00:00:27
Speaker 1: With the first pick.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back, folks, another episode of On the Clock here brought to you by Just Baseball Media. We've got another terrific behind the scenes and draft preview show here, getting ready for you guys here.
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Speaker 3: I'm Mark Garland, He's Jared Perkins. You guys know us. You guys have seen us all the time, but we got an awesome guest with us today from u C.
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Speaker 4: L A.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: Molli by Lavo. How are we doing this morning?
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Speaker 1: Boy?
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Speaker 2: I'm doing good. Yeah, getting ready for the season, getting everything all set up. How you guys feeling getting ready? You know three weeks out here?
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Speaker 4: Uh?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I mean we're feeling good. The whole teen's vibing right now. So things are rolling and we're just ready for a season right now.
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Speaker 4: Love it.
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Speaker 2: Why don't you give it just a little bit of how you got to UCLA and what made you choose the Bruins.
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Speaker 4: Yeah. So, originally I was committed to.
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Speaker 5: Long Beach State my sophomore year high school, and then senior year, they came to one of our all star games and I just did well on our coach Ward saw me and asked if I was already committed, and at that time, I heard that our previous coach, Venezuela was leaving, so choice was a no brainer to go to UCLA. And honestly, it's been one of the best choices that I've made because now I'm.
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Speaker 4: Like with the.
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Speaker 5: Probably top three squad right now, so it's pretty nice.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me about our top twenty five coming out, and Jared, I'm sure you're going to talk about some things here with that one.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, No, I was gonna say, talk about the kind of core you've developed here, like between you Rock Kelawski, Roman, cash El, Duger, Dean West, like all you guys kind of came in as the same recruiting class. What has it been like to have those guys around and just kind of be able to go on this journey with all those dudes.
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Speaker 5: It's been sick, honestly, it's it. I feel like it's even better if people would like understand the bond our class has, like even after a horrible freshman year like that, and like you would think all of us would transfer after having that year, but it was actually kind of cool. We had a media at the end of the year that we would promise to stick around and you know, try to change, just like change the program around, you know. So obviously it worked out going to Omahaya our last year as like all sophomores basically, and it's just it's been fun and we're looking forward to doing it again.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, having teammates like that, it's gonna push you'd be better every single day, Right, you show up and you're like, man, if I take a day off, I'm getting behind these guys.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
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Speaker 2: Who's the guy that pushes you the most? Who's the most competitive they're in the locker room with you.
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Speaker 5: Guys, I'd say Roman and Rock are the most competitive on the field. And who pushes me to be even more competitive or come out on my show? Their Rocks a little more vocal and I'm more of like just a little bit on the quiet side, just try to lead by example. But if like someone's trying to get me out of my show, it's probably it's definitely Roman or Rock. So they just yeah, they'll run their mouths on the field, even if it's a scrimmage, and.
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Speaker 4: It'll get me out. But yeah, definitely those two.
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Speaker 1: I love it.
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Speaker 6: Speaking of kind of just some of the experiences you've had with those guys, you get made the twenty twenty five collegiate national team this year. What was that experience like for you, just not only in training camp, but getting to to kind of go overseas and play with that team as well.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it was awesome. I mean being able to.
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Speaker 5: Share the field with like the top players in the nation was like such a privilege, and you know, seeing like all the talent there was awesome. I mean it definitely was like hard at first because you know, you have the best players there, but I mean it was fun.
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Speaker 4: Honestly, Japan was even better.
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Speaker 5: You know, it sucked that we lost all the games, but it was fun either way. I mean, Japan itself was a great experience, but also like playing Team Japan was even a better experience. You seeing how fundamentally they are and how discipline they are.
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Speaker 4: And you know that's why they are that good.
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Speaker 2: So what do you take from this summer where you worked with that team and go, Okay, I'm gonna implement this into my game and it's gonna make me even better in this upcoming twenty twenty sixth season.
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Speaker 5: Man, Yeah, I think one thing I really noticed was just having more plate discipline. You know, I kind of started, like my side decided played discipline out there because I was trying to work on my top to bottom zone, and from there I was just my play disl got better, you know, seeing like other guys and like asking them questions about like what they do to you know, lay off certain pitches and everything. That's what I kind of took from the USA Charles and Team USA being able to talk to like other guys about their approach and everything.
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Speaker 4: So it really helped.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, as we kind of look into the twenty twenty sixth season, now you all are in your second year and the Big Tag, what was that adjustment like last year to the schedule? Like, I know you all had to come out to Maryland where I live, which is kind of a far trip for you on the West Coast. But how has it been like adjusting to Big ten play and just getting used to that schedule.
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Speaker 5: I mean it adjustment was pretty smooth. I mean, we felt pretty comfortable playing any of those teams and definitely was along like a lot of road trips to the other side of the country.
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Speaker 4: But it's definitely fun.
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Speaker 5: You know, we we enjoy it and were looking forward to going back to like the other side of the country again and playing those teams like Michigan State this year and I think we play the Rutgers, so yeah, I mean the transition was smooth and we feel comfortable playing in this conference.
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Speaker 2: Is there a weekend right now? You're looking at, going, I can't wait for this one, man, it was circled. The whole team's all pumped up anything. Anything you guys are like dialed in for.
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Speaker 5: I know me and Rock personally are really like excited for TCU or excited for that weekend. Obviously the Globe Life Round Robin tournament. Other than that, Oh, Oregon, Yeah, I mean the whole team is excited for Oregon. We really try to get our get back. I think we've lost the last two years the series to them, so we gotta we gotta bounce back from those.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you get Oregon at home.
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Speaker 1: I was.
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Speaker 3: I was there at the game last year.
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Speaker 2: I'm in Oregon as all of our fans know, so I was down there at that series and going, man, these are two really good baseball teams and you guys were kind of on that uptick. What kind of made you guys make that turn from where you went from a really good team to an Omaha caliber team. At that point, it kind of felt like you guys were starting to make that big turn.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: Like I said, I think it's really all about like the team being really close.
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Speaker 4: You know.
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Speaker 5: It almost felt like every day shown to the park that I had like thirty nine best friends on the team because how close we got. And you know, it plays a big factor having like that team bonding because like we would hold like team events outside of baseball, just like bonfires or like little get togethers or anything, and that that would really help and it grew.
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Speaker 4: It grew us as a team together.
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Speaker 5: And I think just like we we just felt comfortable in the field, you know, it wasn't too much like stress or anything. And also buying into the approach that coach Ward gives us. It's like you just you just got to listen and you just got buy into the approach as a team and eventually it would work out.
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Speaker 4: And it did, and it definitely did.
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Speaker 5: After the Long Beach game when we lost, and I remember we were getting chewed out by sav and it was almost it was kind of cool at the same time because we've never seen Sab that like angry or like get on us well, we've heard stories about him, like you know, chewing out guys like back in the day. So that that was the turning point last year, and that's when things just went uphill from there.
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Speaker 6: I just kind of building on that too as we look into the twenty twenty sixth season. As we kind of mentioned, you all got the Omaha experience. You return a ton of guys who've got to go through that Omaha experience. How are you taking those experiences and kind of pouring Mike there for a second. You got Angel Servantes, you got Logan Redi, man, Will Gasperino, all these guys that are kind of new to the team. So how are you kind of pouring into those guys based on experiences you have last year.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, those guys are great, are great additions, and we're just we're trying to like you know, help them fit into like our culture and the way we play and how the team does certain stuff.
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Speaker 4: So and they're definitely like getting into it.
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Speaker 5: And you know, it's fun seeing that, like the new guys like enjoy like the team culture and like they enjoy doing stuff with us and the way like we do it. So I mean, yeah, I see it's going back honestly with the additions we have and I'm just excited.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Is there anything like you take from Coach Savage or Coach Ward that you're like, man, that really changed my game and now I'm gonna just implement it into this twenty twenty sixth season.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: I think just being you know, just wanting to win and like like Ward like installs that into us a lot, just like being the guy who wants to a win, who wants to be out there and be competitive, and like who wants to be at the field like stuff like that. It doesn't seem big, but for me it is because the way he's like he tells us like you got to.
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Speaker 4: Like want to be here, like you got to want to be obsessed with.
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Speaker 5: Baseball in order to have like success, and like when he says things like those, it kind of like it kind of like I don't know, I kind of just think about I was like, yeah, like I do want to like I do want to win and I do want to be here.
00:10:29
Speaker 4: So yeah, Or is a good coach.
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Speaker 5: There's a lot of things that he's helped me with, and but that's one of the main things mentally that he's helped me.
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Speaker 6: With Yeah, you kind of just talked about the coaching staff there. You get to play for a legendary coach and John Savage being from the West Coast in Reno, Nevada where he's also like his brother's high school coach there. Uh yeah, I heard about him all the time when I was up there. What's it like to play for that coaching staff and have the opportunity to kind of develop with that kind of leadership for you all.
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Speaker 4: It's awesome. I mean, was a great coach.
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Speaker 5: He's just he's very old school, so a lot of a lot of the things we do or like we try to it's all the program. He's just like, I don't know, it's kind of funny, but now he's a great coach. He's very honest, loyal, and like straightforward coach with you, and the same with ward Wards, very straightforward. I mean he's probably the only coach I know that just all he loves to do is just win. That's all he wants to do is win, and all he cares about is the team. So I mean both having both those guys, including like Griff and coach Baum is even better. So, I mean it's an honor to play for US. I grew up watching his team and it's just crazy that I'm just in this position to be coached by him.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, speaking of you know, are there guys that you've kind of, you know, vaulted your game around and said, Hey, I want to be like that guy.
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Speaker 3: I want to play first like this guy. I want to be a hitter like him.
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Speaker 2: When you look back at the history of college baseball and especially even UCLA, who has had some legendary runs in national championships.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm like position wise, I'm always looked up to, like obviously like Tobia Kurtz and like Fisher, like those guys, like more a little like Fisher because he played first in college and then now he's like I think he's the number one third base prospect. Yeah, and so that's where like I'm kind of in the same situation where like I can also play third. So I just I look up to those three guys because those are like three first round first basemen.
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Speaker 1: So I love it.
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Speaker 6: Well, we're gonna jump into some of the fun questions. Since this is on the clock, we like to wrap up with a few fun questions here for you. We asked Rock this as well. But what's the go to food spot for you down at UCLA?
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Speaker 5: Probably go Go Pop oop ops the spot to go. It's like a Korean Chipotle type of place.
00:13:07
Speaker 4: It's pretty good.
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Speaker 5: Or it's not really near ucl A, but we've been going a lot. It's Chiba Hut. It's the sandwich spot.
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Speaker 3: So good, buddy, there's one here, Ben, It's awesome. It's so good.
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Speaker 5: I think last year we when we went to go play Oregon. They got off the bus and they had the food waiting for us, and I think it was Cheaba Hut at the time, and we were like, damn, what is this sandwich spot? Then they told us and it was like two minute walk from our hotel.
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Speaker 4: We're like, here, you gotta go here every day.
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Speaker 6: I gotta ask because Rock mentioned that he's for sure In and Out's the best burger place.
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Speaker 1: Are you in agreement with this?
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Speaker 4: Yes?
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Speaker 5: But at the same time, I understand where people come from because like, for example, if you grew up in Texas and like Waterburger was your main spot, like obviously your and choose it because you grew up on it. But I would say In and Out is consistent. They're very consistent. They're not like the best burger with there, but they're not the worst. They're just you know, they're consistent with their burgers.
00:14:13
Speaker 6: So yeah, Peter Apple who runs just Baseball Meter, He's like lives and dies by in and out.
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Speaker 2: So see, I got I got, I got Burgerville up here, like it's a Northwest thing like, but their burgers are okay, it's the shakes that are the best.
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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, what is the game day food?
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Speaker 2: Man? I know, for me, like I've always said on this podcast, if I didn't have my red vines and I didn't have my diet mountain, dude, it was not gonna be a successful day for me. Was there something that you're like, I gotta have this on game day or I have to have this in the.
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Speaker 4: Dugout on game day?
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Speaker 5: It's always I always have to have a Starbucks like latte or our moca.
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Speaker 4: I just have to have amocha. I don't know why.
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Speaker 5: I just always have to have a ground my word, grande ice white chocolate mocha with sweet vanilla cream foam, and I always have to have it.
00:15:02
Speaker 4: It just I don't know.
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Speaker 5: It makes me feel complete before the game, like it makes me feel nice.
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Speaker 4: I don't really.
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Speaker 5: I'll wait for after or during like the when the other team warms up, like I'm vp to eat like whatever they give us. But before game, it's always a starbus strength. I always have to have it.
00:15:21
Speaker 4: I don't know why. I just.
00:15:23
Speaker 5: Ever since I had it last year and then I did good last year, I would just keep it the same.
00:15:28
Speaker 6: So gotta keep somethings in place, you know. Yeah, definitely for you just when you're you're not focused on baseball, you're not playing baseball, you're not training for baseball, Like, who are you off the field? What are some of the passions that you that you have outside of baseball?
00:15:46
Speaker 4: Pick a ball?
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Speaker 1: Uh?
00:15:48
Speaker 5: Pickleball is my go to I play it any chance I get. I played in tournaments actually a couple of times. I played with one when we when I got back from Florida this summer with my teammate Mike Cunningham, and we took first place in the tournament. Was pretty fun. But yeah, I got that disc golf. I don't know if you guys ever played disc golf. It's it's fun. It's super fun. And then my free time I just do fire and knifing just helps with handye coronation and yeah, I love it.
00:16:24
Speaker 3: Love it.
00:16:25
Speaker 2: Anytime that you've ever been at a game that you've been playing in you look up and like look at the crowd and go, hey, I know that guy or lady, like celebrity moments where you've been like, man, this kind of blows me away.
00:16:33
Speaker 3: This person's here to watch me play.
00:16:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:16:37
Speaker 4: Actually I looked.
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Speaker 5: We were playing UCI last year at home, and I don't know if you guys know who MVP is from WWE. Yeah, he was in the dance with my uncle and I looked at but I was like, oh shoot, I was like, that's it's crazy. It's like and then I guess after the game he was like talking to the monk and I got to like see him and introduce myself.
00:17:03
Speaker 4: And it was cool. I just don't know.
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Speaker 5: I don't know if anyone knew who he was, but our third base coach knew who he was, Nico Geago, he's a big WW fan. He was like he was just like he was like not mad dogging him, but he was like staring at him like a little child.
00:17:20
Speaker 4: It's funny.
00:17:22
Speaker 6: I love it for you. If you can face one MLB picture right now, who would be.
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Speaker 4: Mmm, I pro probably school.
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Speaker 5: Well, I know i'd probably get carved up, but it'd be so it'd be so worth the challenge to just face him because I always see like the umpire cams of him. Yeah, and it just it looks nasty, Like I couldn't imagine being left on left and you just see one hundred and then a slider from him.
00:17:58
Speaker 6: I was gonna say, it's impressive you decided to go for the left and left matchups, like the.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: Best left in baseball.
00:18:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, I feel it would be a good challenge, but honestly, he probably just went.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of challenges in fallball here and in the spring ball, you know, he guy's getting ready. Who's been the toughest guy that you faced in your guys' bullpen? Like, who's the guy that you're like, I really don't want to face him today? Like no, thanks, Like nope, I'm out.
00:18:25
Speaker 5: I hope he doesn't see this because I talked the most to him, and I always run in my mouth, but always it's always like an even battle.
00:18:32
Speaker 4: It's probably like.
00:18:32
Speaker 5: Ian May he just I don't know what about him.
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Speaker 4: He's just I can't get a birl off.
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Speaker 5: Of him, Like for example, we played yesterday and I hit a chopper the first and the first baseman came in. He like he clanked it and Ian was already going to first and he bare handed it, dove and beat me to the bag.
00:18:57
Speaker 4: You and I knew.
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Speaker 5: Like once I ran my ninety, I turned around. He was waiting for me, and he was and I was like, he's just waiting. He's like yeah, He's like, hey, was that tough? And I was like, get out of here.
00:19:09
Speaker 3: Man, I love that. That's great man.
00:19:14
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:19:14
Speaker 5: Then the next I mat he got me all the change up, so it has to be him him are Red Red Red's good too. That's been a tough to bat, but overall it's eating may.
00:19:25
Speaker 4: He's just yeah, that's all.
00:19:30
Speaker 6: Last one I got for you is what was the walkout song in twenty five? Is it coming back?
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Speaker 1: In twenty six?
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Speaker 4: Walkout in twenty five was what You Know About Me? By Glo Rilla. I want to keep it.
00:19:44
Speaker 5: But there's this new song by Ice Spice that's kind of catchy.
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Speaker 4: It's called Big Guy. I think I might change it to that, but I don't know.
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Speaker 5: I got to see it this Saturday Alumni game. How the song sounds if I want to keep.
00:19:58
Speaker 4: It or not.
00:19:58
Speaker 1: So yeah, practice that's good.
00:20:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, well we'll see how it sounds. If people are not vibing with it, I'm gonna change it.
00:20:06
Speaker 2: Will trial run and you gotta play well, right, So if you don't hit well in that a little bit, cut it.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: I'm back here.
00:20:12
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker 5: If I don't play well, I just look like a goofball with that song.
00:20:15
Speaker 3: So I love it. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show man.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: We appreciate you coming on and doing this talk with us and meeting us to get it talk all this baseball. We're excited for the twenty twenty sixth seasons. Anything you want to share with Bruin fans before we get into the season.
00:20:29
Speaker 5: Man, I think just you know, obviously Bruin fans are probably excited for us this year. We're excited, and we're just you know, we're looking forward to having a good year, you know, having a good run too, and hopefully winning at all.
00:20:47
Speaker 4: We got the squad, we got everyone, so.
00:20:50
Speaker 5: I think Ruin fans should be excited.
00:20:52
Speaker 4: You know.
00:20:53
Speaker 5: It's a good squad, fun squad and.
00:20:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean yeah, we've.
00:21:00
Speaker 3: Had a few guys on it's a blast.
00:21:01
Speaker 2: We love having you guys on and thank you so much, and we're excited for UCLA Brewing Baseball and the twenty twenty sixth season, so lots more.
00:21:08
Speaker 3: Episodes coming out.
00:21:09
Speaker 1: Guys.
00:21:09
Speaker 3: Appreciate Mullivai for coming on today and we'll see you guys soon.
00:21:13
Speaker 4: Thank you,
Speaker 1: With the first pick.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Welcome back, folks, another episode of On the Clock here brought to you by Just Baseball Media. We've got another terrific behind the scenes and draft preview show here, getting ready for you guys here.
00:00:40
Speaker 3: I'm Mark Garland, He's Jared Perkins. You guys know us. You guys have seen us all the time, but we got an awesome guest with us today from u C.
00:00:46
Speaker 4: L A.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: Molli by Lavo. How are we doing this morning?
00:00:48
Speaker 1: Boy?
00:00:49
Speaker 2: I'm doing good. Yeah, getting ready for the season, getting everything all set up. How you guys feeling getting ready? You know three weeks out here?
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Speaker 4: Uh?
00:00:57
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I mean we're feeling good. The whole teen's vibing right now. So things are rolling and we're just ready for a season right now.
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Speaker 4: Love it.
00:01:05
Speaker 2: Why don't you give it just a little bit of how you got to UCLA and what made you choose the Bruins.
00:01:11
Speaker 4: Yeah. So, originally I was committed to.
00:01:13
Speaker 5: Long Beach State my sophomore year high school, and then senior year, they came to one of our all star games and I just did well on our coach Ward saw me and asked if I was already committed, and at that time, I heard that our previous coach, Venezuela was leaving, so choice was a no brainer to go to UCLA. And honestly, it's been one of the best choices that I've made because now I'm.
00:01:41
Speaker 4: Like with the.
00:01:43
Speaker 5: Probably top three squad right now, so it's pretty nice.
00:01:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me about our top twenty five coming out, and Jared, I'm sure you're going to talk about some things here with that one.
00:01:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, No, I was gonna say, talk about the kind of core you've developed here, like between you Rock Kelawski, Roman, cash El, Duger, Dean West, like all you guys kind of came in as the same recruiting class. What has it been like to have those guys around and just kind of be able to go on this journey with all those dudes.
00:02:10
Speaker 5: It's been sick, honestly, it's it. I feel like it's even better if people would like understand the bond our class has, like even after a horrible freshman year like that, and like you would think all of us would transfer after having that year, but it was actually kind of cool. We had a media at the end of the year that we would promise to stick around and you know, try to change, just like change the program around, you know. So obviously it worked out going to Omahaya our last year as like all sophomores basically, and it's just it's been fun and we're looking forward to doing it again.
00:02:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, having teammates like that, it's gonna push you'd be better every single day, Right, you show up and you're like, man, if I take a day off, I'm getting behind these guys.
00:02:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
00:03:00
Speaker 2: Who's the guy that pushes you the most? Who's the most competitive they're in the locker room with you.
00:03:03
Speaker 5: Guys, I'd say Roman and Rock are the most competitive on the field. And who pushes me to be even more competitive or come out on my show? Their Rocks a little more vocal and I'm more of like just a little bit on the quiet side, just try to lead by example. But if like someone's trying to get me out of my show, it's probably it's definitely Roman or Rock. So they just yeah, they'll run their mouths on the field, even if it's a scrimmage, and.
00:03:34
Speaker 4: It'll get me out. But yeah, definitely those two.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:03:39
Speaker 6: Speaking of kind of just some of the experiences you've had with those guys, you get made the twenty twenty five collegiate national team this year. What was that experience like for you, just not only in training camp, but getting to to kind of go overseas and play with that team as well.
00:03:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was awesome. I mean being able to.
00:03:54
Speaker 5: Share the field with like the top players in the nation was like such a privilege, and you know, seeing like all the talent there was awesome. I mean it definitely was like hard at first because you know, you have the best players there, but I mean it was fun.
00:04:11
Speaker 4: Honestly, Japan was even better.
00:04:13
Speaker 5: You know, it sucked that we lost all the games, but it was fun either way. I mean, Japan itself was a great experience, but also like playing Team Japan was even a better experience. You seeing how fundamentally they are and how discipline they are.
00:04:27
Speaker 4: And you know that's why they are that good.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: So what do you take from this summer where you worked with that team and go, Okay, I'm gonna implement this into my game and it's gonna make me even better in this upcoming twenty twenty sixth season.
00:04:39
Speaker 5: Man, Yeah, I think one thing I really noticed was just having more plate discipline. You know, I kind of started, like my side decided played discipline out there because I was trying to work on my top to bottom zone, and from there I was just my play disl got better, you know, seeing like other guys and like asking them questions about like what they do to you know, lay off certain pitches and everything. That's what I kind of took from the USA Charles and Team USA being able to talk to like other guys about their approach and everything.
00:05:16
Speaker 4: So it really helped.
00:05:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, as we kind of look into the twenty twenty sixth season, now you all are in your second year and the Big Tag, what was that adjustment like last year to the schedule? Like, I know you all had to come out to Maryland where I live, which is kind of a far trip for you on the West Coast. But how has it been like adjusting to Big ten play and just getting used to that schedule.
00:05:40
Speaker 5: I mean it adjustment was pretty smooth. I mean, we felt pretty comfortable playing any of those teams and definitely was along like a lot of road trips to the other side of the country.
00:05:54
Speaker 4: But it's definitely fun.
00:05:56
Speaker 5: You know, we we enjoy it and were looking forward to going back to like the other side of the country again and playing those teams like Michigan State this year and I think we play the Rutgers, so yeah, I mean the transition was smooth and we feel comfortable playing in this conference.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: Is there a weekend right now? You're looking at, going, I can't wait for this one, man, it was circled. The whole team's all pumped up anything. Anything you guys are like dialed in for.
00:06:26
Speaker 5: I know me and Rock personally are really like excited for TCU or excited for that weekend. Obviously the Globe Life Round Robin tournament. Other than that, Oh, Oregon, Yeah, I mean the whole team is excited for Oregon. We really try to get our get back. I think we've lost the last two years the series to them, so we gotta we gotta bounce back from those.
00:06:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, you get Oregon at home.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: I was.
00:06:57
Speaker 3: I was there at the game last year.
00:06:58
Speaker 2: I'm in Oregon as all of our fans know, so I was down there at that series and going, man, these are two really good baseball teams and you guys were kind of on that uptick. What kind of made you guys make that turn from where you went from a really good team to an Omaha caliber team. At that point, it kind of felt like you guys were starting to make that big turn.
00:07:16
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:07:18
Speaker 5: Like I said, I think it's really all about like the team being really close.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: You know.
00:07:24
Speaker 5: It almost felt like every day shown to the park that I had like thirty nine best friends on the team because how close we got. And you know, it plays a big factor having like that team bonding because like we would hold like team events outside of baseball, just like bonfires or like little get togethers or anything, and that that would really help and it grew.
00:07:45
Speaker 4: It grew us as a team together.
00:07:47
Speaker 5: And I think just like we we just felt comfortable in the field, you know, it wasn't too much like stress or anything. And also buying into the approach that coach Ward gives us. It's like you just you just got to listen and you just got buy into the approach as a team and eventually it would work out.
00:08:05
Speaker 4: And it did, and it definitely did.
00:08:07
Speaker 5: After the Long Beach game when we lost, and I remember we were getting chewed out by sav and it was almost it was kind of cool at the same time because we've never seen Sab that like angry or like get on us well, we've heard stories about him, like you know, chewing out guys like back in the day. So that that was the turning point last year, and that's when things just went uphill from there.
00:08:33
Speaker 6: I just kind of building on that too as we look into the twenty twenty sixth season. As we kind of mentioned, you all got the Omaha experience. You return a ton of guys who've got to go through that Omaha experience. How are you taking those experiences and kind of pouring Mike there for a second. You got Angel Servantes, you got Logan Redi, man, Will Gasperino, all these guys that are kind of new to the team. So how are you kind of pouring into those guys based on experiences you have last year.
00:09:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, those guys are great, are great additions, and we're just we're trying to like you know, help them fit into like our culture and the way we play and how the team does certain stuff.
00:09:14
Speaker 4: So and they're definitely like getting into it.
00:09:17
Speaker 5: And you know, it's fun seeing that, like the new guys like enjoy like the team culture and like they enjoy doing stuff with us and the way like we do it. So I mean, yeah, I see it's going back honestly with the additions we have and I'm just excited.
00:09:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:09:36
Speaker 2: Is there anything like you take from Coach Savage or Coach Ward that you're like, man, that really changed my game and now I'm gonna just implement it into this twenty twenty sixth season.
00:09:48
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:09:48
Speaker 5: I think just being you know, just wanting to win and like like Ward like installs that into us a lot, just like being the guy who wants to a win, who wants to be out there and be competitive, and like who wants to be at the field like stuff like that. It doesn't seem big, but for me it is because the way he's like he tells us like you got to.
00:10:11
Speaker 4: Like want to be here, like you got to want to be obsessed with.
00:10:13
Speaker 5: Baseball in order to have like success, and like when he says things like those, it kind of like it kind of like I don't know, I kind of just think about I was like, yeah, like I do want to like I do want to win and I do want to be here.
00:10:29
Speaker 4: So yeah, Or is a good coach.
00:10:31
Speaker 5: There's a lot of things that he's helped me with, and but that's one of the main things mentally that he's helped me.
00:10:37
Speaker 6: With Yeah, you kind of just talked about the coaching staff there. You get to play for a legendary coach and John Savage being from the West Coast in Reno, Nevada where he's also like his brother's high school coach there. Uh yeah, I heard about him all the time when I was up there. What's it like to play for that coaching staff and have the opportunity to kind of develop with that kind of leadership for you all.
00:10:58
Speaker 4: It's awesome. I mean, was a great coach.
00:11:00
Speaker 5: He's just he's very old school, so a lot of a lot of the things we do or like we try to it's all the program. He's just like, I don't know, it's kind of funny, but now he's a great coach. He's very honest, loyal, and like straightforward coach with you, and the same with ward Wards, very straightforward. I mean he's probably the only coach I know that just all he loves to do is just win. That's all he wants to do is win, and all he cares about is the team. So I mean both having both those guys, including like Griff and coach Baum is even better. So, I mean it's an honor to play for US. I grew up watching his team and it's just crazy that I'm just in this position to be coached by him.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: So yeah, speaking of you know, are there guys that you've kind of, you know, vaulted your game around and said, Hey, I want to be like that guy.
00:11:57
Speaker 3: I want to play first like this guy. I want to be a hitter like him.
00:12:00
Speaker 2: When you look back at the history of college baseball and especially even UCLA, who has had some legendary runs in national championships.
00:12:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm like position wise, I'm always looked up to, like obviously like Tobia Kurtz and like Fisher, like those guys, like more a little like Fisher because he played first in college and then now he's like I think he's the number one third base prospect. Yeah, and so that's where like I'm kind of in the same situation where like I can also play third. So I just I look up to those three guys because those are like three first round first basemen.
00:12:39
Speaker 1: So I love it.
00:12:43
Speaker 6: Well, we're gonna jump into some of the fun questions. Since this is on the clock, we like to wrap up with a few fun questions here for you. We asked Rock this as well. But what's the go to food spot for you down at UCLA?
00:12:58
Speaker 5: Probably go Go Pop oop ops the spot to go. It's like a Korean Chipotle type of place.
00:13:07
Speaker 4: It's pretty good.
00:13:08
Speaker 5: Or it's not really near ucl A, but we've been going a lot. It's Chiba Hut. It's the sandwich spot.
00:13:17
Speaker 3: So good, buddy, there's one here, Ben, It's awesome. It's so good.
00:13:22
Speaker 5: I think last year we when we went to go play Oregon. They got off the bus and they had the food waiting for us, and I think it was Cheaba Hut at the time, and we were like, damn, what is this sandwich spot? Then they told us and it was like two minute walk from our hotel.
00:13:37
Speaker 4: We're like, here, you gotta go here every day.
00:13:41
Speaker 6: I gotta ask because Rock mentioned that he's for sure In and Out's the best burger place.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Are you in agreement with this?
00:13:51
Speaker 4: Yes?
00:13:52
Speaker 5: But at the same time, I understand where people come from because like, for example, if you grew up in Texas and like Waterburger was your main spot, like obviously your and choose it because you grew up on it. But I would say In and Out is consistent. They're very consistent. They're not like the best burger with there, but they're not the worst. They're just you know, they're consistent with their burgers.
00:14:13
Speaker 6: So yeah, Peter Apple who runs just Baseball Meter, He's like lives and dies by in and out.
00:14:18
Speaker 2: So see, I got I got, I got Burgerville up here, like it's a Northwest thing like, but their burgers are okay, it's the shakes that are the best.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, what is the game day food?
00:14:30
Speaker 2: Man? I know, for me, like I've always said on this podcast, if I didn't have my red vines and I didn't have my diet mountain, dude, it was not gonna be a successful day for me. Was there something that you're like, I gotta have this on game day or I have to have this in the.
00:14:40
Speaker 4: Dugout on game day?
00:14:45
Speaker 5: It's always I always have to have a Starbucks like latte or our moca.
00:14:51
Speaker 4: I just have to have amocha. I don't know why.
00:14:53
Speaker 5: I just always have to have a ground my word, grande ice white chocolate mocha with sweet vanilla cream foam, and I always have to have it.
00:15:02
Speaker 4: It just I don't know.
00:15:04
Speaker 5: It makes me feel complete before the game, like it makes me feel nice.
00:15:08
Speaker 4: I don't really.
00:15:10
Speaker 5: I'll wait for after or during like the when the other team warms up, like I'm vp to eat like whatever they give us. But before game, it's always a starbus strength. I always have to have it.
00:15:21
Speaker 4: I don't know why. I just.
00:15:23
Speaker 5: Ever since I had it last year and then I did good last year, I would just keep it the same.
00:15:28
Speaker 6: So gotta keep somethings in place, you know. Yeah, definitely for you just when you're you're not focused on baseball, you're not playing baseball, you're not training for baseball, Like, who are you off the field? What are some of the passions that you that you have outside of baseball?
00:15:46
Speaker 4: Pick a ball?
00:15:47
Speaker 1: Uh?
00:15:48
Speaker 5: Pickleball is my go to I play it any chance I get. I played in tournaments actually a couple of times. I played with one when we when I got back from Florida this summer with my teammate Mike Cunningham, and we took first place in the tournament. Was pretty fun. But yeah, I got that disc golf. I don't know if you guys ever played disc golf. It's it's fun. It's super fun. And then my free time I just do fire and knifing just helps with handye coronation and yeah, I love it.
00:16:24
Speaker 3: Love it.
00:16:25
Speaker 2: Anytime that you've ever been at a game that you've been playing in you look up and like look at the crowd and go, hey, I know that guy or lady, like celebrity moments where you've been like, man, this kind of blows me away.
00:16:33
Speaker 3: This person's here to watch me play.
00:16:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:16:37
Speaker 4: Actually I looked.
00:16:40
Speaker 5: We were playing UCI last year at home, and I don't know if you guys know who MVP is from WWE. Yeah, he was in the dance with my uncle and I looked at but I was like, oh shoot, I was like, that's it's crazy. It's like and then I guess after the game he was like talking to the monk and I got to like see him and introduce myself.
00:17:03
Speaker 4: And it was cool. I just don't know.
00:17:07
Speaker 5: I don't know if anyone knew who he was, but our third base coach knew who he was, Nico Geago, he's a big WW fan. He was like he was just like he was like not mad dogging him, but he was like staring at him like a little child.
00:17:20
Speaker 4: It's funny.
00:17:22
Speaker 6: I love it for you. If you can face one MLB picture right now, who would be.
00:17:30
Speaker 4: Mmm, I pro probably school.
00:17:35
Speaker 5: Well, I know i'd probably get carved up, but it'd be so it'd be so worth the challenge to just face him because I always see like the umpire cams of him. Yeah, and it just it looks nasty, Like I couldn't imagine being left on left and you just see one hundred and then a slider from him.
00:17:58
Speaker 6: I was gonna say, it's impressive you decided to go for the left and left matchups, like the.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: Best left in baseball.
00:18:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, I feel it would be a good challenge, but honestly, he probably just went.
00:18:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of challenges in fallball here and in the spring ball, you know, he guy's getting ready. Who's been the toughest guy that you faced in your guys' bullpen? Like, who's the guy that you're like, I really don't want to face him today? Like no, thanks, Like nope, I'm out.
00:18:25
Speaker 5: I hope he doesn't see this because I talked the most to him, and I always run in my mouth, but always it's always like an even battle.
00:18:32
Speaker 4: It's probably like.
00:18:32
Speaker 5: Ian May he just I don't know what about him.
00:18:37
Speaker 4: He's just I can't get a birl off.
00:18:40
Speaker 5: Of him, Like for example, we played yesterday and I hit a chopper the first and the first baseman came in. He like he clanked it and Ian was already going to first and he bare handed it, dove and beat me to the bag.
00:18:57
Speaker 4: You and I knew.
00:18:58
Speaker 5: Like once I ran my ninety, I turned around. He was waiting for me, and he was and I was like, he's just waiting. He's like yeah, He's like, hey, was that tough? And I was like, get out of here.
00:19:09
Speaker 3: Man, I love that. That's great man.
00:19:14
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:19:14
Speaker 5: Then the next I mat he got me all the change up, so it has to be him him are Red Red Red's good too. That's been a tough to bat, but overall it's eating may.
00:19:25
Speaker 4: He's just yeah, that's all.
00:19:30
Speaker 6: Last one I got for you is what was the walkout song in twenty five? Is it coming back?
00:19:34
Speaker 1: In twenty six?
00:19:37
Speaker 4: Walkout in twenty five was what You Know About Me? By Glo Rilla. I want to keep it.
00:19:44
Speaker 5: But there's this new song by Ice Spice that's kind of catchy.
00:19:49
Speaker 4: It's called Big Guy. I think I might change it to that, but I don't know.
00:19:53
Speaker 5: I got to see it this Saturday Alumni game. How the song sounds if I want to keep.
00:19:58
Speaker 4: It or not.
00:19:58
Speaker 1: So yeah, practice that's good.
00:20:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, well we'll see how it sounds. If people are not vibing with it, I'm gonna change it.
00:20:06
Speaker 2: Will trial run and you gotta play well, right, So if you don't hit well in that a little bit, cut it.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: I'm back here.
00:20:12
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker 5: If I don't play well, I just look like a goofball with that song.
00:20:15
Speaker 3: So I love it. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show man.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: We appreciate you coming on and doing this talk with us and meeting us to get it talk all this baseball. We're excited for the twenty twenty sixth seasons. Anything you want to share with Bruin fans before we get into the season.
00:20:29
Speaker 5: Man, I think just you know, obviously Bruin fans are probably excited for us this year. We're excited, and we're just you know, we're looking forward to having a good year, you know, having a good run too, and hopefully winning at all.
00:20:47
Speaker 4: We got the squad, we got everyone, so.
00:20:50
Speaker 5: I think Ruin fans should be excited.
00:20:52
Speaker 4: You know.
00:20:53
Speaker 5: It's a good squad, fun squad and.
00:20:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean yeah, we've.
00:21:00
Speaker 3: Had a few guys on it's a blast.
00:21:01
Speaker 2: We love having you guys on and thank you so much, and we're excited for UCLA Brewing Baseball and the twenty twenty sixth season, so lots more.
00:21:08
Speaker 3: Episodes coming out.
00:21:09
Speaker 1: Guys.
00:21:09
Speaker 3: Appreciate Mullivai for coming on today and we'll see you guys soon.
00:21:13
Speaker 4: Thank you,
