Melanie Newman

It was that hard learning curve of, you know, early and often has been the motto for so long for a reason.

And so finally saw that season high 11 for them yesterday against Tampa for the sweep.

And hopefully when I return today, I don't feel like a jinx.

Well, I think, too, you're watching a young group that's also identifying that there are fundamental growths that they're making in the game.

And it's weird because I think we're seeing that across the league.

And that is not something that has occurred, at least while I was coming up.

It was almost this overnight of, well, now we are going to give fans the instant gratification of guys coming up within two years of them being drafted or internationally signed.

Now, the difference being, yes, you get to see that name that was just called across the stage.

However, there was a reason back in the day guys were six or seven years and you might even forget about them before they would finally make their major league debut.

And that's because they weren't being finished at the big league level.

They were being polished at that point.

So now to have guys like Samuel Basayo come up and have that big contract on him and watch the way that he emotionally navigates being able to deal with pressures that he's probably self-applied, but that's also an athlete wanting to deliver.

It's this crazy Pandora's box of just an exploration of

You know, every different aspect of human life, really.

And so I think it starts and ends with Pete Alonzo.

It was one of the best things that they could have ever done.

I've seen great veterans in that clubhouse, guys like Kyle Gibson.

But to finally get it from a position player who really does know what he's doing, but also knows what it's like to struggle physically.

knows what it's like to go to the playoffs.

It's all super important.