00:00:15
Speaker 1: Oh, and where.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: Are you headed?
00:00:21
Speaker 1: Maracaibo, Venezuela.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: And are you managing a team there?
00:00:25
Speaker 1: Yes, I am.
00:00:26
Speaker 3: All right. Yeah.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: And, Are you excited about that? Is that something you look forward to?
00:00:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, really excited. Uh, as a player, I, I played out there pretty much, uh, every year of my career, uh, except for two of them that I was hurt, but, uh, it's different baseball is first time I'm going to do that. So yeah, definitely pretty excited about that. Wow.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: And when is the season run? How long is the season?
00:00:51
Speaker 1: Starts October 13th. It's the first game at home. And then, uh, It'll run through December 26th, I believe, is our last game. And then 27th, 28th is for the teams that make the wildcard spot. And then the playoffs start January 2nd.
00:01:10
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:01:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. A lot of baseball.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Well, that sounds great. That sounds great.
00:01:18
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:01:19
Speaker 3: So....
00:01:20
Speaker 2: I want to be respectful of your time.
00:01:22
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and jump in and talk a little bit about the season that just ended with the dash. And, um, as I mentioned to you, um, I'm curious just about managing a team and winning a championship. You've, you know, you've now won three championships in three years at two different levels and they were very different kinds of teams.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Um, But I'm curious, what.
00:01:56
Speaker 3: Do they have in common in terms of that championship pedigree?
00:02:00
Speaker 1: Two of them. One last year in Birmingham. This year, Winston-Salem. The year before me was Sergio Santos there. Oh, my bad. No, it's all right. No worries. But, yeah, still, I mean, it's two in a row. I mean, for me, that's incredible, you know, the way it's been happening and the way, you know– with a couple, you know, different people in my staff, you know, both years and the way that the situation is presented and, you know, it's just been fantastic, the way, you know, we've been interacting with the guys, you know, just creating that culture so they're comfortable and they can communicate and, you know, they can play hard for us. You know, I think that's the biggest, you know, component that we need as a staff for us to be able to, you know, make those guys buy in on what we're trying to do. Right.
00:02:48
Speaker 3: Right. Right. You know, after the game in Greensboro, I talked to Grant, which was, wow, was he amazing. And he said, you know, I had more fun this year than in some years in college. And other players said the same thing. They loved being on that team this year. How do you build that culture again? They have so much fun, but they're working so hard.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: They know we care. They know we're trying to do their best for their careers. They know we're trying to win. We're not just jumping onto that field just to get developed. And that's the reality of what we're doing. I mean, if you pay attention to every single level in the minor leagues for us, every single one of them is doing the same thing. We're putting the best team out there. We're trying to win ball games. We're creating the right mindsets. And I think that's valuable for the guys. You know, they're not just going to the field just to work on stuff so they can get better. They're learning how to win. They want it. They're hungry for it. And they're there to work for it.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: I remember talking to Pat Leland. This might be like three years ago. And he said that you guys talked in spring training about wanting to play to win. not just to develop players. And from an outsider like me, I think that's important. You gotta know how to do the little things to win before you get to Chicago, right?
00:04:28
Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt. I mean, otherwise, I mean, it gets lost in translation. And let me elaborate on that. Going back to the way the season started for us this year, completely different group to what it was at the end. Those guys that we had at the beginning, they were prospects, there was a lot of talent. They can hit the ball really hard, Shelton, Dupino, Bonhamer, McGill contributed to that as well. And they all went up to the double A, right? But then we started getting guys that played hard, that were hungry. Galvan, McLean, Brown became one of those players. Mogollon became one of those players. Loris was hungry to win all year. And so it was incredible, you know, to see that set mentality they had and how much they wanted it. You know, that's what probably Grant was talking about. You know, it's incredible to see in their eyes that they wanted to be there. You know, usually when you hit to a point at the end of the season where everybody just wants to go home and you can hear it, You know, people saying, oh, you know, we're tired. We want to go home. I didn't hear anything about that this year. It was impressive. It was incredible. Everybody talked about, oh, I want to be here. I don't want to go home. I want to win. They don't want it. They're defeated. They're talking about go home. So that told me right there, that tells me right there that we're doing something right. That those guys are there for it. And they had a goal set on their minds and they got it.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:06:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, in that interview with Grant on the field after the game, he said, you know, usually in August, we call it angry August.
00:06:19
Speaker 2: You know, we're done. He said, I didn't hear any of that this year.
00:06:25
Speaker 1: No, those guys were special, man. And, you know, you were there at the end of the game, and, you know, we won the championship. Everybody came out of the field. And I told everybody to take a knee on that field. And as a group, you know, I said, hey, you know, this has been incredible. And I said, I'm very proud or we're very proud as a staff of what you guys accomplished. And I think I, I, you know, I, I did, I said, Hey, thank you to you guys for accomplishing this, because now you're going to remember this for the rest of your lives. Right.
00:06:56
Speaker 3: Right.
00:06:59
Speaker 2: It's amazing. It's amazing. And you know, the team sort of, it'll never be a team again. Right.
00:07:06
Speaker 3: I mean, some will go to Kanap, I mean, to Birmingham, some will stay in Winston. It's just kind of a one-year team. I'm curious, that last game, Grant pitched, I think, through 107 pitches.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: And I think it might have been.
00:07:26
Speaker 3: The only, you know, I see about 50 or 60 minor league games a year. I think it's the only time I ever saw a minor league pitcher throw 100 pitches.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Did you have to get permission? I mean, was that a big deal?
00:07:41
Speaker 1: No doubt. But yeah, he was already built up from the whole year. No doubt. We, in the dugout, Jacob Doris, our pitching coach, texted Matt Selesky, our pitching coordinator, and we asked permission to send him back. And he said, yes, absolutely. You know, send him back. You know, he earns it. You know, he looks comfortable. And so, you know, and to be honest, I mean, Umberger earned that. Right. The way he threw for us, on game one, you know, game one for the playoffs. And then the last game, I mean, and what he did throughout the whole year, you know, he was consistent, steady, you know, routines, everything he had. He was early on the field every day. I mean, he earned it. So, yeah, in my mind, there was no question to send him back and, you know, probably let him try to finish that eighth inning for us, yes.
00:08:37
Speaker 2: Did he not want to come out when you went out? Yes.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: He said that, you know, he sat there and he knew he was over a hundred pitches and he said, Hey, give me one more. And I said, I can't do that. We're ready to give you enough. Nice job. Yeah.
00:08:50
Speaker 3: Well, and, and I almost, almost felt sorry for those Greensboro hitters because after seven, over seven innings of looking at that 80 mile an hour change up, here comes Carlton with the 98 mile an hour fastball.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: It probably looked 120.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: Yes. Uh, What an incredible year for him. Yes. You know, he made, you know, and to be honest, I think all the credit goes to Iran Burgos in Arizona. He stayed back, and it was Mendes, Perkins, and I can't remember. It doesn't come to my mind, the other men. Three guys that had to stay after spring training. and work on, you know, locating their fastballs, change their mechanics a little bit so they can be a little more consistent around the strike zone. And then, you know, Perkins, Carlton, he was supposed to break with Kannapolis, but he didn't do it because of that. Now, once he made those adjustments, he went to canapolis he did real well and then he came to us he was impressive the first time we saw him throwing for us if i'm correct we were in grimville and you know he he went he faced three hit three lefties no one righty two lefties that night and i looked at doris and said hey oh, my God, what is this? Who's this guy? I mean, we just solved our problems. You know, he's nasty. And he goes, yeah, he's nasty. Yeah. So, yeah, it was impressive. You know, he was throwing hard. Sinker was moving. That sweeper, you know, that slider, oh, my God. I mean, it's, you know, adrenaline was pumping on his veins. I mean, it was really nice to see that.
00:10:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, he told me, he said, you know, when I go out, when I start pitching– He said, Doris wants me at 8 and work my way up to 10. He said, I go out, and I'm usually at 10 when I get out on the mound, you know, and I'm too amped up.
00:10:54
Speaker 2: And it was funny. If you remember, he was warming up.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: He threw three pitches to the backstop, and I thought, oh, my God. But once a batter stepped in.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: I was right there with you. I was like, oh, my God. Yeah.
00:11:08
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: And you mentioned Mendez. I remember seeing him. He started in Kannapolis as well, right?
00:11:16
Speaker 1: Yes. He stayed in Arizona with Carlton and the other pitcher. I can't think of his name right now. But they stayed out there to work on that program with Burgess in Arizona. And then once they made their adjustments, they came up to Kannapolis.
00:11:32
Speaker 3: I remember seeing, I kept seeing him first in Kannapolis and then with you guys. And I kept telling all my future Sykes buddies, I said, you.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Know, this guy's a little inconsistent, but when he's in the zone, he is really impressive.
00:11:50
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:11:50
Speaker 2: I liked him.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Pretty similar staff-wise to Perkins. Hard sinkers, sliders, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: And, well, you know, since we're talking about pitching, Jake Curtis.
00:12:05
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:12:06
Speaker 1: What a nice surprise. What a teammate. What a human being. What a dog in that field. I mean, I can't say enough of Kurt. I mean, he was an extra coach we had within the players. Unbelievable. I mean, everything that had to be done. You're talking about a guy that can, you know, control that clubhouse, leadership, you know, help out a lot, you know, that's Kurt for you. And he'll take the ball every day. And he'll pitch every day if you let him. It's incredible.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: I remember at one point in the season, you guys were kind of, you were really literally running out of starting pitching and you put him in the rotation and he delivered.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: Tremendous.
00:12:51
Speaker 1: He started, he did the middle relief role for us. He did some holes for us. He did some leverage situations for us. He closed game for us. He did it all.
00:13:01
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:02
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: And your pitching staff and Doris in particular, you know, you kind of pieced it together. You had three guys, um, McDaniel, Cinebaldi and, uh, Umberger who all had over 20 starts. The next highest guy was, um, Gabe Davis with eight. I mean, he's kind of pieced it together after.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: Those three guys, but, um, It was great.
00:13:28
Speaker 1: All credit to Jacob. He's incredible when it comes to game planning and going by the restrictions we have with the pitch counts and the days and the guys that we have available and everything. He's really good and down to earth with his work.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: You had another coach who had a pretty good first year as well.
00:13:51
Speaker 3: Adam 136 games, his team was never shut out.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: Adam Cinco, what an incredible human being. Cinco means well. Cinco is a hard worker. Cinco will give you the information you need, and if you need more, he'll go around and find it somewhere where you can't find it, and he'll give it to you so you can be successful. That's the type of guy he is. Very humble, very educated. you know, always, always, always willing to help. And, you know, when you have, you know, guys like that working with you on your staff, I mean, I mean, I think that's, you have to be successful. I mean, because they're always contributing to what we're trying to do, you know?
00:14:40
Speaker 2: Right, right. Yeah. And I got to tell you, he was a joy to work with. He's just a really laid back, fun guy. So good guy.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: One last thing about managing before we get into individual players, and you kind of.
00:14:55
Speaker 2: Touched on it.
00:14:56
Speaker 3: There were 21 guys promoted to Winston from Kannapolis during the year. I mean, that's almost your entire roster. And yet, in that kind of change, how do you still maintain a team culture?
00:15:13
Speaker 1: You know what, Jeff? Everything starts in spring training. You know, I had a chance to addressed the whole group, the whole room in spring training when they did the ring ceremony. You know, we got our rings from last year from Birmingham. And before I started passing those out, you know, I mentioned to them that the expectations this year was to win, that we were going to work hard for it, that there was no excuses, that hustle wasn't negotiable. You know, we had to hustle. We had to run hard. And really, everybody bought into that. Everybody that was coming into Winston-Salem, you can hear them talking, saying, hey, you know, we're going to win. You know, we're playing to win. You know, game situations that presented to ourselves, you could see the guys looking at me like, hey, yeah, let's run it. Hey, yeah, let's run. Hey, you know, yeah, safety squeeze right here. I mean, anything– that came to their minds, you know, even at the end, you know, Walcott was hurt. He was an extra hitting coach we had in the dugout. He was helping everybody with the reports, like telling hitters information, you know, so everything clicked because of that. You got to have guys like that that are willing to help you out and talk to everyone about what we're trying to do And so everyone that has that little chip on their brain saying, hey, let's flip it on because we're here and now we're winning. Yeah.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: Oh, interesting. At what point in August did you think, hey, we're not out of it. We can do this. We can do this.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: You know what?
00:17:04
Speaker 2: The schedule was really hard in August.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: Yes. But I made sure they knew that we were trying to go for it because we fell short on the first half. You know, Bowling Green ran with the whole thing. You know, we finished 10 games over 500, and they still won it by eight games. Wow. Over us. So I talked to the staff. We had a meeting before the second half started, and I said, hey, we're not going home early. We're going to try to do this thing. Let's try to make the playoffs, and then we'll go from there. Yeah. And really, I mean, that's what they played for. They wanted to get in. Once we were in, they started talking about winning. And, I mean, they got it.
00:17:54
Speaker 3: I felt like the team, you know, you guys went on the road to Greensboro in August.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: You were on the road in Greenville. And I came to one of those road games in each series. And I felt like the team was in playoff mode then, you know.
00:18:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, in Greenville, definitely. Yeah, because they were right there with us.
00:18:12
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:13
Speaker 1: They were right there with us. And so, yeah, they knew those games, those games were important. So they, they showed up for us.
00:18:20
Speaker 3: The other thing you and I talked about during the season is they never quit.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: They were never out of a game.
00:18:26
Speaker 3: I mean, and it, it didn't matter three, four runs after the eighth inning.
00:18:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:18:33
Speaker 1: Play for 27 outs. Yeah. 27 outs. You're never out of the game. One at bat, one, one, one for a hit can change everything on that ball game. One pitch. And, yeah, they were relentless when it came to that.
00:18:47
Speaker 3: So I want to talk a little bit about some of the individual players. And I'm curious if you can pick an MVP or a guy who was maybe one of the most important guys on the team.
00:19:01
Speaker 2: The guy I.
00:19:02
Speaker 3: Thought who made you guys go, at least in the second half, was Eli Brown.
00:19:08
Speaker 1: No doubt. No doubt. And my heart was hurting when he pulled that hamstring game one of the championship series. I said, oh, my God, how are we going to do this?
00:19:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:19:22
Speaker 1: And we did it. I mean, McLean, you know, we put him on the leader spot, and he stepped up to the task, and he hit a homer for us on that last game. I mean, it was incredible. But, yeah, Eli definitely, what a player. I mean, he– You know, you could see throughout the year the way he started and how he finished. You know, how much he learned and and, and how everything changed for him. You know, he switched his hitting mechanics. I want to say like three times throughout the year to make him a little more consistent, to hit the ball a little more in the air, his routers, his routes in the, in the, in the outfield got a lot, you know, a lot more efficient with playing time. Last couple of months, he started, you know, running more on his own, you know, stealing bags and, Just learning little things of the game that really he's going to need because he's that type of player. He can impact the game. Even game situations. I remember this particular one in Greenville. We're down one run. There was a runner on third base. Galvan was running on third base. Eli was coming to the plate and there was two outs. And they made a pitching change. While their manager was talking to the new pitcher, I went to the dugout and I talked to Eli. I said, Eli, with two outs, they're playing you back. We're going to tie this ballgame right now. And if we tie this ballgame, we're going to win it. And he looked at me and he said, yeah, I'll drop it. I was like, okay, fine. First pitch, he took. Second pitch, he dropped that bunt with two outs. We scored the run. Incredible bunt. He was safe at first base. We tied the bowl game. We ended up winning that bowl game. Wow. Yep. Yep.
00:21:15
Speaker 2: He was a beautiful bunter.
00:21:17
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
00:21:18
Speaker 2: Yep.
00:21:19
Speaker 3: You got to watch him all year. I just watched bits and pieces. But that catch he made in left center field against Bowling Green. No, against Greensboro in the first game in Winston.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: Was phenomenal. Do you remember that catch?
00:21:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. Of course. Of course. But see, we saw so many of those during the year that for us, that was routine. That's, you know, we got Eli there, you know, like, yeah, he's going to run it, he's going to catch it. You know, but yeah, you're right. I mean, it's incredible that you see it so much that you know he'll be there and he'll catch it.
00:21:58
Speaker 3: Right.
00:21:58
Speaker 1: And it's special. And, you know, the route he took, the way he dove for that ball, you know, I mean, it's You don't see that every day. Oh, my gosh.
00:22:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:22:08
Speaker 3: And, you know, what I liked about him, he's great on base percentage because he bunts, he hits, and he walks.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: He walks.
00:22:16
Speaker 3: But the other thing I like about him, when he came up with a runner on base, I thought to myself, that guy's going to score. He always gets his bat on the ball. You know, he's just got great bat-to-ball skills. I really enjoyed watching him. Yeah. Um, some other guys on the team, um, you mentioned George, um, a great year. He was the only, I think the only White Sox minor leaguer with a hundred RBIs this year.
00:22:43
Speaker 2: Um, and, um, a lot of strikeouts, but a lot of power. What kind of.
00:22:50
Speaker 3: Growth did you see from him this year?
00:22:54
Speaker 1: Abilities there. No questions. You know, he made some strikes this year. He made a couple of mechanics. mechanical adjustments that helped him out. The swing and miss is there. I mean, but you get that with a guy that has that kind of power. For me, you know, it was just up here, what he did, you know, understanding the game situations, anticipating. He wasn't just reacting as he was at the beginning of the year. You know, he will come up to me and say, hey Q, what do you think about this? I'm like, George, no. Think about the situation. anticipate you need to know what you're going to do with the ball before you throw it in and and you see at the end you know he you know he started you know he got a couple uh outfielder assists he started hitting the cutoff man he baseball got cleaner in the same way you know with his offense you know he started recognizing seeing pitches a little better at the end uh knowing what he can handle whether you know it was down in a way or or close to him um but yeah i mean i You know, he's still 20. It's unbelievable. You know, we're talking about two guys, Eli Brown, and we're talking about now– we're talking about George now, 20 and 21. I mean, that's crazy to say that they're having, you know, this type of success at 20 years old, you know, and high A and 100 RBIs and 22 homers or 23. I mean, it's– yeah. I mean, for me, you know, I told George, I said, hey, at the end– and he was– He wanted to play so bad. The day before, you know, when Eli got hurt, you know, he went to the trainer's room early. He taped up his foot. And, you know, he actually ran bases and he looked well. But then we got the call saying, hey, you know, yeah, let's not risk it. You know, he had a good year. You know, we don't want him to get that little, you know, fracture to get, you know, to get worse. And he was devastated by that. But then on the other hand, he understood that, He needed to rest and to heal his toe. There's always a next year.
00:25:06
Speaker 2: It was amazing.
00:25:08
Speaker 3: One of the great things about baseball is you never know when an opportunity is going to come up.
00:25:12
Speaker 2: For a player. I look at Brady Holcomb.
00:25:20
Speaker 3: There he is in Kannapolis. Served a has a concussion or possible concussion. So he comes up to sit on the bench. Then George gets hurt. And all of a sudden he's in the outfield in high A in a championship series. And I remember in that first game in Winston against Greensboro, he looked.
00:25:42
Speaker 2: Overmatched and he struck out.
00:25:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:25:45
Speaker 2: But the second at bat, he had the big three run home run.
00:25:48
Speaker 1: Right.
00:25:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:50
Speaker 1: Big power. Natural, yeah, big power. You can see that every time he connects, you know, that ball just creams.
00:25:56
Speaker 2: It goes.
00:25:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, obviously, he needs a little more experience on that field, and he's going to be a good one because he's smart. And he has the tools. You know, he can actually run a little bit as well. And, you know, routes out there, to be honest, I mean, I know he hasn't played much in the outfield, but we played him out there a couple times, and he looked good. So, I mean, yeah.
00:26:19
Speaker 3: I was, you know, when George– wasn't able to play that last game and Eli wasn't able to play. And all of a sudden you had McLean in center field for only what? I think the second time.
00:26:29
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:26:29
Speaker 3: And, um, Holcomb was in one corner and tossing.
00:26:35
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker 3: I thought, Oh God, this, I thought this is going to be a rough defense, but God, Umberger wasn't going to let any balls go.
00:26:44
Speaker 1: Into the outfield. Yeah. Umberger made sure that that worked. Yeah.
00:26:50
Speaker 2: You know, I mentioned tossing.
00:26:51
Speaker 3: I felt when he was added to the lineup, that really, really made you guys tough.
00:26:58
Speaker 1: Yes, yes. He can hit the ball really hard as well. Yeah. You know, toss is a team guy. It's a guy that everybody likes. It's a guy that everybody listens to. You know, his energy is contagious, as we call it, you know. And on the other hand, you know, on that field, you know, he competes. He's also one of those guys that never quits. He doesn't take any of that for granted. He hustles. I mean, what else can you ask for? I mean, what a good bowl player, you know?
00:27:29
Speaker 2: Which of the players do you think demonstrated?
00:27:32
Speaker 3: Who were some of the guys who demonstrated the most growth during the season?
00:27:37
Speaker 2: Who really stood out to you? It seemed like there were a ton of guys.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. George was one of them, for sure. Lodis as well. I think Mogollon as well. Mogollon came up, you know, we had him, you know, the whole second half. He came from Kannapolis. And what he did, not only offensively because, you know, we know he can hit and he can hit the ball hard as well. Yeah. But defensively, you know, he played all three positions on that infield, second base, shortstop, third base. And he really looked well playing all three of them, really consistent. He was one of them. Brown, of course. Eli, McGill, McGill, you know, we knew he could catch. We knew he was really consistent at what he does. But then the bat came around and, you know, went up to Birmingham and continued to do well out there. Obviously, Bonamer, you know, he started off on fire and he left. He was on fire. He kept hitting homers in double A. Yeah.
00:28:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker 1: The Pino, the Pino, you know, the Pino did actually a really nice job defensively for us. Yeah. Everyone knows that he can hit, right? But defensively, he was really good for us at first base. And, you know, that list is long. I mean, putting the pitchers there, I mean, you know, McDaniel was solid all year, you know, even though he was limited to four innings every start. But, yeah, he gave us everything he had, and he competed for those four innings. Homburger, I mean, it's Curtis, Jake. I mean, you know, the list goes on and on and on and on. Yeah.
00:29:25
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. Well, personally, you know, I cover teams.
00:29:31
Speaker 3: I go to games in Charlotte, Kannapolis, and Winston, and I always look forward to come.
00:29:36
Speaker 2: I tried to get it.
00:29:36
Speaker 3: To one game, every homestand in Winston, just, you know, check in, but also it was such a fun team to watch. They were, you guys were never out of games. It was fun guys to talk to, uh, around the batting cage. Everything was loose. Guys were funny. Um, so, uh, I appreciate everything you did. You know, the team and your coaches and you were always, I know you guys are always tired at the end of a game or after batting practice, but you always took time to talk and I always appreciated it.
00:30:08
Speaker 2: It really meant a lot to me.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you mean well. You follow the guys. I mean, you look at their careers. I mean, there's no question that we always want to talk to people like you. I mean, you're awesome. Well, thank you.
00:30:23
Speaker 2: I'm in awe of what you guys do. You know, I get there early.
00:30:28
Speaker 3: I see you're alone in the dugout getting everything ready for a game. Then before the game, you'll go work with a catcher. It blows my mind all the things that you and your coaches have to do for those players, how hard you guys work. And I tell my friends, I said, you know, These players, they play six games a week, but people don't realize every day they have a game, they're practicing hitting and fielding as well. I mean, it is a long, tough day in a long.
00:31:02
Speaker 1: Tough season.
00:31:03
Speaker 3: And I'm just in awe of what you guys do and what you're able to accomplish. Yeah.
00:31:10
Speaker 1: I mean, it's awesome. I mean, it's rewarding to see those guys have success. You know, that's what we're there for, you know, to help them out, to guide them through the right process, as they say. And to make them, you know, to make them winners. And you know what?
00:31:25
Speaker 3: They, whether they start, they sit on the bench, whatever, they all have the same dream, right?
00:31:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:31:30
Speaker 2: They want to be in Chicago.
00:31:32
Speaker 1: Correct. Correct.
00:31:35
Speaker 3: So anyway, this is, thank you for your time today. It's great catching up. And it was just a phenomenal season. And I congratulate you on that. Adam, Adam, did an interview with one of the Future Sox guys a couple days ago. And they asked, the Future Sox guy asked Adam, he said, well, when did you think, when did you realize you had a chance to make the playoffs? And Adam said, well, with Q as our manager, given his track record, we knew we had a pretty good chance.
00:32:17
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
00:32:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:32:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:32:20
Speaker 3: Well, have a great time in the Winter League, and hopefully we'll all be in spring training.
00:32:29
Speaker 1: All right. We'll see you soon, as they say.
00:32:31
Speaker 2: I look forward to it. Thank you again for your time.
00:32:34
Speaker 1: No problem. Thank you.
00:32:35
Speaker 2: Take care, Q.
00:32:36
Speaker 1: Bye.
00:32:37
Speaker 2: Bye-bye.
Speaker 1: Oh, and where.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: Are you headed?
00:00:21
Speaker 1: Maracaibo, Venezuela.
00:00:23
Speaker 2: And are you managing a team there?
00:00:25
Speaker 1: Yes, I am.
00:00:26
Speaker 3: All right. Yeah.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: And, Are you excited about that? Is that something you look forward to?
00:00:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, really excited. Uh, as a player, I, I played out there pretty much, uh, every year of my career, uh, except for two of them that I was hurt, but, uh, it's different baseball is first time I'm going to do that. So yeah, definitely pretty excited about that. Wow.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: And when is the season run? How long is the season?
00:00:51
Speaker 1: Starts October 13th. It's the first game at home. And then, uh, It'll run through December 26th, I believe, is our last game. And then 27th, 28th is for the teams that make the wildcard spot. And then the playoffs start January 2nd.
00:01:10
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:01:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. A lot of baseball.
00:01:16
Speaker 2: Well, that sounds great. That sounds great.
00:01:18
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:01:19
Speaker 3: So....
00:01:20
Speaker 2: I want to be respectful of your time.
00:01:22
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and jump in and talk a little bit about the season that just ended with the dash. And, um, as I mentioned to you, um, I'm curious just about managing a team and winning a championship. You've, you know, you've now won three championships in three years at two different levels and they were very different kinds of teams.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Um, But I'm curious, what.
00:01:56
Speaker 3: Do they have in common in terms of that championship pedigree?
00:02:00
Speaker 1: Two of them. One last year in Birmingham. This year, Winston-Salem. The year before me was Sergio Santos there. Oh, my bad. No, it's all right. No worries. But, yeah, still, I mean, it's two in a row. I mean, for me, that's incredible, you know, the way it's been happening and the way, you know– with a couple, you know, different people in my staff, you know, both years and the way that the situation is presented and, you know, it's just been fantastic, the way, you know, we've been interacting with the guys, you know, just creating that culture so they're comfortable and they can communicate and, you know, they can play hard for us. You know, I think that's the biggest, you know, component that we need as a staff for us to be able to, you know, make those guys buy in on what we're trying to do. Right.
00:02:48
Speaker 3: Right. Right. You know, after the game in Greensboro, I talked to Grant, which was, wow, was he amazing. And he said, you know, I had more fun this year than in some years in college. And other players said the same thing. They loved being on that team this year. How do you build that culture again? They have so much fun, but they're working so hard.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: They know we care. They know we're trying to do their best for their careers. They know we're trying to win. We're not just jumping onto that field just to get developed. And that's the reality of what we're doing. I mean, if you pay attention to every single level in the minor leagues for us, every single one of them is doing the same thing. We're putting the best team out there. We're trying to win ball games. We're creating the right mindsets. And I think that's valuable for the guys. You know, they're not just going to the field just to work on stuff so they can get better. They're learning how to win. They want it. They're hungry for it. And they're there to work for it.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: I remember talking to Pat Leland. This might be like three years ago. And he said that you guys talked in spring training about wanting to play to win. not just to develop players. And from an outsider like me, I think that's important. You gotta know how to do the little things to win before you get to Chicago, right?
00:04:28
Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt. I mean, otherwise, I mean, it gets lost in translation. And let me elaborate on that. Going back to the way the season started for us this year, completely different group to what it was at the end. Those guys that we had at the beginning, they were prospects, there was a lot of talent. They can hit the ball really hard, Shelton, Dupino, Bonhamer, McGill contributed to that as well. And they all went up to the double A, right? But then we started getting guys that played hard, that were hungry. Galvan, McLean, Brown became one of those players. Mogollon became one of those players. Loris was hungry to win all year. And so it was incredible, you know, to see that set mentality they had and how much they wanted it. You know, that's what probably Grant was talking about. You know, it's incredible to see in their eyes that they wanted to be there. You know, usually when you hit to a point at the end of the season where everybody just wants to go home and you can hear it, You know, people saying, oh, you know, we're tired. We want to go home. I didn't hear anything about that this year. It was impressive. It was incredible. Everybody talked about, oh, I want to be here. I don't want to go home. I want to win. They don't want it. They're defeated. They're talking about go home. So that told me right there, that tells me right there that we're doing something right. That those guys are there for it. And they had a goal set on their minds and they got it.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:06:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, in that interview with Grant on the field after the game, he said, you know, usually in August, we call it angry August.
00:06:19
Speaker 2: You know, we're done. He said, I didn't hear any of that this year.
00:06:25
Speaker 1: No, those guys were special, man. And, you know, you were there at the end of the game, and, you know, we won the championship. Everybody came out of the field. And I told everybody to take a knee on that field. And as a group, you know, I said, hey, you know, this has been incredible. And I said, I'm very proud or we're very proud as a staff of what you guys accomplished. And I think I, I, you know, I, I did, I said, Hey, thank you to you guys for accomplishing this, because now you're going to remember this for the rest of your lives. Right.
00:06:56
Speaker 3: Right.
00:06:59
Speaker 2: It's amazing. It's amazing. And you know, the team sort of, it'll never be a team again. Right.
00:07:06
Speaker 3: I mean, some will go to Kanap, I mean, to Birmingham, some will stay in Winston. It's just kind of a one-year team. I'm curious, that last game, Grant pitched, I think, through 107 pitches.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: And I think it might have been.
00:07:26
Speaker 3: The only, you know, I see about 50 or 60 minor league games a year. I think it's the only time I ever saw a minor league pitcher throw 100 pitches.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Did you have to get permission? I mean, was that a big deal?
00:07:41
Speaker 1: No doubt. But yeah, he was already built up from the whole year. No doubt. We, in the dugout, Jacob Doris, our pitching coach, texted Matt Selesky, our pitching coordinator, and we asked permission to send him back. And he said, yes, absolutely. You know, send him back. You know, he earns it. You know, he looks comfortable. And so, you know, and to be honest, I mean, Umberger earned that. Right. The way he threw for us, on game one, you know, game one for the playoffs. And then the last game, I mean, and what he did throughout the whole year, you know, he was consistent, steady, you know, routines, everything he had. He was early on the field every day. I mean, he earned it. So, yeah, in my mind, there was no question to send him back and, you know, probably let him try to finish that eighth inning for us, yes.
00:08:37
Speaker 2: Did he not want to come out when you went out? Yes.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: He said that, you know, he sat there and he knew he was over a hundred pitches and he said, Hey, give me one more. And I said, I can't do that. We're ready to give you enough. Nice job. Yeah.
00:08:50
Speaker 3: Well, and, and I almost, almost felt sorry for those Greensboro hitters because after seven, over seven innings of looking at that 80 mile an hour change up, here comes Carlton with the 98 mile an hour fastball.
00:09:05
Speaker 2: It probably looked 120.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: Yes. Uh, What an incredible year for him. Yes. You know, he made, you know, and to be honest, I think all the credit goes to Iran Burgos in Arizona. He stayed back, and it was Mendes, Perkins, and I can't remember. It doesn't come to my mind, the other men. Three guys that had to stay after spring training. and work on, you know, locating their fastballs, change their mechanics a little bit so they can be a little more consistent around the strike zone. And then, you know, Perkins, Carlton, he was supposed to break with Kannapolis, but he didn't do it because of that. Now, once he made those adjustments, he went to canapolis he did real well and then he came to us he was impressive the first time we saw him throwing for us if i'm correct we were in grimville and you know he he went he faced three hit three lefties no one righty two lefties that night and i looked at doris and said hey oh, my God, what is this? Who's this guy? I mean, we just solved our problems. You know, he's nasty. And he goes, yeah, he's nasty. Yeah. So, yeah, it was impressive. You know, he was throwing hard. Sinker was moving. That sweeper, you know, that slider, oh, my God. I mean, it's, you know, adrenaline was pumping on his veins. I mean, it was really nice to see that.
00:10:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, he told me, he said, you know, when I go out, when I start pitching– He said, Doris wants me at 8 and work my way up to 10. He said, I go out, and I'm usually at 10 when I get out on the mound, you know, and I'm too amped up.
00:10:54
Speaker 2: And it was funny. If you remember, he was warming up.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: He threw three pitches to the backstop, and I thought, oh, my God. But once a batter stepped in.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: I was right there with you. I was like, oh, my God. Yeah.
00:11:08
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:11:09
Speaker 2: And you mentioned Mendez. I remember seeing him. He started in Kannapolis as well, right?
00:11:16
Speaker 1: Yes. He stayed in Arizona with Carlton and the other pitcher. I can't think of his name right now. But they stayed out there to work on that program with Burgess in Arizona. And then once they made their adjustments, they came up to Kannapolis.
00:11:32
Speaker 3: I remember seeing, I kept seeing him first in Kannapolis and then with you guys. And I kept telling all my future Sykes buddies, I said, you.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Know, this guy's a little inconsistent, but when he's in the zone, he is really impressive.
00:11:50
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:11:50
Speaker 2: I liked him.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Pretty similar staff-wise to Perkins. Hard sinkers, sliders, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: And, well, you know, since we're talking about pitching, Jake Curtis.
00:12:05
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:12:06
Speaker 1: What a nice surprise. What a teammate. What a human being. What a dog in that field. I mean, I can't say enough of Kurt. I mean, he was an extra coach we had within the players. Unbelievable. I mean, everything that had to be done. You're talking about a guy that can, you know, control that clubhouse, leadership, you know, help out a lot, you know, that's Kurt for you. And he'll take the ball every day. And he'll pitch every day if you let him. It's incredible.
00:12:42
Speaker 3: I remember at one point in the season, you guys were kind of, you were really literally running out of starting pitching and you put him in the rotation and he delivered.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:12:51
Speaker 2: Tremendous.
00:12:51
Speaker 1: He started, he did the middle relief role for us. He did some holes for us. He did some leverage situations for us. He closed game for us. He did it all.
00:13:01
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:02
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker 3: And your pitching staff and Doris in particular, you know, you kind of pieced it together. You had three guys, um, McDaniel, Cinebaldi and, uh, Umberger who all had over 20 starts. The next highest guy was, um, Gabe Davis with eight. I mean, he's kind of pieced it together after.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: Those three guys, but, um, It was great.
00:13:28
Speaker 1: All credit to Jacob. He's incredible when it comes to game planning and going by the restrictions we have with the pitch counts and the days and the guys that we have available and everything. He's really good and down to earth with his work.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: You had another coach who had a pretty good first year as well.
00:13:51
Speaker 3: Adam 136 games, his team was never shut out.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: Adam Cinco, what an incredible human being. Cinco means well. Cinco is a hard worker. Cinco will give you the information you need, and if you need more, he'll go around and find it somewhere where you can't find it, and he'll give it to you so you can be successful. That's the type of guy he is. Very humble, very educated. you know, always, always, always willing to help. And, you know, when you have, you know, guys like that working with you on your staff, I mean, I mean, I think that's, you have to be successful. I mean, because they're always contributing to what we're trying to do, you know?
00:14:40
Speaker 2: Right, right. Yeah. And I got to tell you, he was a joy to work with. He's just a really laid back, fun guy. So good guy.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: One last thing about managing before we get into individual players, and you kind of.
00:14:55
Speaker 2: Touched on it.
00:14:56
Speaker 3: There were 21 guys promoted to Winston from Kannapolis during the year. I mean, that's almost your entire roster. And yet, in that kind of change, how do you still maintain a team culture?
00:15:13
Speaker 1: You know what, Jeff? Everything starts in spring training. You know, I had a chance to addressed the whole group, the whole room in spring training when they did the ring ceremony. You know, we got our rings from last year from Birmingham. And before I started passing those out, you know, I mentioned to them that the expectations this year was to win, that we were going to work hard for it, that there was no excuses, that hustle wasn't negotiable. You know, we had to hustle. We had to run hard. And really, everybody bought into that. Everybody that was coming into Winston-Salem, you can hear them talking, saying, hey, you know, we're going to win. You know, we're playing to win. You know, game situations that presented to ourselves, you could see the guys looking at me like, hey, yeah, let's run it. Hey, yeah, let's run. Hey, you know, yeah, safety squeeze right here. I mean, anything– that came to their minds, you know, even at the end, you know, Walcott was hurt. He was an extra hitting coach we had in the dugout. He was helping everybody with the reports, like telling hitters information, you know, so everything clicked because of that. You got to have guys like that that are willing to help you out and talk to everyone about what we're trying to do And so everyone that has that little chip on their brain saying, hey, let's flip it on because we're here and now we're winning. Yeah.
00:16:54
Speaker 2: Oh, interesting. At what point in August did you think, hey, we're not out of it. We can do this. We can do this.
00:17:03
Speaker 1: You know what?
00:17:04
Speaker 2: The schedule was really hard in August.
00:17:07
Speaker 1: Yes. But I made sure they knew that we were trying to go for it because we fell short on the first half. You know, Bowling Green ran with the whole thing. You know, we finished 10 games over 500, and they still won it by eight games. Wow. Over us. So I talked to the staff. We had a meeting before the second half started, and I said, hey, we're not going home early. We're going to try to do this thing. Let's try to make the playoffs, and then we'll go from there. Yeah. And really, I mean, that's what they played for. They wanted to get in. Once we were in, they started talking about winning. And, I mean, they got it.
00:17:54
Speaker 3: I felt like the team, you know, you guys went on the road to Greensboro in August.
00:17:59
Speaker 2: You were on the road in Greenville. And I came to one of those road games in each series. And I felt like the team was in playoff mode then, you know.
00:18:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, in Greenville, definitely. Yeah, because they were right there with us.
00:18:12
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:18:13
Speaker 1: They were right there with us. And so, yeah, they knew those games, those games were important. So they, they showed up for us.
00:18:20
Speaker 3: The other thing you and I talked about during the season is they never quit.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: They were never out of a game.
00:18:26
Speaker 3: I mean, and it, it didn't matter three, four runs after the eighth inning.
00:18:32
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:18:33
Speaker 1: Play for 27 outs. Yeah. 27 outs. You're never out of the game. One at bat, one, one, one for a hit can change everything on that ball game. One pitch. And, yeah, they were relentless when it came to that.
00:18:47
Speaker 3: So I want to talk a little bit about some of the individual players. And I'm curious if you can pick an MVP or a guy who was maybe one of the most important guys on the team.
00:19:01
Speaker 2: The guy I.
00:19:02
Speaker 3: Thought who made you guys go, at least in the second half, was Eli Brown.
00:19:08
Speaker 1: No doubt. No doubt. And my heart was hurting when he pulled that hamstring game one of the championship series. I said, oh, my God, how are we going to do this?
00:19:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:19:22
Speaker 1: And we did it. I mean, McLean, you know, we put him on the leader spot, and he stepped up to the task, and he hit a homer for us on that last game. I mean, it was incredible. But, yeah, Eli definitely, what a player. I mean, he– You know, you could see throughout the year the way he started and how he finished. You know, how much he learned and and, and how everything changed for him. You know, he switched his hitting mechanics. I want to say like three times throughout the year to make him a little more consistent, to hit the ball a little more in the air, his routers, his routes in the, in the, in the outfield got a lot, you know, a lot more efficient with playing time. Last couple of months, he started, you know, running more on his own, you know, stealing bags and, Just learning little things of the game that really he's going to need because he's that type of player. He can impact the game. Even game situations. I remember this particular one in Greenville. We're down one run. There was a runner on third base. Galvan was running on third base. Eli was coming to the plate and there was two outs. And they made a pitching change. While their manager was talking to the new pitcher, I went to the dugout and I talked to Eli. I said, Eli, with two outs, they're playing you back. We're going to tie this ballgame right now. And if we tie this ballgame, we're going to win it. And he looked at me and he said, yeah, I'll drop it. I was like, okay, fine. First pitch, he took. Second pitch, he dropped that bunt with two outs. We scored the run. Incredible bunt. He was safe at first base. We tied the bowl game. We ended up winning that bowl game. Wow. Yep. Yep.
00:21:15
Speaker 2: He was a beautiful bunter.
00:21:17
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
00:21:18
Speaker 2: Yep.
00:21:19
Speaker 3: You got to watch him all year. I just watched bits and pieces. But that catch he made in left center field against Bowling Green. No, against Greensboro in the first game in Winston.
00:21:34
Speaker 2: Was phenomenal. Do you remember that catch?
00:21:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. Of course. Of course. But see, we saw so many of those during the year that for us, that was routine. That's, you know, we got Eli there, you know, like, yeah, he's going to run it, he's going to catch it. You know, but yeah, you're right. I mean, it's incredible that you see it so much that you know he'll be there and he'll catch it.
00:21:58
Speaker 3: Right.
00:21:58
Speaker 1: And it's special. And, you know, the route he took, the way he dove for that ball, you know, I mean, it's You don't see that every day. Oh, my gosh.
00:22:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:22:08
Speaker 3: And, you know, what I liked about him, he's great on base percentage because he bunts, he hits, and he walks.
00:22:16
Speaker 1: He walks.
00:22:16
Speaker 3: But the other thing I like about him, when he came up with a runner on base, I thought to myself, that guy's going to score. He always gets his bat on the ball. You know, he's just got great bat-to-ball skills. I really enjoyed watching him. Yeah. Um, some other guys on the team, um, you mentioned George, um, a great year. He was the only, I think the only White Sox minor leaguer with a hundred RBIs this year.
00:22:43
Speaker 2: Um, and, um, a lot of strikeouts, but a lot of power. What kind of.
00:22:50
Speaker 3: Growth did you see from him this year?
00:22:54
Speaker 1: Abilities there. No questions. You know, he made some strikes this year. He made a couple of mechanics. mechanical adjustments that helped him out. The swing and miss is there. I mean, but you get that with a guy that has that kind of power. For me, you know, it was just up here, what he did, you know, understanding the game situations, anticipating. He wasn't just reacting as he was at the beginning of the year. You know, he will come up to me and say, hey Q, what do you think about this? I'm like, George, no. Think about the situation. anticipate you need to know what you're going to do with the ball before you throw it in and and you see at the end you know he you know he started you know he got a couple uh outfielder assists he started hitting the cutoff man he baseball got cleaner in the same way you know with his offense you know he started recognizing seeing pitches a little better at the end uh knowing what he can handle whether you know it was down in a way or or close to him um but yeah i mean i You know, he's still 20. It's unbelievable. You know, we're talking about two guys, Eli Brown, and we're talking about now– we're talking about George now, 20 and 21. I mean, that's crazy to say that they're having, you know, this type of success at 20 years old, you know, and high A and 100 RBIs and 22 homers or 23. I mean, it's– yeah. I mean, for me, you know, I told George, I said, hey, at the end– and he was– He wanted to play so bad. The day before, you know, when Eli got hurt, you know, he went to the trainer's room early. He taped up his foot. And, you know, he actually ran bases and he looked well. But then we got the call saying, hey, you know, yeah, let's not risk it. You know, he had a good year. You know, we don't want him to get that little, you know, fracture to get, you know, to get worse. And he was devastated by that. But then on the other hand, he understood that, He needed to rest and to heal his toe. There's always a next year.
00:25:06
Speaker 2: It was amazing.
00:25:08
Speaker 3: One of the great things about baseball is you never know when an opportunity is going to come up.
00:25:12
Speaker 2: For a player. I look at Brady Holcomb.
00:25:20
Speaker 3: There he is in Kannapolis. Served a has a concussion or possible concussion. So he comes up to sit on the bench. Then George gets hurt. And all of a sudden he's in the outfield in high A in a championship series. And I remember in that first game in Winston against Greensboro, he looked.
00:25:42
Speaker 2: Overmatched and he struck out.
00:25:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:25:45
Speaker 2: But the second at bat, he had the big three run home run.
00:25:48
Speaker 1: Right.
00:25:49
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:50
Speaker 1: Big power. Natural, yeah, big power. You can see that every time he connects, you know, that ball just creams.
00:25:56
Speaker 2: It goes.
00:25:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, obviously, he needs a little more experience on that field, and he's going to be a good one because he's smart. And he has the tools. You know, he can actually run a little bit as well. And, you know, routes out there, to be honest, I mean, I know he hasn't played much in the outfield, but we played him out there a couple times, and he looked good. So, I mean, yeah.
00:26:19
Speaker 3: I was, you know, when George– wasn't able to play that last game and Eli wasn't able to play. And all of a sudden you had McLean in center field for only what? I think the second time.
00:26:29
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:26:29
Speaker 3: And, um, Holcomb was in one corner and tossing.
00:26:35
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker 3: I thought, Oh God, this, I thought this is going to be a rough defense, but God, Umberger wasn't going to let any balls go.
00:26:44
Speaker 1: Into the outfield. Yeah. Umberger made sure that that worked. Yeah.
00:26:50
Speaker 2: You know, I mentioned tossing.
00:26:51
Speaker 3: I felt when he was added to the lineup, that really, really made you guys tough.
00:26:58
Speaker 1: Yes, yes. He can hit the ball really hard as well. Yeah. You know, toss is a team guy. It's a guy that everybody likes. It's a guy that everybody listens to. You know, his energy is contagious, as we call it, you know. And on the other hand, you know, on that field, you know, he competes. He's also one of those guys that never quits. He doesn't take any of that for granted. He hustles. I mean, what else can you ask for? I mean, what a good bowl player, you know?
00:27:29
Speaker 2: Which of the players do you think demonstrated?
00:27:32
Speaker 3: Who were some of the guys who demonstrated the most growth during the season?
00:27:37
Speaker 2: Who really stood out to you? It seemed like there were a ton of guys.
00:27:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. George was one of them, for sure. Lodis as well. I think Mogollon as well. Mogollon came up, you know, we had him, you know, the whole second half. He came from Kannapolis. And what he did, not only offensively because, you know, we know he can hit and he can hit the ball hard as well. Yeah. But defensively, you know, he played all three positions on that infield, second base, shortstop, third base. And he really looked well playing all three of them, really consistent. He was one of them. Brown, of course. Eli, McGill, McGill, you know, we knew he could catch. We knew he was really consistent at what he does. But then the bat came around and, you know, went up to Birmingham and continued to do well out there. Obviously, Bonamer, you know, he started off on fire and he left. He was on fire. He kept hitting homers in double A. Yeah.
00:28:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker 1: The Pino, the Pino, you know, the Pino did actually a really nice job defensively for us. Yeah. Everyone knows that he can hit, right? But defensively, he was really good for us at first base. And, you know, that list is long. I mean, putting the pitchers there, I mean, you know, McDaniel was solid all year, you know, even though he was limited to four innings every start. But, yeah, he gave us everything he had, and he competed for those four innings. Homburger, I mean, it's Curtis, Jake. I mean, you know, the list goes on and on and on and on. Yeah.
00:29:25
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. Well, personally, you know, I cover teams.
00:29:31
Speaker 3: I go to games in Charlotte, Kannapolis, and Winston, and I always look forward to come.
00:29:36
Speaker 2: I tried to get it.
00:29:36
Speaker 3: To one game, every homestand in Winston, just, you know, check in, but also it was such a fun team to watch. They were, you guys were never out of games. It was fun guys to talk to, uh, around the batting cage. Everything was loose. Guys were funny. Um, so, uh, I appreciate everything you did. You know, the team and your coaches and you were always, I know you guys are always tired at the end of a game or after batting practice, but you always took time to talk and I always appreciated it.
00:30:08
Speaker 2: It really meant a lot to me.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you mean well. You follow the guys. I mean, you look at their careers. I mean, there's no question that we always want to talk to people like you. I mean, you're awesome. Well, thank you.
00:30:23
Speaker 2: I'm in awe of what you guys do. You know, I get there early.
00:30:28
Speaker 3: I see you're alone in the dugout getting everything ready for a game. Then before the game, you'll go work with a catcher. It blows my mind all the things that you and your coaches have to do for those players, how hard you guys work. And I tell my friends, I said, you know, These players, they play six games a week, but people don't realize every day they have a game, they're practicing hitting and fielding as well. I mean, it is a long, tough day in a long.
00:31:02
Speaker 1: Tough season.
00:31:03
Speaker 3: And I'm just in awe of what you guys do and what you're able to accomplish. Yeah.
00:31:10
Speaker 1: I mean, it's awesome. I mean, it's rewarding to see those guys have success. You know, that's what we're there for, you know, to help them out, to guide them through the right process, as they say. And to make them, you know, to make them winners. And you know what?
00:31:25
Speaker 3: They, whether they start, they sit on the bench, whatever, they all have the same dream, right?
00:31:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:31:30
Speaker 2: They want to be in Chicago.
00:31:32
Speaker 1: Correct. Correct.
00:31:35
Speaker 3: So anyway, this is, thank you for your time today. It's great catching up. And it was just a phenomenal season. And I congratulate you on that. Adam, Adam, did an interview with one of the Future Sox guys a couple days ago. And they asked, the Future Sox guy asked Adam, he said, well, when did you think, when did you realize you had a chance to make the playoffs? And Adam said, well, with Q as our manager, given his track record, we knew we had a pretty good chance.
00:32:17
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
00:32:18
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:32:19
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:32:20
Speaker 3: Well, have a great time in the Winter League, and hopefully we'll all be in spring training.
00:32:29
Speaker 1: All right. We'll see you soon, as they say.
00:32:31
Speaker 2: I look forward to it. Thank you again for your time.
00:32:34
Speaker 1: No problem. Thank you.
00:32:35
Speaker 2: Take care, Q.
00:32:36
Speaker 1: Bye.
00:32:37
Speaker 2: Bye-bye.
