Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
All right, welcome back to Blair and Barker, brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving Canadians credit for 30 years. The dome she has opened. The roof she has opened, I should say, at the Rogers Center.
Can't say dome.
It's the dome. The roof is open. I guess you could say the dome.
You can?
It's going to be cold.
It's time to open that thing.
Yeah, I know, but it's still going to be cold.
It's almost June.
So, wear a jacket.
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Chapter 2: What led to the decision to send Davis Schneider down?
He's getting pretty close. Not that I could do it, but if he can play on that fracture like that and score in that situation, I think he's starting to probably get a little bit more behind his swings. And I thought that it seemed, again, you guys, you especially, Kevin, no offense, Jeff, but neither of us have hit at a high level. Jeff, you know a lot more about hitting than I do.
But it seemed like he was a little late maybe getting underneath a fastball and popping it up because he wasn't there in time. Mm-hmm. And now it feels like he's there. I mean, how are you not there in time when you hit that Paul Skeen's ball out of the yard? That's like.
prime talent george springer you're different than even the average big league player up there so i think he's back on time i think he's back healthy i think a couple things have lined up for him and boy did they need it i mean they especially now with i thought vladdy looked a little better last couple of days but now with him not in the lineup i mean they need you know springers you're asking him to drive a lot of your offense that might not be fair but but it's the reality of the situation well thank you delta uh what's impressed you the most ben with you hendrick pinango
He has shown an ability to understand how he's getting attacked in a way that I did not anticipate and really was not told to us. I don't know how much the team knew he was going to be able to have these kinds of at-bats where He's taking a changeup that's half a ball out of the zone like he knew it was coming, like he had to know it was coming.
And so he's really understanding, I think, the way that teams look at him and scout him. And that's such a tough thing, I think, for a young hitter to do who's trying to survive and was playing to stay on the roster after already being optioned once. And you would never know it. I mean, he looks like a guy who's been in the big leagues for five years and has held his own.
There was one tough play down the line in left field. with Okamoto where he probably should have taken charge, but has held his own in left field, I think, a little bit more than a lot of people would have expected, too.
So he's come up to the big leagues, kind of like the guy behind the plate, too, Valenzuela, has come up to the big leagues with more seasoning than I think you would have expected.
Yeah, just looking at his stats, he leads MLB rookies in batting average. This is a minimum 70 plate appearances. First in batting average. Fifth in strikeout rate, to your point. Seventh in contact rate. Eighth in OBP. Eighth in slug. And ninth in OPS. I mean... Hit and clean up. Hit and clean up.
And deservedly so, I think we could say, given... John feels comfortable, you know, writing his name in there.
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Chapter 3: How is Kazuma Okamoto's performance affecting the team?
Seventh inning on, they're really good at it. Do you have any idea why that is?
It is weird because, I mean, you could say relievers are not as good as starters, and I think that broadly is true. If they could start, probably teams would start them. But the rest of the league hits better or hits worse against some of these high-octane relievers.
It seems like they have a couple guys that feel their way into the game for whatever reason, like maybe they need to get into a bit of a groove. But it's a hard one for me to 100% diagnose. I think you'd have to...
Give a little bit of credit to, you know, the folks, obviously John Schneider being at the front of it, who are setting up some of their matchups because they are a team who, you know, reliever comes in, they'll pinch it very quickly. They have their righties that are sitting there all day game planning for the lefties.
You know, he's now not with the Major League Club, but I remember talking to David Schneider about what his days are like. Typically, and he's spending a whole day if he's on the bench, just hitting off their traject version of the lefty relievers, vice versa for lefties who are on the bench waiting for righties. So I think a lot of that stuff they're doing well and really diving in.
But, you know, I would still acknowledge that that it doesn't totally make sense because they're game planning for the starters even more than that, in theory. And for whatever reason, they have not been able to solve a lot of these starters and they have been able to. They're way above average against relievers, and they're way below average against starters.
And I don't know how to fully put that together either.
Yeah, how do you think David Popkins has handled all of this kind of slow start? You know, everybody's going through it. Like, you know, there hasn't been one guy consistently raking the entire year. Everybody's went through their little... Bumps in the route. I know it's a hitting coach's job to figure everything out, but this team had a really good year offensively last year, right?
I mean, they went really deep into the playoffs, as deep as you could ever go, right? And then to start their season the way they've started it. Have any feel of sort of David Popkin's kind of heat meter when it comes to get this thing going sooner than later?
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Chapter 4: What does Jeff Hoffman’s recent performance indicate?
See, the point you made last year about David Popkins, too, was how the slumps did seem to be shorter than we'd seen in previous years. I just, I mean, I think the simple answer right now, this lineup's not as good as last year's lineup because, Captain, obvious, because you're missing some key pieces.
I think that has something to do with it. I think they're losing. I think that has a little something to do with it. I think one of their best hitters got hurt, missed some time. Other people were trying to make up for it. The first baseman's gotten off to a super slow start when it comes to driving the baseball. Just seems like for whatever reason, you just don't know how right now.
Like, let's be fair about it. Like, that's kind of where it's at. And then you're trying to figure out sort of everything else around it to get everybody else to kind of carry the load to help the pitching staff. And it's just not all the time the easiest thing to do. I'm just wondering about that.
Can I ask you about Yo Hendrick Pena? Absolutely. I like talking about him. One of the real positive stories. Short to it, long through it. Short to it and long through it. No, I don't expect him to hit .313 for the rest of the year. Why not? What we've seen is sustainable, you think, eh? Maybe, yeah. Okay, he's a rookie and, you know, guys are going to adapt.
Yeah, I don't think rookie thing matters anymore. I think they're so prepared when they hit the big leagues. They know what all this stuff looks like and all the different moves. You know, the breaking ball is the difference here than it is the minor leagues. They can spin it whenever they want to spin it for strikes. They can't do that in the minor leagues. They're throwers in the minor leagues.
They're not that way up here. That's why, why do you think they're having trouble innings one through six? Spinning it, right? How do I combat that? And the movement on the fastballs after the spinning, like they pitch backwards all the time. Mitch Keller pitched backwards yesterday. He really got no chance to kind of figure out windows to attack and those kind of things.
I just like that guy because he's kind of a – Kind of a process. Boy, I like that word. Process. It's kind of when I get to the big leagues, the first thing I got to do is show everybody I can hit velocity. What'd he do? He showed up hitting velocity. I'm hammering that thing, dude. No matter how hard you're throwing it, I'm hitting that sucker as hard as I can possibly hit it.
And then at khakis, we're like, I see you. Now we're going to start flipping it. Well, the last couple games, what's he been hitting? Been hitting the spin, right? It's that short to it, long through it. I get back to that. It's kind of like when you talk about Davis Schneider. Think big part of the field with all the moving.
He also seems to have a really good understanding of the strike zone as well. He does.
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Chapter 5: How will Dylan Cease's injury impact the rotation?
Hi, buddy. When you sing it three in a row and you hit the third one to the moon, you ain't hitting it to the moon unless you're looking for it. And, again, it just gets back to how smart he is. I'm not going to tell you I'm looking for it. You don't think other teams' khakis are listening to the video?
You know, you're trying to get every advantage you can possibly get, and I just love the way kind of – you know why? Baseball will never change, no matter how hard they throw or how much they spin it. It's always – if you're hitting, how do you hit the heater first? If I start there and I conquer that, then everything else will take care of itself.
You know who is very good at doing that was our guy, Josh Donaldson. He can tell you stuff pregame. And I remember one situation. He was doing a pregame interview with a bunch of folks in the field, and they were asking him something about his swing, and he said something. And he walked away and looked at me and winked. Yeah.
Like, yeah, I'm not going to give you the crown jewels. It's so hard to hit now, and they have to. You know, when you hit in the middle of the order and George is leading off, that's the middle of the order. Yeah. nowadays, right?
Sure.
You have to educate guests. Every at-bat is different, but it got to start somewhere. How do I get on time for velocity? If I can do that and get to a pause, everything with my barrel will work the way it's supposed to work. If I'm playing catch-up, first baseman, Everything doesn't work, and it doesn't look the way you want it to look. It's that thing.
So you just got to start, like, I know it's real hard when you're struggling and you didn't get off to the start you wanted to get off to, but when in doubt, figure out a way to hit the heater.
Mm-hmm.
Think big part of the field against the fastball. Everything else will take care of itself. I know it's amazing that you can simplify hitting that much, but it really is that simple, especially how hard they throw now and how much balls move. It's just, you got to figure out ways to simplify it. And for me, that's an easy way to do it.
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Chapter 6: Is Yohendrick Piñango's production sustainable?
I know my wife's not. I know I'm not either. My son's not really.
Oh, I love birds. Birds are great.
I'm sure it's the way you fix it. And, you know, you got to take time and the entire day. And you know what's good, man?
Deep fried turkey.
It takes time. You got to sit around and watch it. I'm a ham person. I like ham. That's just me.
To each his own. David Sampson is host of Nothing Personal with David Sampson, the podcast. He's the former MLB president of the Marlins and the Expos. And I promise I won't ask him a question about the Marlins because every time I do, he looks at me and goes, ugh. So no questions about the Marlins, but we'll have other things to talk to David Sampson about.
It's Blair and Barker on the Sportsnet Radio Network and Sportsnet.
Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the Fan Morning Show. Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts.
All right. Welcome back to Blair and Barker brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving Canadians credit for 30 years. The Miami Marlins are in town to take on the Blue Jays tonight. 707 first pitch, Jansen Junk. That's a great name. Against Trey Estavage in the first game of the series. Again, that's a 707 first pitch. The Fish are four games under .500.
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Chapter 7: Why has the Blue Jays' offense struggled in early innings?
company like big league advanced will prey on the players who grew up with no money and have no experience. And they're trying to get their parents out of the slums into a house. And they're trying to get themselves a place to live and the people around them. It is rare for a big leaguers child to do it. A big leaguer who's made it, or even a moderate big leaguer, because you have to be smarter.
But listen, the fact is that he signed a contract. So everyone, and I'm going to talk about this on tomorrow's nothing personal. It's a contract, and it's done between two consenting adults. It's not like they hid the provision. The whole point of it is you get money now, and the risk is on them because the majority of players don't make $340 million.
They have to go and become a dentist or work construction or do something after the big league career, like have a media career. That's the majority of players. Tatis became a... Listen, perfect. He was with the Padres. A.J. Preller was like, let's sign him right now, immediately. Does he still have zero home runs?
I was just looking it up. Absolutely.
It's a contract. Of course he was going to lose. Is he upset? Listen, yes. Then don't sign it. Now, does Fernando Tatis Sr. have money left? He didn't make the kind of money. I think his career earnings may have been less than Tatis' than his son's one year. But you'd hope that they have the representation, the connections to understand the talent that he was.
But some people just don't like betting on themselves. And Tatis did not bet on himself.
Yeah, that was, to me, the most, like, I just sort of vaguely followed the story and then, you know, seeing some of the names of other players, major league players, and there's also other athletes in other sports, but, you know, Yanier Diaz, Bailey Oberk, Cabert Ruiz, L.E.D.
LaCruz, Jazz Chisholm Jr., like, and reading this, I'm thinking, yeah, but his dad played in the, I, that's what amazes me.
And keep in mind, there's a big difference between what goes on with this company, and I'm not in favor of any player doing it, but I do understand. But what happens in Cuba with the Busconis, where they, like Yacel Puig and others, Cespedes, who have to give... And it's not legal.
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