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Blair & Barker

Hitting Slumps with Joe Siddall + Pitcher Rankings with Dan Plesac

13 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: How can Vlad Jr. overcome his hitting slump?

12.248 - 23.013 Jeff Blair

All right, welcome back to Blair and Barker. Brought to you by Capital One. Capital One, giving Canadians credit for 30 years. 707 will be the first pitch tonight. Is this thing sliding down?

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Chapter 2: What are the current performances of Daulton Varsho and Dylan Cease?

23.353 - 23.674 Jeff Blair

Yeah, yeah.

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26.18 - 31.043 Kevin Barker

Boy, how many times, how many does it take? Hey, slick.

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31.063 - 45.772 Jeff Blair

Yeah. See this part? Yeah. Turn it. Too much work. Anyhow, 7-0-7 will be the first pitch tonight as the Jays take on the Rays. The Jays looking to salvage something from this series against the Rays, who have the best record in the American League.

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Chapter 3: What lineup changes might John Schneider consider with player returns?

45.852 - 60.789 Jeff Blair

Never wanted a winning edition more... Yeah, I'm just talking about getting to the point. I'm sure Joe Sittle, our next guest, Blue Jays TV analyst, would love to be analyzing a Blue Jays victory tonight. How you doing, Joe? Looks like you're moving in the back there.

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Chapter 4: Is Yohendrick Piñango the odd man out in the lineup?

60.809 - 66.454 Kevin Barker

They look sharp, though. Yeah, they put you in the janitor's office. What's happening?

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66.654 - 73.261 Joe Siddall

I got out of our booth and I came into the booth next to us where the high home camera is. I thought it'd be a little quieter because the noise is already blaring.

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Chapter 5: What has gone wrong for George Springer in his recent at-bats?

73.281 - 74.882 Joe Siddall

Do you know why the noise is blaring, guys?

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Chapter 6: How do role changes affect pitchers in the MLB?

75.002 - 75.803 Jeff Blair

Why? Why?

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75.783 - 80.229 Joe Siddall

somebody's down on the field, taking a lot of extra batting practice right now.

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80.39 - 80.93 Kevin Barker

The first base.

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81.051 - 93.929 Joe Siddall

I just, I just arrived. My good friend, Dan Shulman has been here for about 30 minutes. And he said, there is one guy down there all by himself, taking some early batting practice by the mayor grow junior.

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93.969 - 95.211 Kevin Barker

Good for him. There you go.

95.231 - 102.381 Joe Siddall

Whatever that means. But Kev, you know what you said? You took the words right out of mouth. How many times have you scuffled, scuffled, scuffled? What can you do to get out of it?

Chapter 7: Why are the New York Yankees pitchers ranked highly this season?

102.884 - 105.788 Joe Siddall

You got to work. Just keep working.

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106.009 - 123.675 Kevin Barker

Yeah. You know, it's funny. Sorry to interrupt you, but it is funny that you mentioned him on the field as long as he has been. I brought this up a couple of times that I've done Blue Jays Central. I've been at the field. I've been there late. That dude's been the only guy in the cage. I can hear balls off a tee being hammered.

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Chapter 8: What are the early indicators of player performance in the MLB?

124.196 - 126.9 Kevin Barker

Walk by, and it's that dude standing there by himself.

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127.184 - 145.532 Joe Siddall

And I'm sure people don't want to hear that. Fans don't want to hear that. It's just an observation because this is what we're doing. We're here and this is what we see. I mean, we can talk about Vladi day in and day out, at bat to at bat. John Schneider even joked about it yesterday. It's like the topic of the day. Every day it's kind of getting old. I'm about ready to let it go.

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146.374 - 158.492 Joe Siddall

He's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He's going to hit, and he's going to hit really well sometime soon. It's just unfortunate that you hope you're not looking back on this season and saying they lost it in April and May because your big boys weren't performing. But again, he's not the only one.

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158.772 - 170.59 Jeff Blair

What do you look for? And I'll ask both of you guys this. Other than having the manager say he's about to break out, what suggests to you that a hitter's about to break out? Joel, I'll start with you and then go with you.

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170.57 - 189.933 Joe Siddall

Well, so game one of the series, I started the broadcast off before his first at bat. And I said something I saw in batting practice. I try to watch from the side as much as I can. And it looked to me like he was making a conscious effort to do something that I feel is imperative as a hitter that, really whenever hitters have problems, the first thing I look is the forward move.

190.294 - 203.871 Joe Siddall

If you can't control your forward move, you're getting out of it. You're getting out front and all heck breaks loose because then you start rushing, you're playing catch up. All those bad phrases hitters talk about. He looked like he was barely striding and I'm not talking about spreading out, not striding.

203.971 - 209.318 Joe Siddall

I'm just talking about controlling that move and really allowing yourself to turn and stay behind the baseball.

209.298 - 229.078 Joe Siddall

i mean we we need to be in a cage to talk to each other and demonstrate but kev you know what i mean stay behind the baseball using the big part of the ballpark and again that's mentally your approach is using the big part of the ballpark because it allows you to stay on the ball and behind the ball better i thought i saw something in bp the day didn't go great yesterday didn't go go great but

229.058 - 249.611 Joe Siddall

It takes time. Maybe he's slowly on to something. But after watching again last night, do you see baby steps? Yeah, because he's flatty. But man, he was so confused that first at bat. I think he is just out thinking himself right now. And, you know, you're trying to rectify problems against some of the best pitchers because these rays are just nasty. I mean, it's sinkers in its sliders away.

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