draft and follow with the high school kids it's like a fan it's like a fantasy draft at that point right you're just filling them in yeah we we select uh gandalf because
Right. So the fifties, what number player were you? I was a 16th, 134th pick. Oh my God. In the 1996 draft.
I don't think so. But there's three of us, and it could have changed, but this is when I was playing when I got called up to big leagues in 99. They always talked about this because it was a big deal. But there's only three of us that were later than the 50th round that had 10 years in the big leagues. Yeah. It was me, Mike Piazza, and, oh, I could be getting the next, Jeff Conine, I think.
I don't know if you remember that name. He was a counselor for a long time. There was literally only three of us.
Yeah.
Yes. Let me go back to when I got drafted the third day. I was pissed off. I was like, if I don't go on the first and second day, screw the draft. You know what I mean? I'll go play at Texas Tech. I'll go play at Texas Tech and then hopefully get better there. And then I was sitting there going, the scouts were coming up to me and they were like, you know what? We're drafting you as a favor.
I think one of the scouts said, he goes, you have no shot of making it. I'm just doing it. It was a dick. And I'm sitting there going, wait, what? I'm 18 years old listening to this. And I'm like, what is going on right now? I keep having these people come into my life and like sit there and tell me I can't do something.
Well, I was, I ended up signing and went to spring training and I made it to the big leagues in two and a half years at 22 years old.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, they just they I don't think I think he was just the scout was just being a dick. You know what I mean? Like, I don't I just think he was just like. Well, anyways, I got called to the big leagues and he tried to call me to say congratulations. Cause I think they get a big bonus or something if one of their players works out.
Showing 21–40 of 184 · page 2 of 10
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