Steve Phillips
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And, you know, is it Varshow a bit at that point, too?
But, you know, and look, Okamoto's got to be, you know, he's got to cut down on the strikeouts.
And he's a veteran.
He's an all-star.
He's a six-time 30-homer guy.
He kind of needs to step it up.
And I know maybe it's unfair giving him some time to settle in.
But you got 12 games to settle in.
Now we need you to perform.
That's huge.
I think it's so underrated how good he is.
And it's the impact on the pitching.
It's the impact on burning challenges for the other team because he's so good at stealing those pitches down at the bottom of the zone and framing them.
that it establishes a strike zone for the umpire, too.
And so I think it's big.
Plus, he's one of the best two-strike hitters in baseball.
He's a clutch hitter.
He has that ability to drive the ball the other way.
So it's a big loss offensively and defensively for them.
I mean, Heinemann's a nice backup, but he's not Alejandro Kirk.