2 Guys Talking Baseball

The Perfect Storm

3 Crows Entertainment Season 1 Episode 36

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What if strategic moves could transform a team's destiny? Join us as we explore the Chicago Cubs' bold offseason maneuvers, including the high-profile acquisitions of Ryan Presley and Kyle Tucker. We even stir up excitement with rumors of Alex Bregman's potential addition. This episode paints a portrait of the Cubs as a rejuvenated force in baseball, poised for a thrilling 2025 season. Alongside this, we highlight the unique flair of the Dominican Winter League, offering fans a taste of the vibrant baseball culture outside the MLB.

Our guest, Darren Vaught, brings an intriguing twist to the episode with the story of Rintaro Sasaki, a Japanese prospect who bucks tradition by choosing U.S. college baseball over the Nippon Professional Baseball league. This unprecedented move challenges the conventional pipeline for Japanese players and promises to shake up the future of international baseball talent. We dissect Sasaki's impressive background and his journey to Stanford University, pondering the broader implications for MLB and NPB relations.

The financial strategies of MLB teams come under scrutiny as we unpack Hal Steinbrenner's surprising comments about the Dodgers' spending habits, casting a critical eye on the Yankees’ own lavish history. The Dodgers’ recent signing of Kirby Yates is dissected, illustrating the financial dynamics in play. We also express empathy for San Diego Padres fans, who face an uncertain offseason clouded by roster gaps and legal issues. As we wrap up, we celebrate baseball's global reach and anticipate the growing influence of international players like Sasaki on the MLB stage.

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome inside the Three Crows Studios in Morristown, tennessee. This is Two Guys Talking Baseball and Hal Steinbrenner has an opinion. Boy, oh boy. I can't wait to tell you how much I don't care about Hal Steinbrenner. Oh, I'm Dallas Danger. Brian Logan, please hit your line. It's a great week for baseball. It is a great week we're going to move pretty rapidly here.

Speaker 1:

At the start we had a great interview with Darren Vaught, who hosts the ACC Baseball Etc podcast, along with former Reds closer Danny Graves over on D1 Baseball. He's also my little brother. He's been on the show before if you're a longtime listener, but we had him on because he has started to unveil a project he's been working on about Rintaro Sasaki, and if you are a long-time listener, you probably have heard that name as well. We've talked about Rintaro and his decision to forego professional baseball in Japan completely and he's coming to Stanford to play college ball. Great conversation with Darren about that. But we got a couple other things we want to talk about and touch on before we get to that interview. So, brian, I want to open with the Cubs.

Speaker 1:

The last time we spoke, the Cubs reportedly were getting close to a deal with Ryan Presley, but we weren't 100% sure it was going to definitely happen, just simply because of Presley's no trade clause. Presley has agreed to go to the Cubs. This trade is happening. The Cubs now have their closer. Presley has said publicly now the reason that he allowed this trade to go through, the reason he wanted to go to the Cubs, was the opportunity to be the closer again.

Speaker 1:

Of course he was the Astros closer. They signed Josh Hader. He kind of gets bumped back to that setup role and I've sort of picked up on without anybody really coming out and saying it. There was some bad blood about that. Presley did not like that decision and now he's going to be closing for the Cubs. The Cubs give up a pitcher from A-ball whose name I don't even remember, so pretty low cost to get a closer in a bullpen. That has been a focus this offseason for the Cubs. They've done a lot of work to try to retool that bullpen. You add that to the Kyle Tucker trade that happened earlier this offseason and the fact that the Cubs name keeps coming up in the Alex Bregman talks and this Cubs team is starting to look a little bit like the Astros did last year.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they're looking really good. I mean this deal, I think with Presley, is going to pay off dividends. I think this is a huge deal and I mean this is something that the Cubs needed.

Speaker 1:

It really is. And again, we talked last week a lot about how the Cubs would be ahead in games. You'd get to the eighth inning inning and it would all fall apart. There was just nobody at the back end of that bullpen to slam the door. Right this, if Presley is half as good as he has been for his career, this solves that problem.

Speaker 2:

It completely solves the problem, fills the gap and really gives the Cubs what we all, as fans, think they've needed.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean this is big news for the Cubs. What, what we all, as fans, think they've needed. Yeah, I mean this is, um, this is big news for the Cubs. This furthers what we've talked about for a while now, really since the Tucker trade the Cubs. The Cubs are the favorites in that division now, without a doubt.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, without a doubt, I mean and and that's that's good going in. Uh, I mean, it's a tall order to fill but I feel confident that we're filling one of the best teams that we have in years. Yeah, maybe since 16.

Speaker 1:

Definitely the best this team has been put together since Jed Hoyer took over and kind of broke up the 16 team. If you're going to call it a rebuild, the rebuild is over. This team is built now yeah and uh, ready to compete in a stacked national league man again.

Speaker 2:

I just want to reiterate for the record biggest year in baseball history this coming season. Mark my words we're going to be sitting here this time next year telling the sea lion exactly how right he was.

Speaker 1:

Yeah it's going to be a big year. We're getting really close to a uh 2025 season preview spring games in less than a month. You know we're, we're, we're really getting to it um, it's almost game time, boys.

Speaker 2:

Almost time I didn't watch the game.

Speaker 1:

I saw highlights, though, of the um game seven from the um dominican championship series. Yeah, wild, we really got to watch winter ball. Next year we will.

Speaker 1:

It's a whole different world down there, yeah uh, I mean I'm talking like there was controversy in game six, albert pool holes appealed. Uh, basically wanted somebody's bat turned in and inspected because he hit a game-winning home run. Then in the game seven, somebody hits a home run and breaks the scoreboard. It. There's just shit happening in the dominican winter league that we're not going to see in major league baseball and we gotta, we gotta next year yeah, pay a little closer attention.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, we definitely will, um, but yeah, man, um, you know nothing really else going on in the world of the cubs right now. But but the big question I think is is this are we done building the cubs team for 2025? I I mentioned earlier. Their name keeps coming up in the alex breregman sweepstakes, which would totally change that roster man. What a what a move that would be. Would make them a ton better. Brian, you're the Cubs expert here. Do you think they're done and this is where we're, who we're going into spring training with, or do you think there's more? Up the sleeve of Jed Hoyer?

Speaker 2:

I think there's one more up his sleeve. I I think we're getting really, really, really close that this is the team we're going to field. But I think there's one more move. He said there was going to be $40 million. They did what? $14 or something like that. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Presley brings in about $14 million. I'm not sure exactly how that factors into the actual number that goes against the collective bargaining tax, but around $14 million of that $40 million that they had committed to still spending on 2025's roster. You get Bregman and you've pretty much done it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, by the time they pay Presley and then they pay me for putting them over every week, then they should have just enough money left over for one more guy.

Speaker 1:

And again, if that one guy is Alex Bregman, that's a game changer. I mean it is. And we're going to talk when we get to that season preview about how loaded the National League is going to be. But man, just, national League's been a gauntlet for a few years, but that is not getting any easier or any better. For the teams at the top.

Speaker 2:

Nope, sure isn't. I mean the teams are filling out this year all over the league. I mean everybody has stepped up since the Dodgers came in last year and they're really setting the pace. I know that sounds cliche, but it is nonetheless true.

Speaker 1:

But it's the truth, it's the absolute truth.

Speaker 1:

Absolute truth. Speaking of the Dodgers setting the pace, hal Steinbrenner who, hal Steinbrenner, the son of George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, who mere weeks ago wanted to give Juan Soto the biggest contract in the sports history is crying about how much money the Dodgers are spending? Get ready, y'all, because I got a few things to say. First off, again, he just tried to give the biggest contract in major league baseball history to juan soto. Right, and soto decided to go across town and play for somebody else. Hal steinbrenner, you sound like a fucking idiot. Your father ran the yankees by basically coming out in the public and saying, as much as you would listen to him, that he was going to spend as much money as he wanted and he didn't care what anybody else had to say about it. That's how he built the Yankees back into what the Yankees are supposed to be. Because, as much as you don't like the Yankees, if you're not a fan, baseball feels right when the Yankees are spending money and they're competitive.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

So I go back to. The problem is not the ceiling, the problem is not the fact that the Dodgers are spending the amount of money they are. The problem is nobody else is trying that hard. Yeah, nobody. Steve Cohen and the Mets, I mean, they're trying. Yeah, they're spending money. Yeah, cubs are spending money. Mets have spent more money this offseason than the Dodgers have. Yeah, cubs are spending some money. Yeah, but the Yankees have barely done anything as far as the free agent market goes. Yes, they got Max Freed. Yes, they traded for Cody Bellinger. They've done things, but why is Hal Steinbrenner now sour grapes? I'm really starting to get sick of this narrative, and I know it's not going anywhere, and that's fine. The Dodgers are the new Yankees, we're the villains. If you're not a Dodger fan, you want nothing to do with what the Dodgers are pulling off right now. I get that. That's fine From a fan standpoint. Bitch and say nonsensical crap, all you want. That's your right as a fan. The owner of the Yankees is bitching about another team spending money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, where does he get off?

Speaker 1:

Does he not own a mirror? Yeah, come on Hal, come on man. Really, I mean, this is where we're at now. It doesn't make me optimistic about the next collective bargaining agreement. Right, I get that. Because if the owner of the Yankees is going well, we got to stop them from spending money. I don't know man.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's messed up. I mean, it's a pot calling the kettle black, and it should be exactly the opposite of that. They should all be setting the same paces, trying to better their teams, trying to get them the best they can, not whining about who's spending what. It's none of their business about who's spending what Hal.

Speaker 1:

Steinbrenner, I'm sorry that guys would rather play for the Dodgers than the Yankees. I'm sorry, that's what it boils down to. I'm sorry, but at the end of the day and we talked last week about the Joe Kelly stuff he's right, if everybody made $10, players would want to go to the dodgers to make their ten dollars, right, you know? Come on, man. I just that just crawled up my ass this week, man, when I heard that like really, I mean really, is this really where we're at? We really got the owner of the yankees bitching that the dodgers are spending too much money. Yeah, that's unbelievable. It is unbelievable. It's a travesty and a sham and a mockery. It's a Travis sham mockery.

Speaker 2:

It's a travesty of a sham, of a mockery. It's ridiculous it really is.

Speaker 1:

Why are we talking about this? Why am I wasting valuable airtime on Hal Steinbrenner crying about the Dodgers Like this is ridiculous. I'm sorry we kicked your ass. That's also what it is. Do something about it Is the sour grapes because he lost. Do something about it then, hal. Yeah, do something about it. Stop the Dodgers. That's the thing you can bitch about them doing what they're doing. All you want. That's the thing you can bitch about them doing what they're doing. All you want.

Speaker 1:

You, of all owners, have the ability to stop this from happening to a certain degree and I don't remember who it was, but I heard another podcast talking about if every team signed one more guy that made $15-20 million a year, which isn't that much, right, one more guy, that's that's 29 teams taking guys away from the dodgers. Right, they're just not doing it. Right, they're just not trying. They would rather spend less it. It benefits certain teams more to spend less money. Yeah, certain teams more to spend less money. Yeah, that's what we got to fix. The Dodgers aren't broken. The Dodgers got one of the biggest celebrities in the whole world baseball, sports or otherwise and he brought them so much money that they are playing with literal house money now, yeah, and if you don't like it, that's fine, but crying about it to the media is not going to change a thing. You got to go out and make your team better. You got to go out and spend your billions of dollars.

Speaker 2:

Hal steinbrenner, come on it does make him come across a little cheap, doesn't it?

Speaker 1:

good luck in that division next year, not spending any money you hack.

Speaker 2:

God, george steinbrenner would be ashamed he really would be, he rolling over, and yes, he would have because he made it.

Speaker 1:

He made his bones on spending money, man okay, I'm gonna say this and we're gonna put a bow on this how, steinbrenner, you have made your fucking dad a baby face. In this situation, we are sympathizing with your dad, who nobody liked except yankee fans.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, come on, get real get real hal steinbrenner in honor of the great late bob euchre. That is our trojan ends boner of the week, hal steinbrenner. All right, some other dodger notes real quick. Uh, kirby yates. Uh, we had. We'd seen some reports that that was close to happening. The reports now say he has passed his physical. One year, 13 million dollars is happening.

Speaker 1:

Dodgers are going to have to make a corresponding move. Um, most likely, based on what we've heard, is that's Ryan Brazier being traded. Love Brazier, he's done a lot for the team, but he's the low guy on the totem pole in that bullpen. At the end of the day, you've only got so many spots on the roster. His days are probably numbered as a Dodger. Got a ring Again, big contributor to the club. But you know who knows, we could go a different direction as far as the corresponding move to make room on the 40-man roster, and you know you've got to make a spot on the 26-man roster too. So a guy that's already on that 26-man probably makes the most sense and under those parameters I think it's ryan brazier.

Speaker 1:

Um man, what a bullpen, holy cow yeah I mean, it's just, it's a group, it's a group of closers. It's a group of closers. Every, every, every inning of relief is gonna, is gonna be a high leverage guy. Now for the dodgers um, unbelievable it is. It's crazy. And here's the thing you, you can, you can bitch, you can, you can, you can go on your little rant about the dodgers are ruining things. It's the end of january. Kirby yates has been on the free agent market for three months and they're paying him 13 million dollars yeah 29 other teams had plenty of opportunity.

Speaker 1:

yeah, they didn't take it and they just didn't capitalize.

Speaker 3:

So you know, keep crying.

Speaker 1:

I'm over it. I'm over it already. Are you over it? I'm fucking over it, man, Completely over it. Anyways, the other note on the Dodgers and part of the reason I want to bring this up is to make you all feel guilty for vilifying the team and the organization the principal owner of the Dodgers, Mark Walter, his charitable foundation and the Dodger Foundation are combining. They're joining forces to donate $100 million to relief efforts after the LA fires. That's great, that's incredible, it's wonderful right, it really is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there had been some people saying where are the Dodgers, what are they going to do? And I think smart people knew that. They were just kind of waiting to see what the need was going to be, where their efforts would be utilized the best. And now obviously they are doing what they should do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah and yeah really stepping up to the plate.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely Pun intended.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they're stepping up and that's a great thing to see them come together for the community. I mean, everybody's going to come together and make donations. That is a substantial One hundred million dollars. Yeah, that's putting your money where your mouth is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's really good stuff, really really great to see.

Speaker 2:

That's saying, not only are we saying we care about the community, but we're going to do something about it.

Speaker 1:

We're going to take some of this money that that is piling up on us, and we don't know where to put it, and and put put a lot of it to the good, yeah, of the community and the city.

Speaker 1:

Um, the dodgers commitment to la I don't think they have a rival in in major league baseball. As far as the relationship between team and city, yeah, um, really great to see. And at the end of the day, man, the reason I love this organization as much as I do is all about that. Right, it's all about their commitment to the human beings, to their community, not just to winning baseball games, which they're also committed to. But you know, when they signed Teoscar, he said look the way they treat me and my family. That was the reason I wanted to be here. Sure, we want to ring. Sure, I had the best year of my career, yeah, but they treat my family like family. You know, they don't kick my kids and my wife out of the clubhouse. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just a different thing with the Dodgers right now.

Speaker 1:

And everybody else needs to shut up, quit bitching Hal Steinbrenner and try to get to that level. That's really it for the Dodgers this week. I still can't believe Steinbrenner is bitching about another team spending money. That's got you, doesn't it? It really, it really does, man, I can't make sense of it. I can't wrap my head around it. Yeah, it just doesn't make any sense. Yeah, um, all right, one more, um, one more news item in the world of baseball that we wanted to touch on this week so we have mentioned. We haven't really covered it in detail. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I don't want to pile on to padres fans. Um, obviously I don't like the padres, the. The rivalry is real, it's there. The dodgers and padres kind of now have to go through each other yeah um, you know, at the top of the rosters.

Speaker 1:

I don't think there's two better teams in Major League Baseball, but they're in the same division. They've played each other in the playoffs two of the last three years. You know, three times in the last four. You know that's kind of just where we're at. You know that's kind of just where we're at. But this ownership legal battle is really starting to affect the product that the Padres are going to put on the field in 2025. Right, so this week? Just a little quick background.

Speaker 1:

Peter Seidler, the owner of the Padres, passed away recently. His brothers, matt and Robert Seidler, believe they now control the day-to-day operations of the Padres. That's how this has been executed. The Seidler brothers are running the team, are running the team. Sheil Seidler, peter's widow, is fighting that legally. Yeah, she believes she should have control of the team. Right, the Seidler brothers, to the best of my understanding, legally on the record, have now said that the lawsuit from Schilseedler is the reason they could not put their best foot forward and make the best effort to sign Roki Sasaki and are blaming the lawsuit for Roki Sasaki not choosing to play for the Padres.

Speaker 2:

That's very heavy man, that's heavy accusations. But wait, there's more.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Schilseedler claims that if she had been allowed to be involved in the process from the start, roki Sasaki would be a San Diego Padre. Yeah, this is getting really messy really fast, right, right. And the Padres have been uncharacteristically dead silent this offseason. Yeah, they don't have an outfield. Yeah, they don't have a major league outfield. And you know, I think the one signing they've made was Elias Diaz, you know which? You know he's an all-star, sure, but you know, compared to the last handful of years, this is a team that was getting guys and signing them to long extensions like it was nothing, right.

Speaker 1:

I just, I hate it for Padre fans. I hate it because they really are that close, yeah, they're that close, to being in that conversation with teams like the Dodgers and the Yankees and the Mets, the teams that are there competing and trying year in and year out. I still don't want to play the Padres in a five-game series. I mean, don't get me wrong, yeah, but there are holes on this roster and those holes are not being addressed right now. The entirety of this organization is wrapped up in this lawsuit, and I'm a Dodger fan and I've been a Dodger fan for a long damn time, and this type of stuff ruins organizations, oh yeah, ruins them. Yeah, the McCourt drama if you're not familiar, just look it up. The McCourt drama damn near ruined the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, kept them from being competitive for years, and now something similar is playing out with the padres and um, I mean, I guess the bandwagon fans are gonna have to buy dodger caps now all I gotta say about that yeah but to the true, to the people in san diego and the true padre fans that put up with years of being a laughingstock, who you know, who are really, really on fire for what this team has done the last few years. I I hate it for them and I'm empathetic because, again, I've been there. Yeah, I've been there. I've seen a great organization like the Dodgers lose years on the field to stuff like this and it's inevitable. Death brings out stuff in people that nothing else can. But this is really a shame for the Padres and their fans.

Speaker 2:

I mean it can ruin the fandom, I mean it can ruin the whole experience and put them in the cellar, which is okay with me, but it is unfair to their fans that they have to sit through all this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's ugly. I don't think it's getting any better. This just proves that all the focus is on each other and not anything to do with the product you're putting on the field in 2025. And this is a team that has been their own worst enemy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know, when you look at before they got Mike Schilt, bob Melvin, for whatever reason, couldn't pull this team together. Yeah, jace Tingler definitely couldn't do it. The morale of this team has not been great at times in recent memory, as good as they've been the morale. And yeah, I mean, look, you can buy every free agent you want, you can trade for every guy on the market, you can get every good prospect. But if your team, if your 26 guys, don't gel together and become one moving piece, you know collectively, yeah, you're not succeeding, you're not getting anywhere, and that's been the problem with the Padres. They've needed something to pull them all together so that they move as one unit. And this is just. This is the type of thing that can tear teams apart. Man, yep, completely apart. It's not good. I don't know, man we're talking about, you know, coming up on the season preview episode in the near future, and I just don't have high hopes for the Padres in 2025.

Speaker 2:

No, I don't either, but that's kind of a good thing. I mean, we don't want to have to put up with them. I mean, again, it's sad for the fans but it's good for the other teams.

Speaker 1:

Well, we'll see. They could still win 85, 86 games, sneak in and be a real tough out in the division series, because you know the top of this roster is otherworldly, it's ungodly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but if they don't have an outfield, they're going to be hurting.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's what I'm saying. There's holes on this roster and they're not getting addressed. I could see a scenario where this all gets sorted out and they do something at the deadline.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But, man, if that's the best you can hope for your roster construction for a season, it doesn't give fans a lot of hope. Yeah, yeah, so unfortunate there, for whatever that's worth. Again, I don't talk about the Padres' negative stuff as much as we probably should, because I don't want to sound like a homer. Talk about the Padres' negative stuff as much as we probably should, right, because I don't want to sound like a homer. I don't want to dog the Padres when they do. You know when things happen and you know I don't want to be overly negative.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

But this is not looking good and I just again, I don't think we're out of the weeds, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean anytime the courts get involved, and if they're nowhere near being on the same page, there's no way they can go to mediation or anything like that. This is going to be a court case and it's going to get drawn out for years, probably Ugly, ugly, ugly's the word.

Speaker 1:

This is an ugly situation for the San Diego Padres and again, they're fans and I know I make jokes about the bandwagon fans, but I know that there are diehard, lifelong Padre fans that are ready for the golden era of Padres baseball and this isn't how you get that to your fans. No, it's not and it's a shame.

Speaker 1:

All right, so that's pretty much everything we wanted to touch on this week. Again, we had a wonderful time talking to my brother, darren Vaught, who has put together a narrative podcast series called Rintaro all about Rintaro Sasaki. I'll let you and the interview, I'll let him him, I should say in the interview tell you more about that. Um, so, yeah, we, we, we loved this interview, brian. It was a great time it was great.

Speaker 2:

He's always awesome when he visits the show, yeah he's.

Speaker 1:

He's been gracious with his time for us over the years and he doesn't have to be. It wouldn't cause any drama in my family if Darren just didn't have the time to give us and he's busy. He's a busy guy. He's a very busy guy and does a lot in the world of sports media and this has been a real passion project for him. And yeah, so, without further ado, let's go to the interview with Darren Vault about Rintaro. All right, so we're here with Darren Vault, who is the voice of USA Baseball. He's the voice of lots of other sports and teams and hosts the ACC Baseball Etc podcast for D1 Baseball, along with Cincinnati Reds and University of Miami pitcher from back in the day, danny Graves, and we are going to talk Rintaro, sasaki and Darren. Thanks for hopping back on the show with us this week.

Speaker 3:

Of course, anytime Good to be with you guys.

Speaker 1:

I always feel it necessary at the beginning of talking to Darren here on 2GTB, to also mention Darren is my little brother, so we will probably talk more familial, so to speak, than we would with our other guests. But yeah, man, so we have talked about Rintaro Sasaki and this whole story that has been brewing for some months now, and so, for those who may be new to the show or new to Rintaro, tell us a little bit about what's going on with Rintaro, and I guess you know why you took on this project to tell this story.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So we got back from Omaha with D1 over the summer and basically the instant we came back, this had been an idea that was percolating in my mind and I knew I wanted to pitch them on. Well, at first it started as, okay, how do we, how do we get d1 to break into the narrative podcast space? And we can do like a series of sorts and do something different content wise as far as the audio space is concerned, because they've bolstered up this D1 Baseball Podcast Network, which now includes ACC Baseball, et cetera. There's Highway to Hoover, which is an SEC baseball-specific show, and then the D1 Baseball Podcast proper, as I call it, being part of the ACC contingent of D1 Media, part of the ACC contingent of D1 media. It was top of mind that, okay, we are adding Cal and Stanford to the mix this season. With that comes this perfect storm of circumstances where Stanford is also getting a heralded Japanese prospect who's going to play for them for the first time this spring, and that's Rintaro Sasaki. He has made the decision rather than pursue a professional career in NPP, nippon Professional Baseball I would assume your listeners are aware of NB and it being the top league in Japan and widely regarded as the second best league in the world behind Major League Baseball. So he is bypassing that part of the usual Japanese prospect's journey to the big leagues. Right, and any Japanese player you can think of. They did it this way Shohei Otani, ichiro Suzuki, now a Hall of Famer, hideki Matsui. You can go more obscure with Tsuyoshi Shinjo, like they all did it this way. So Rintaro not only played at the same high school as Shohei Otani, but broke Shohei Otani's career home run record for a high school player in Japan and is, I mean, one of the highest touted prospects to come out of the high school ranks in Japan, which are huge. Like they take high school baseball very seriously. They have a national championship tournament and Rintaro's father, who coaches the high school that he played at, has won it and been there several times.

Speaker 3:

Rintaro has made the decision that he has and we're going back a couple years by this point, but he makes the decision okay. Rather than going to MPB and waiting to post to get signed by a major league team, I want to do it this way I want to go and play college baseball in the United States and then become a draft eligible sophomore and be able to get drafted after two years of college baseball. So then he chooses Stanford and obviously he had a lot of suitors, including other ACC teams. Cal was in the mix. He visited Duke at one point, although they were not a finalist Vanderbilt was in the conversation was prior to his commitment to Stanford, kind of believed to be the frontrunner.

Speaker 3:

Couple of reasons. A what he's doing is unheard of. Unprecedented is the word to be used in all of the imaging for the show. So unprecedented is what he's doing because he is bucking convention in a way that no japanese prospect ever has.

Speaker 3:

The other thing was in the grand scheme of the baseball world. This is a big deal and I know there are general college baseball fans who don't pay as much attention to professional baseball I mean much less professional baseball in other countries. So I kind of just wanted to introduce him to the college baseball world, just to kind of set the table for what we have on our hands here. Set the table for what we have on our hands here. I mean he is one of the most famous, if not the most famous players to get to a college campus in the sport of baseball. Right, because Bryce Harper was on Sports Illustrated at 16 years old. It's not like he made it to college baseball. He played JUCO but he did not make it to Division I NCAA baseball, to a program where he could have gotten some spotlight or anything. But it's kind of that sort of that vibe with the significance of his presence and also introduce him in a way and make sure people were aware of him and get to know him a little bit.

Speaker 1:

Two episodes of the two parts, I guess, of the six-part narrative podcast are out. That's on the D1 Baseball podcast feed, so it's real easy to find there. And I've listened to the first two and one of the first things I learned was sort of about the draft process in Japan. And I mean I just want to kind of put this in context Like not only was he the top prospect coming out of high school in Japan, he probably was going to break the record for the most teams, because multiple teams can select the same player in that draft. He was probably going to break the record for the most teams selecting one guy and then letting the chips kind of fall where they may.

Speaker 1:

I mean, like you said a minute ago, this is one of the most highly touted prospects to ever come out of Japan and he's sort of forging his own path to, you know, eventually, major League Baseball, which I think for any of these guys, whether they go to MPB first or not, that's sort of their ultimate dream and goal is to play here in the States in Major League Baseball.

Speaker 1:

And so you know, just again, a huge story, you know, and it has been for a while and, like I said, we've talked about Rintaro. We talked about it when the news first broke that he had made the decision to come play college ball, that he had made the decision to come play college ball. And then we were so fortunate to have him just down the road for a period of time when he was in the Appalachian League playing in Greenville, and I got to see him up close and personal at the Appalachian League All-Star Game, which was in Johnson City last year, just a jaunt for me, 10, 15 minutes down the road from my house. So I jumped at that opportunity and he's in it. I mean, the thing too that strikes me is that when you hear his comps as far as guys that have come from Japan, he's hitting the homers now. He's hitting the homers now. This is not a guy that's going to have to grow into his body and develop as a, as a person, physically, to get the power out of the swing.

Speaker 3:

He's already hitting balls into next week and yeah, and I I think that was that's. That's part of the allure with him is that when we think about big-time Japanese prospects, obviously somebody like Ichiro is top of mind and one of the first, if not the first, that you think of. And you know he's this slap hitter with always fit but not a huge frame, right, rintaro looks the part of like a beefy basher. I mean, the guy's six foot, even 289 pounds, I think, is what he's listed at officially going into the spring. And again, he hit 140 home runs in his high school career. 140 home runs, it's a. It's a wild number. Not to mention, I was having a conversation with somebody at d1 about this the other day.

Speaker 3:

In college baseball it has become more and more mainstream to have hitter friendly parts. This dude's going to be playing in sandboxes in the acc. Yeah, I mean, he'll, probably I don't know that he'll have a single wall scraper is the thing, right, like, I mean, he's going to hit balls way out and they're going to be eye-popping at points. The key is going to be obviously the break-it-down stuff, like, okay, how's he going to adjust to pitching here in the States, which, again, he, he and this is part of the series he. He got to campus two weeks after graduating high school at Stanford and he enrolled early, so last spring he was not playing with Stanford. They could have activated him, but he was getting adjusted to having a class schedule. Could have activated him, but he was getting adjusted to having a class schedule, taking classes at again one of the premier universities in the United States, stanford.

Speaker 1:

In a language he doesn't speak.

Speaker 3:

That's what I'm saying. Like biology was one of his first classes he took. Can you guys imagine taking biology and that subject matter in a language that you do not speak? I mean, it had to be a huge adjustment for him.

Speaker 2:

I can't imagine doing it with speaking the language.

Speaker 3:

Right, I mean, that's just it. Some of the guys that I interviewed who were on the team last spring and aren't there anymore because they got drafted, or guys who are teammates of his now, are like I couldn't believe he was taking this class or that class, because I struggle with it and I'm a native English speaker right.

Speaker 3:

I can't imagine, but that's another important piece of it to the family as well is is the education. So it's it's it's twofold. He, he maybe threefold Rintaro kind of just likes the idea of making his own way. He has lived in the shadow to some extent of maybe the most famous person in the country of Japan, shohei Otani, in that he went to the same high school. I mean Shohei is is I think the best way to put it a family friend of the Sasaki family, right? His dad coached Shohei, just as he coached Rintaro, and it's a mentor of his. So he to some degree has lived in his shadow. So I think he kind of likes the way of making his own way.

Speaker 3:

The education piece clearly is important to them. I mean, his finalists when he was choosing his schools were Stanford, vanderbilt, cal Berkeley and UCLA, and then again, as I mentioned, he visited Duke and some others that are high academic institutions. So that's part of it as well. And then you know, I think there's the layer that maybe he believes this is his, his best chance to Sort of hedge bets in both countries and build a following and some popularity in both Japan and the US in a way that Shohei has created for himself. But that is, that is. Those are my takeaways from talking to people around him and not necessarily getting it straight from him.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and it was made very clear in that first episode of Rintaro that the educational part of it was definitely it was definitely a factor, you know, and when you talk about these, these universities, I mean these are like really good academic schools that you and that was something that the Stanford coaches talked about was like they kind of had to scramble and make sure he could just get in to Stanford which Thomas Eager, the recruiting coordinator for Stanford's program, was great about kind of laying out some of it for air, some of it didn't make air, but just for my understanding of the whole process, laying out how you recruit a baseball team at a place like Stanford, because it's wildly different from, you know, no offense, an LSU or a Florida State or whatever right, it's just it's going to have more complications because of the admissions side of it.

Speaker 3:

Not to mention there was the language barrier initially that almost prevented it from even getting started because of you know it's a very tedious process for a place like Stanford.

Speaker 3:

They get a designated specific number of slots granted by the admissions department every year as to say, ok, you can award scholarships to this many players and bring this many players in right. So at one point, the point at which Rintaro's camp had initially announced we're going to seek an opportunity for him to play stateside in college, stanford had all of those spots filled. So it was a sort of scramble after the fact, after telling and communicating to his camp and saying, hey, we just, we just don't have a spot for you. After the fact, circling back up after he's already spoken to some of these other schools and saying no, no, it's not that we didn't want you before, we just did not have a slot, but we have it now. Something happened and it worked out so that we can properly pitch you on the Stanford experience. It's crazy the way that it worked out. There are more factors that were not discussed in episodes one and two that kind of negate this perfect storm.

Speaker 1:

I already used that term, but it really was sort of a confluence of circumstances that helped Stanford and allowed everything to fall in place for Pintaro to end up there, yeah, and I got the impression from hearing the Stanford coaches talk that he almost kind of fell and they, I think, were as excited about the decision as anybody else, because I don't know that they really had the expectation. Competing with those other schools that had probably laid out maybe a better pitch because they had that spot available to them earlier, the Stanford camp seemed almost shocked that they got the commitment.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and again, there's more that if you listen you'll find out is kind of part of that experience the visit for Rintaro and potentially some reasons, some kind of aces up their sleeve that they didn't realize were going to fall out of their sleeve.

Speaker 3:

For Stanford, it's a pretty amazing story and I think just being coaches at Stanford University played a big part as well, because that's a school that obviously, being on the western coast and in the United States, has a reputation in the Far East and it's renowned internationally, right, and something else that they talked about, not that this isn't necessarily the case at other schools, but I think Stanford is probably the leader in this regard, in that you can be somewhat famous and just go be a student at Stanford.

Speaker 3:

There were specific examples that Coach Eager, the recruiting coordinator, again gave me that you know, he, he, there are student centers and you know coffee places on campus that you can walk in and grab your coffee and it's like, oh, look, there's an Olympic gold medalist who's like chilling out, reading a book under the, under the expectation that no one's going to bother them, under the expectation that no one's going to bother them, and that's, I think, something that appealed to the Sasaki family that wherever they went, they weren't just going to be bombarded all the time. Now, that's not to say that Rintaro is not bombarded on occasion in different circumstances, but on campus at at least he he's allowed to just be, to be a student and be another, you know, another participant in this experience of college and being an athlete at the same time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, fascinating stuff, really really great. And you know, you, you get, you get into the brass tacks of this whole situation. And you know, for me there was this light bulb moment listening, you know, to that first episode, or two kid like everybody else, because everybody's path to playing collegiate athletics at that level, they all have unique circumstances and there's, you know, and then then you learn about the connections. And you know the, the, the stanford, you know, staffer, that that was a big part of it. You know, because he had worked with USA Baseball as an interpreter and you know there's all these little relationships and this network that kind of again played to Stanford's favor and landed them Rintaro in the first place.

Speaker 1:

I mean it's really a fascinating story, as it would be for anyone. Uh, cause, you know, you brought up Bryce Harper as a, as a, you know, sort of half-assed comparison and, and I actually thought of Bryce, I was like I'd love to hear something like this to learn how Bryce ended up at the, at the JUCO. He ended up at, you know, like what who's the guy whose name we don't know?

Speaker 1:

that was like the X factor in that that happening. You know. And then um. But now that you know the decision's been made he's at Stanford, he's a student, he's going to be a part of the the the team this year. And um and I'm glad that that you touched on this already in the podcast, but I your interviews was the Moree decision made independently? Or do you think that the Rintaro decision had something to do with Moree saying you know what? I'm going to skip college too and just be an international free agent and go about it that way, like the kids from the Dominican and Venezuela and all over the world are doing?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So Shotaro Mori was mentioned by the guest on episode one, yuri Karasawa, who covers Japanese baseball in the English language, and Yuri is great at it. He has founded an online publication called Yaku Cosmopolitan and that's the social media handle that he uses Yaku Cosmo on, I think everything. So he discussed Shotaro Mori, who is, in some ways, a better comparison to Shohei Otani than Rintaro is Because Shotaro, at least at this point in his career, is a two-way guy he pitches and plays the field and hits. So Moree, although not as big a prospect as Rintaro, has some potential, because, of course, when you have a two-way player who excels at both, it's almost like you know if you were to draft them or sign them. It's almost like you're you're taking a flyer on two different players and if one of the two succeeds, it's a, it's a, it's a win, right? So Maury, rather than doing the Rintaro route specifically and going to play collegiately, as you alluded to, has signed a minor league international deal with the athletics and he is going to try to make this push through the minor leagues in a way that, again, it is unprecedented as well, because think about your favorite Japanese baseball player, ichiro Suzuki. Well, when he posted and got signed by a major league team.

Speaker 3:

It's not like he played in the minors and had to establish himself in this system. Same goes for Shohei Otani, same goes for Hideki Matsui, same goes for Hideo Nomo, who, by the way, we talk about the blackballing stuff from MPB. Nomo is like the textbook example of that. When he signed with the Dodgers, hideo Nomo was basically not welcome back in Japan to play in MPB. It was a huge deal at the time.

Speaker 3:

So Morey is doing a similar thing to what Rintaro is doing, in that he's going to try to go straight to the U S pro system and work his way up to the minors and get to the big leagues that way, straight from high school in Japan. But to your question, dallas maurice camp has specifically referenced rentaro's decision as serving as inspiration for that. So whether it was just a matter of and you know, who knows, maybe maurice is just not as good of a student and doesn't prioritize the educational piece as much, but does want to to carve out his own way. Maybe that's why this seemed like a good fit. But what fascinates me is that, just sort of interculturally, a Japanese star player has never been a minor league in the us yeah right like that.

Speaker 3:

That. That in and of itself, is is a story worth following. Uh, when it comes to to maury and and you know, it makes sense for rentaro as well, because we've not really seen this for a college player as well. So like we've not really seen this for a college player as well, so like we've got these two sort of parallel stories happening at the same time, it'll be fascinating to see where they each end up if we look back five, 10 years from now. You know, did it pan out for both of them?

Speaker 1:

And if so, then we're really talking about floodgates being open and this potentially being a new set of paths that Japanese prospects can take. Yeah, and let's, let's, just let's, let's jumpstart from there. And we're, for for the sake of this portion of the conversation, we're going to assume that this works out for rentaro. Yeah, because we we don't have any real reason to believe it won't at this point. He seems as as um sure a thing as as really you can have when we're talking about evaluating baseball players trying to get to that top level. What is the impression you get about how this sort of? Because we already have this wide-open pipeline of Japanese stars right now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you mentioned Nomo. He opened that door in the 90s. Shohei Otani has taken that door off the hinges and thrown it on the ground and set it on fire, because, you know, yoshinobu Yamamoto, you know, a year ago gets the biggest contract a pitcher's ever gotten in Major League history. And Roki Sasaki, you know, another sort of unprecedented path um bets on himself, gives up a ton of money in the near future to do what he's doing. Um, you know, I'm excited about murakami next year because I I think he's got a real major league profile as a hitter.

Speaker 1:

Um, there is just this influx of japanese talent, and we're not even talking about the guys that have hit sort of the the, the last little run of their career, that just became free agents in Japan. And oh, now they're going to sign one year flyer deals with major league teams. Um, you know, what is your impression of when Rintaro becomes this big star and gets to the major league level and is is a first round draft pick, blows through a year or two of the minors and is on a major league club? What? What is the response? And what's next for npb?

Speaker 3:

because if this works out for rentaro or maury or both, they've got to change something culturally or that league is going to take a huge hit yeah, yeah, and you um, in episode one can hear yuri refer to the junichi tozawa rule, which is old legislation within npb, but it was sort of the if you leave, you become blackballed rule. There still is, like some, some hanging on to that notion, despite it not being a rule anymore. So in episode one we talked about the risk reward with rentaro. We of course are assuming it works out for him. Then it's going to have to create a response from MPB because and this goes into kind of the big picture reason why I wanted to pursue this project to Dallas, like it it, the Japanese game's influence on baseball here in the States has never been strong.

Speaker 3:

You just talked about it, right, and when somebody like Ichiro came over it was a little more uncommon. And then slowly over time you get some more players coming over and you know like again we've seen this spattering over the years. We have the 2000s, but now and this is largely because it's somebody like ichiro again it's going to be inducted as the first japanese foreign player in our national baseball hall of fame. And then you look at Shohei Otani now, who is one of the most popular professional athletes both here in the States and in Japan.

Speaker 1:

He's Michael Jordan in Japan. I mean, he's transcended sport in Japan and he's the most recognizable face in that country right now 100%.

Speaker 3:

And his face is everywhere. It's on billboards and signs and buses and that sort of thing. Green tea vending machines.

Speaker 1:

Jake Mintz told us because he was recently in Japan. Green tea vending machines on every corner, with Joey Otani's face on them.

Speaker 3:

So, with that being said, I mean, obviously he's a lot of Japanese youngsters' favorite player, if not all of their favorite player. Well, why wouldn't they want to do what he has done and go to Major League Baseball, and not to mention more? Major League Baseball games are now aired in Japan because of Shohei and company. As part of this influx so even not necessarily as a result of okay, this is my hero, I want to go where he has gone. It's just sort of intrinsically in the culture, more than it was right. You wake up early in the morning and watch what is primetime baseball here in the States over there and you get invested in the teams. You get invested in the teams. You get invested in the league. It is the top league in the in the world. It has been that and and regarded as that, a step above npb forever.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, of course, like if you're a, if you're a young baseball player and you grow up with more of this in your life, the influence is going to be there to to inspire you to become a major league baseball player, whereas that just wasn't there as much before, right, I think if you were a Japanese prospect before, again, even in the early two thousands it was there were differing mindsets, right, ichiro, of course, wanted to come to Major League Baseball.

Speaker 3:

Players of his same ilk decided not to and and thought okay, you know what, I can make a great living playing in MPB, staying in my home country and not really taking on that challenge, and that's okay.

Speaker 3:

But I think that the fact is just, with with the successes of Shohei and so many others, it has created the want to be a major league baseball player within more young Japanese prospects, and they're all going to want to do it now. So if you're NPB, you've got to find a way to still be what you are and have been to the people of japan, but also embrace sending off your best players to major league baseball. Right, and I don't know, you know, maybe that becomes. You've set some, some guidelines that require time in MPB but less time before you can post. That way you kind of encourage younger players to stay home at least for a short bit, and then those are guys you can claim when they go on to major league success. But they're going to have to make adjustments to their rules If, again, assuming Rintaro is successful- yeah, and I brought up Jake Mintz earlier.

Speaker 1:

Shout out to the baseball Barbie cast that every week, twice a week. They make me want to quit because they're so good at what they do. Jake sort of mentioned in the Roki Sasaki conversation that his belief and I don't, at the base of it, disagree is that it's not like the talent level is suddenly there in Japan. It's just the pipeline has been opened. But I would add to that it's sort of a perfect storm, which you alluded to earlier in another context, but it's the perfect storm of, yes, the door is wide open and the pipeline is hot.

Speaker 1:

There's never been this many sort of generational talents from Japan all at the same time, though from Japan all at the same time, though I think at the base, yeah, the average Japanese player in the average major league are probably not that different skill level-wise, but I mean there's never been a Shohei Otani anywhere in the world, much less Japan.

Speaker 1:

Japan's never had a pitcher as touted as the last two to come over in Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. And when we talk about Rintaro, we're talking about a guy that broke the high school home run record that was previously held by Shohei Otani. So there's just this. So there's just this meteoric rise of Japanese baseball in our just in our view, as American baseball fans. Once we start to see Moree and Rintaro get to the major league level, and maybe even before that, we're going to see Nippon Professional Baseball alter their rules in some way to try to circumvent this, that his NPB team gets a fee, a large fee for them from the team that signs the player that they posted. And the financial part of this at some point has to become part of the conversation, because that is money that these teams in Japan are sort of depending on when they have a star player in their country.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's a great point, and I'm reminded of Daisuke Matsuzaka when he came over and was ultimately pitching for the Boston Red Sox. The fee that was paid by the Red Sox just to be able to negotiate right, and this fee you're talking about, that goes to the team in Japan, does not even guarantee a deal being signed. It's never been an issue. But technically speaking, it does not guarantee a deal being signed with the Major League team. It just is for the rights to negotiate, the exclusive rights to negotiate, and I mean that was I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head, but that was a huge dollar amount that the Red Sox paid just to deal with Daisuke Matsuzaka at the time, and then they signed him to a huge contract on top of that. Yeah, I mean it, it factors in. The financial piece is huge, and you can imagine if a team went all out with their bid to to sign rentaro, and even in six years in npb, if he he posts um, he's still early to mid 20s I mean that would have reeled in a humongous fee from major leagues. So they've got to be seeing that right away as part of what they need to adjust to.

Speaker 3:

For sure the posting rules can be vague at times, but I think the natural adjustment for them would be to short that required time in NPV and allow more early posts. That way a player can and they're not all going to be Rintaro in a number of ways I say that right they're not all going to be the high school career home run leader. They're not all going to be interested in the academic side of going to play in college. They're not going to be interested in the life experience side not all of that of going to play in college. I mean, rintaro gets to Stanford where you know Northern California, there's a pretty large Japanese American community. You mentioned Junpei Tomonaga who is the athletics department staffer at Stanford who was helpful for sort of just the application process and kind of the logistical stuff with Rintaro getting on board at Stanford. You know there's a large Japanese-American population and there are a number of people who can speak Japanese in Northern California. But Rintaro got over there and said, no, I just want to be thrown in.

Speaker 3:

I don't want an interpreter. I want to talk to my teammates. I want to learn it that way, learn the culture that way. Want an interpreter. I want to talk to my teammates. I want to learn it that way, learn the culture that way. There's a real.

Speaker 3:

Dave Esker, his head coach at Stanford, uses the word courageous to describe what Rintaro is doing, and I think he means it in ways that are not directly what we think about when we think about his story. That's one of them. I just think Rintaro has this aspiration, obviously, to play in Major League Baseball and be the best baseball player he can be. He also just kind of has this life aspiration that he wants to go and do it and experience it, and I think that is over time. I think that is a trait of his that will prove to be not as common amongst these Japanese prospects than we think.

Speaker 3:

So I think it would be appealing is what I'm saying for if, if MPB made the rule so that you know you could play an MPB for one or two years even, and then post to go play in major league baseball. That would be an option. They just want to get you there in the league and I think for a lot of guys. Staying home and playing professionally and making a handsome salary would be appealing, if not just for the one or two years. Maybe they get into it, they figure out okay. Well, maybe this is this is me, this is my level, this is what I want to be at and stay at, so I'll stay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know I was. So I was kind of taken aback when I heard that you know, rintaro doesn't want an interpreter and I went huh, I wonder if Ipe Mitsuhara had anything to do with that decision.

Speaker 3:

You know what? I hadn't even thought about it, but that's a really interesting thought.

Speaker 1:

You know, I mean because there's so many layers to this. You know, and again, the pipeline is open, wide and you know, the biggest star in the world, at least from the perspective of a Japanese kid who's really good at baseball and a guy who knows Shohei personally. You know, as we've mentioned, that had to be a factor in going. You know what I want to go to college so I can learn the culture and the language a little bit more on my own and then just be a guy who happens to be from Japan but can kind of handle my own business a little bit more. You know, once I get to that level and making those kinds of dollars, once I get to that level and making those kinds of dollars, darren, we're going a little bit long, which is great. This is really cool. Two episodes are out. If you've not listened to them again, they're on the D1 Baseball podcast feed. It's very clear, the artwork is great and the show is just called Rintaro. This, this project, anyways, um what?

Speaker 3:

what can we expect from the rest of the story these last four installments? Yeah, so, um, I'll give a track listing, if you will, the names of the episodes. So the first one was the Decision and the second that we released earlier was the Cardinal. The next is called the Name and then the following is the Fame. So we're going to release the Name and the Fame in the same week.

Speaker 3:

And I opened the Name talking a name, talking about the kanji that make up rentaro's name. And in japanese culture kanji are not simply just letters, right, like we spell our names differently and they make the same sound sometimes, but each character individually does not have its own meaning and interpretation like it does in kanji. So I talk about kind of the meanings of of the kanji. He's got three symbols in his name brintaro, one for each syllable, and, um, it opens up talking about that and drawing some parallels to the meanings of these and his, his journey that he has now embarked on. But mainly it was. It includes the conversations of me trying to figure out what he was like when he got onto campus and enrolled early and if he did in fact live up to the name. We've all heard it, we've all seen his big home run swings on social media prior to that. This was going to be the first time that he practices with the team, first time the guys actually see it, with all this hype coming in. So that's the name, the fame you can imagine. There are some funny stories man that would like including Rintaro wanted to go see Shohei play when the Dodgers were at San Francisco.

Speaker 3:

This again is last spring. He was there only as a student but he had started to travel with the baseball team. He took some of the guys with him on that experience. So there is an account, several accounts of that experience which are pretty entertaining, several accounts of that experience which are pretty entertaining. That episode, basically, is making the case for Rintaro as international celebrity.

Speaker 3:

And then you mentioned his experience in the Appy League. I mean it's impossible to talk about Rintaro's journey without talking about the summer in which he played in competitive baseball games for the first time on US soil. So actually the Greenville Flyboys manager, jack Wilson, who I just saw recently got extended former big league all-star with the Pirates. He's part of this. So I talked with Jack Wilson about Rintaro and the experience there in Greenville. Our own Joe Healy of D1 Baseball covered the all-Star Weekend and was there and talked about that as well, and then we just kind of wrap it up with an ensemble of everybody in the final episode that one number five is entitled the Summer, and then six is called the Trailblazer, and again we wrap it up with with sort of an ensemble. I had a set of questions for everybody that I talked to that pertain to the ceiling how good Brent Farrow could be.

Speaker 3:

So some interesting responses in there but, it'll be again two, two a week up until college baseball's opening day, which is Friday, february 14th.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, really exciting stuff, A great project Like I said, I was giddy to listen to the first two and was not disappointed and a story we've been following here and will continue to follow. You know, just because of you know, we default to the major leagues because that's the most accessible information, but we are not two guys talking the major leagues, we are two guys talking baseball. And the magnitude on the game of baseball internationally that this story is going to continue to have for generations, I think is obvious. And, man, the fact that he stopped in the app, I mean, I'm just, I was just so stoked that I got the opportunity to see him up close and in person at the all-star game last year. We had had plans to go to a game in Greenville and it just kind of fell through. Nothing worked out, unfortunately, but I did get to see.

Speaker 1:

You know, know, they kind of snuck him in last minute to the All-Star lineup and I was already planning to do that where it was in Johnson City and I was just, I was so excited, you know. And man, what? And, Darren, I don't know what your earning potential is on this project financially, but I'm sure it's not enough because you have obviously worked potential is on this project financially, but I I'm sure it's not enough, because you have obviously worked really hard on this and done a fantastic job and, um, I'm proud of you, man, I really am. This is, this is cool stuff and, uh, we're looking forward to hearing the hearing the rest of it.

Speaker 3:

Thanks, man. No, it means a lot. It's uh, it's, it's a-wracking thing when we dropped episode one. Right, it's like you throw this thing out here that you've worked on for, um, not quite a year but a lot of hours, and it's just like, please like it, please like it, please.

Speaker 3:

So then you hear positive response and it's, it's um, it's cool, it's really good and you mentioned the artwork, I gotta shout out kevin roche, who does, uh, a lot of artwork for, like, sunday night baseball. He did our acc baseball etc. Cover um, cover art, if you will, the podcast logo for that, and he's doing some dynamic illustrations of rentaro. That that's. It's a different, it's a different piece for each of the six episodes. Really cool stuff to kind of just add to what I believe to be a dynamic project to begin with. So, um, no, I'm, I'm, I'm, excited, excited to to keep this thing rolling and, with each and every release, hear what people think.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the artwork is really cool. It reminded me a lot, uh, you know when, when the Dodgers signed Shohei, and then again when they got Roki, roki Sasaki and even, I think, for Yamamoto last year, there was very cartoony anime-style illustration, and it kind of gives me that same vibe with this Rintaro artwork which is really cool. He's going to be a really high pick, probably so not going to be a Dodger, much to the happiness of every baseball fan, except me.

Speaker 2:

Well, don't say that, Don't count them out. He says they're taking everybody.

Speaker 1:

We'll find a way. Dodgers will find a way. Brian, I've largely dominated this conversation. Do you have anything to add or any questions you have?

Speaker 2:

No, it's just fascinating and I can't wait to see how this all plays out with his career and and the the uh. The speed is of how fast this is happening is what's amazing yeah, no for sure.

Speaker 3:

And again he's. He is set up to be a draft eligible sophomore, so presumably only two years at stanford and then he's boom into the minor leagues. And, as we've seen for any prospect, no matter where they're from, as of late, if you're good enough, you're going to get up to the bigs pretty quickly. So who knows, we might be four years away from Rintaro Sasaki being a major league player.

Speaker 2:

Right, but it'll be an interesting journey to watch those four years play out while he's in college.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm going to watch more college ball this year than I think I have collectively the last five years. Just because any time I got downtime and a Stanford game is on and I have access to it, I'm probably popping it on, just defaulting to Stanford. Do you know? Yet Are you calling any Stanford series, darren?

Speaker 3:

I don't have any on my schedule just yet. They open up the ACC slate at North Carolina. I don't know that I will be on the call. I've got some basketball obligation that weekend too, but I'm going to try my best to at least be around for a game or two. But that's. You know that 7th, 8th, 9th of March weekend and I'll probably be on a series of some sort. You know, opening night of ACC play. I would imagine I'll be on a game. It could be there, could be elsewhere, but I'm hoping to get them at least once, which it's always my goal to see as many of the ACC teams as I can. It's a little difficult with 16 of them now. But yeah, we'll see. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll get to cover them at least some.

Speaker 1:

The Darren Vaught demo reel needs one absolute Rintaro moonshot. It needs it. We got to get that. If it's one game, he's got to take one into another dimension just so you can put that on the demo reel Into the stratosphere.

Speaker 2:

That's right.

Speaker 1:

Well, darren thanks for your time, man. I always appreciate it and this has been so cool and we're going to follow this and continue to plug uh the rentaro pod as as it goes along and uh, uh, yeah, man, thanks again and uh, you know, uh, feel free to plug any socials or anything as we get out the door here yeah, no, I, I appreciate the interest in it.

Speaker 3:

Um, I'll just remind everybody one more time it's on the d1 baseball podcast, so if you subscribe, there will be some other episodes that are are more college baseball centric. Kendall rogers, aaron fitz, mike rooney and joe healy do a great job with that. But, um, yeah, if you would, it would mean a lot. Subscribe download for entaro six-part series on the d1 baseball podcast feed. Um, would love to know what you think too. I'm at darren bought on everything, so let me know you're not on blue sky yet.

Speaker 1:

We got to get you on the blue sky no, well, it's partially just, it's like man.

Speaker 3:

Another app like I don't know if that's the reason you're not reaching out to let me know, um, that this, this podcast, is awesome or stinks, or whatever you can just, you know, fire up instagram or twitter and let me know, and then I'll get over there, so you can?

Speaker 1:

there you go. Well, see you. You misunderstand the blue sky. We're trying to replace all the other ones with blue sky. That's the goal. I get it over in the blue skies I get it.

Speaker 3:

It takes time though it does I think I'm maybe more comfortable waiting it out on the sideline until it ultimately does, and then I'll hop on.

Speaker 1:

Okay, if we get passing, can I mean, is that gonna? If we get Jeff passing, can we? Can we see a path to Darren Vaught on blue sky?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a pretty large indicator. As as um, a takeover right Like that's that, that would be a strong sign. Yes.

Speaker 1:

We're working on it. I've been DMing with Ken Rosenthal and Sarah Langs a lot trying to get them to bully Passon Nice love that? No, I'm just kidding. I don't bug these people, I just follow them All right. Well, that's it for this interview and, yeah, check out the Rintaro Narrative Pod on the D1 Baseball podcast feed and we will be right back with more Two Guys Talking Baseball. All right, man, what a great time.

Speaker 2:

It was Great time.

Speaker 1:

Really great interview. We don't do them a lot. We try to pick and choose wisely when we do things like that, and I was just so excited Really, I was just excited to get some time to talk to my brother about this cool thing he's doing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's very cool and he's you know he's very in-depth on the subject too. I mean, that was if you're not familiar with it, he's the one that gets you familiar with it.

Speaker 1:

Definitely, and it's a big story. It's something we've talked about a lot on the show. However long it's been since the announcement was made that Rintaro was going to come to the States and play college baseball. Obviously, I got the chance to see him live in the All-Star game for the Appalachian League. This is big. This is a big story.

Speaker 1:

If you are a fan of the game of baseball, you should be paying attention to the career of Rintaro Sasaki because it's going to send shockwaves through the sport, you know, worldwide. Yeah, by the end of this, and you know, then you get the Shotaro Mori element and learning. You know I didn't know that the interview we did with Darren that that Mori's people have said flat out Rintaro inspired him to skip pro ball in Japan, to skip college ball and go straight to a minor league contract with the A's right. So you know, that's going to be really interesting to kind of compare the two of them, compare their paths and see, I mean, if both, if they both get to success at the major league level, it this is going to completely change the model for japanese stars coming to the united states yeah, it's a great precedent as they're setting.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, it's great for us. It's not great for MPB? No, it's not, they're not good for them at all. They're going to have to, you know, and and we talked about that, obviously in the interview but they're going to have to do something and change their rules because, um, yeah, it's for them, um, but, yeah, um.

Speaker 1:

Thanks to darren again for giving us the time and and telling us about this great project. Please, please, please, please, check it out. They're short episodes. They're only around 30 minutes a piece. Um, the first two are out now and, as you heard in the interview, there'll be two a week, uh, for the next couple weeks until they get through all six, and one more time. That is on the D1 Baseball podcast feed. So just find the D1 Baseball podcast wherever you do your podcast listening and check that out. Yeah, we had a great time talking to Darren about that and we're going to be following Rintaro very closely as he embarks on ACC baseball with the Stanford Cardinal, and that's coming up, man, that's just a couple weeks away. We're going to have college games. Yeah, man, that'll be great, all right. So, brian, do you have anything else to get off your chest this week?

Speaker 2:

Well, I just feel that we're getting closer and closer and things are heating up and I just can't explain how excited I am for this season. This season's just going to be so awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's going to be great. We're going to be here for the whole season, the entire season, each and every week and every day on Pirate Flag Radio that's right, pirateflagradiocom and the Radio King app. But with all that said, I think we're going to take off for the week, but we will be back next week and we might have Alex Bregman news. Yeah, that'd be great. Brian might be hopping up and down. If the Cubs get Bregman, the Dodgers might sign somebody else. You never know. Oh, they're going to sign somebody else. You never know.

Speaker 2:

Hey, Quique Hernandez is still out there. I hear there is a single-A ball player in the middle of nowhere that just recently picked up a bat, and I think they're going to sign him. I think that they're going after everybody.

Speaker 1:

I think there's a little kid that was just born this year and he's just thinking about baseball and I think they've already got him under a contract.

Speaker 3:

Don't start with that predetermined crap.

Speaker 2:

We don't need to go down that road for crying out loud.

Speaker 1:

All right, I think that's a good note to get out of here on. We'll be back next week. Thanks to Darren again for coming on, thanks as always to Pirate Flag Radio and for Brian. I'm Dallas. No-transcript.

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