Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
at bbisntboring.com bbisntboring.com why well because baseball is awesome and this helps spread the word but also because the wbc is on fire and that merch the aforementioned merch will help you absolutely be one of the cool kids i'm wearing my baseball no s aburrito shirts all around Florida, and people are constantly asking me where they can get theirs.
Now, I'm sure those questions are only going to be amping up when I'm boots on the ground in Miami for the semis and finals of the WBC with the baseballs and boring team, Sean Spradling and Newsletter Wigs. We're all going to be there. It's going to be awesome. It's already been awesome for the WBC, which, by the way, speaking of the WBC, we have our matchups, the single elimination matchups.
Yep, for the quarters. Ready? Brace yourself. Korea versus Dominican Republic. USA versus Canada. Puerto Rico versus Italy. And Venezuela versus Japan. Man, that Venezuela versus Japan. Woo! All right, we're going to keep on rolling with the WBC content in the coming days, but there was another topic that I wanted to dive into for today's podcast. Here it is.
How do teams actually decide how important spring training performances are when trying to make their rosters? I think it's a good topic. I think. I know. For this, I go and talk to Detroit manager A.J. Hinch.
along with two players who are putting the pedal to the metal when trying to make their respective teams, and that's outfielder Braden Ward with the Red Sox and Austin Slater with the aforementioned Tigers.
All right, but first up is Hinch, who is trying to gauge one of the most intriguing talents this March, and that would be number two overall prospect in all of baseball, Kevin McGonigal, who is vying to make the Tigers' starting shortstop. So, how should we view the impact of spring training on clubs' perspectives regarding teams like McGonigal? It's a good question, don't you think?
I think it is. Well, Hinch has some great insight. I mean, good, good, great, great, good, great insight. All right, first up. We're going to talk to Hinch. Then I talked to Ward who just, by the way. Hey, this is Richard Deitch, the host of the sports media podcast.
If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered.
I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Kotb reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility.
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Chapter 2: How important are spring training performances for team selection?
Or I've had guys that put up glossy numbers on the scoreboard who don't make a team. I mean, there are guys that have tremendous camps who are going to be passed over. There are also guys who have a longer list or longer resume of performance in the season that are going to get a little bit of a pass in the spring. And so it's not one size fits all. It's super frustrating for fans.
It's frustrating for people following the sport because there's rhyme or reason behind every decision, but it's not easy.
All right, well, thank you. I appreciate it. All right, great stuff from AJ. Next up is Ward. He is facing an uphill battle, trying to make the Red Sox, considering Boston is flush with left-handed hitting outfielders, a lot of them. But the 27-year-old is certainly doing his part, having stole 16 bases. 16 bases! only getting caught once, and totaling a .448 batting average at 102.6 OPS.
He hasn't really even been close in being caught once. I've seen almost all these stolen bases, and there's been once he was caught stealing, and that was because he came off the bag. And the other time, he was safe at 3rd, And it was a little close, but the fact that I can remember that one over all of them is pretty incredible because every one, every other of the stolen bases, not even close.
It's been an incredible spring for Ward. So I felt like he's the perfect guy to talk about trying to make the team and where he came from and how he viewed things. So here's Braden, who, by the way, came to the Red Sox in a trade from Colorado for Brendan Bernardino. He can only do what he can do, and boy, what he's doing is a lot. It's worth talking to, talking about. Here's Brayden Ward.
What is your fastest 40 time? 40? I don't know about 40.
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Chapter 3: What insights does A.J. Hinch provide about evaluating players?
60. 60 is a 618. 618, okay.
What is the thing that, like I asked Brenton Doyle this, I said, what is the most accomplished running race ever? thing that you've ever done in terms of like the thing that has defined your speed, I guess. And I'm saying this obviously because like it's very impressive how fast you are.
So I think last time I ran track was obviously like preschool through eighth grade, like middle school. Yeah. So I wouldn't necessarily say that. I think my favorite like accomplishment has been that I led the Pac-12 when I was my four years there. I let it all four years. Four years if you count the COVID year. Yeah. Three years if you don't.
But I'll be the only player to ever do that probably till the end of time because Pac-12 is gone. So I think that's... In stolen bases.
In stolen bases, yeah.
I let the Pac-12, like I said, all four years. Really? I'm the only player to ever do that, so... Wow. Yeah. Every year. Yeah. Three years, like I said, if you don't count the COVID year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And now it will forever be standing. As long as it doesn't come back, yeah.
That's good. Um... So, you know, when it comes to your game, like, this is, it's, you know, I watched you yesterday and, like, fly around the bases and everything else. Like, this is, do you think that, like, this is the way that the game's going?
In other words, I remember they put, for instance, they put David Hamilton on the 40 man, like, way before anyone thought because they thought this was the game, the way the game was going. Do you feel like this is...
your case or i feel like the game's still going towards power but i i think that every team needs the one guy yeah to do it the old school way yeah i mean like you look at the blue jays last year right they would have given me a million dollars to be on third base at the very end of the end of the game right there to win the title yeah i feel like every team when it matters when a team needs to win they rely on guys like me yeah you know what i mean so uh
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