Elise Menaker

Thanks, Layla.

I appreciate it.

Good to be with you guys.

Yeah, so it started, I think it was like in the off season or at some point in passing, I had heard him like in an interview or read it how he had talked to Caleb or observed about his recovery.

And so it just kind of sparked in me, like I want to ask him just if he's taken anything away from Caleb, whether it be just observing or talking to him.

And so that's kind of how it all started.

But part of the hit was that and part of the hit was just my own observations, seeing him come into spring.

looking at him thinking he looked a lot stronger i've kind of joked with him before i said to him last year i'm like i feel like i've watched you growing up before my eyes because i've known him now for a while especially doing road to wrigley and just following him uh through the minors and uh he kind of laughed and he has said i think i am still growing that's what he was saying last year so that's why you know as i've just kind of

See him day to day.

And then, of course, spring is a time where since you're not around the guys for a bit and then you see them, you just kind of notice, you know, little things like that.

And that's how the conversation started about just his routines, his recovery.

So tying all that in just to kind of what he's doing to keep improving his game.

Yeah, so part of why he went for it last time is because he was super efficient.

And so that was a huge credit to Ben Brown and what he was able to do in attacking the strike zone, throwing strikes, getting ahead.

This is just a confident Ben Brown.

So I think each time out you can see him stretched out a little bit more because they are looking to fill a rotation spot.

And so Ben Brown, Javier Assad, they're going to be stretched out and then kind of go from there to see who's

What voids they can fill, where the team is at as they start to do that.

So I think this is a great opportunity for Ben, you know, talking to him over the years.

This is someone who would talk about how he thinks he's a big league starter.