Episode 35 with Coach Nelly

FTB Nelly joins Mo to talk about the top young prospects to keep an eye on as they get called up this season. Will also has Mo pick the World Series, MVP and Cy Young awards but he's not allowed to pick chalk! And will the Tony Vitello experiment work in San Fran? 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

MVP, the Mo Vaughn Podcast, powered by Vaughn Sports Academy and Perfect Game. I'm Will Burge. As always, the man himself, Mo Vaughn, is here. And Mo, we got a special guest this week because it's opening day. Happy opening day to you, and happy opening day to our guests, Coach Nelly, FTB Nelly, PG Nelly. However, I don't I know what you're going by these days. You're like uh the artist formerly known as Prince.

SPEAKER_05 0:28

Well we now, bro. Well, we now what's up, bro? How you doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Good, brother. Good. Always always great to have a conversation with my boys, man. You know, I'm a big fan of you, Mo and Will. You're always great at what you do, brother.

SPEAKER_05 0:41

Man, Nelly, man, when I got into this uh thing um I got with PG, I came to see you down in the design district. Remember that? And I was on their podcast. That was a that was a great event. That was a big, great place. What did that place had the big TV? And we were sitting there.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, canopy, canopy.

SPEAKER_05 1:03

Yeah, canopy. And I'm sitting there like, man, what is this all about? Like, and I'm like, wow, Nelly's really got this stuff going on. And and now you're on on you know, on my show and Bill's show together. This is what a transformation. This is great.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

This is great, man. I love it, and I'm excited to be here, dude. I mean, you've blown up, you've you've always been big in baseball, but now you're back, giving back to the kids and the youth. I mean, I'm loving it. You've changed the game. Now you got the podcast. I mean, your voice that kids and parents need to hear.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

It's nice, man. You know, we always would, you know, we were sitting down there and um we talked a lot about parenting, and we talked a lot about the kids. Um, you know, I love coaching, you know, because of my son and other things. I had no idea I was gonna have this type of, you know, be put on this platform or, you know, be in this in this situation. But um, I understand exactly where you are now. The effect of good, positive, young, you know, young guys that are doing something good, what we can do, you know, for for young people is great. So I'm just kind of following your footsteps, man. It's great to have you on.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I appreciate you guys having me. All right, so let's start with opening day. We'll get into some of the young guys, and now they want to get your thoughts on four guys specifically that could I could be with the opening day roster, I might be called up right after. But opening day first, Modi, you got a memory that jumps out of you uh opening day, maybe when you played, maybe when you were a kid, something that something that comes to mind when this day rolls around.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

Well, listen, everybody, like for a you know, I was lucky enough to have some years. I was on the team, you know, got on the team after a couple years in. I'm talking 95, 96, 97. And you know, you know that coming out of spring training, it really means nothing. Number one, like you you might have a great spring training, but now you know, we know we're playing in Boston, AL East, it's cold, and you're basically starting over. So the tension around opening day, you're hype, but it's like, man, I gotta get on track. You know, so I think for me, my best opening day was in '98. I wasn't able to sign a contract that offseason. Um I'm going into my free agent season and um we're starting off with the Mariners. So now I'm like, I'm not happy because I know I'm facing Randy Johnson. You know, the first the first three or four at bats, three at bats. I was 0 for three with probably two strikeouts. We were down 6-2, we were or or 6-1 or something. We wound up set sp you know uh scoring seven runs or six or seven runs in the in the in the in the bottom of the eighth inning with a home run. No, it was no, it was a bottom of the knife, and I hit a grand slam to win the game against Seattle. And that's how I started off my 98th season um being a free agent. I I was like, man, this is a great open. And I wound up having a pretty good year, so I was lucky.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Nelly, I don't know if you can top that opening day story because that's insane. But uh, you've got you got an opening day memory for yourself, whether it was you playing younger or just going as a fan.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Man, one of my best memories was going when um when I was a fan. I seen Barry Sheffield um for the first time going, and I met him and I was a little kid. I mean, he's probably gonna take a mess up showing how old he is, but I was probably like 11 and 12 years old. And um, I went to the fields, he came, signed me an autograph, and um he hit he told me he was gonna hit a home run first to bat, first to bat. He hit a home run at the field. I mean, that was a line drive. It smoked the kid in the face when he tried to patch it. It was one of my best memories. I'll never forget, because he kept his word through me. And now I, you know, now I know him personally, so it's it's pretty intense. That was one of my favorite moments.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Uh mine's obviously completely different from a fan perspective, but back in 2007, uh, the Indians had a home opener and they were uh they're playing the Mariners, and it was a snow game. It started snowing, and the Indians were up. And last minute, hard growth, who you know, they used to call him the human rain delay, came out and pitched. I mean, he pitched a bitch on the mound because he said it was snowing too hard, and he got the game stopped, and it didn't count. And the Indians did not get that win that day. And I'll never forget because I was sitting in the snow trying trying to get that dub with the team, and I had to sit through all that, and then he got the game taken away anyway.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Wow. That sucks.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Oh, gotta love opening day in the Midwest and uh and Northeast. Gotta love it. Um, so some guys who are definitely looking forward to opening day though, um, looking forward to that call-up. I want to go through four names of Mo before we jump into those. Mo, do you what what's the what's the story behind when you got called up? Do you like what was the situation? How were you told? Was it opening day roster? What was your first game up in the major?

SPEAKER_05 6:06

I was in Scranton in AAA, and I got called up uh from AAA, which is Scranton Girls Bear, Pennsylvania. But Thomson was my manager, he called me up that called me into his hotel that morning. So I'm I'm like, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm Jack. I'm like crazy. You gotta remember I got family from I'm from New England, you know, Connecticut. I've been going to Boston, Kate Cod my entire life. Uh got family in Boston, and I'm opening up against the Yankees. So you know, I'm from Southern Newland, you know, which is can't can't be called Yankee territory. Um Don Matley was my was was was playing for the Yankees. I loved him. So I was opening up to up against him. So I go to the airport and I gotta get on this plane to get to Boston and it's a prop play with only like six seats. Now I'm 6'1, 240 pounds. I'm sitting on both seats of the aisle. The the the plane is a prop plane. You guys know, listen, I'll fly when I have to fly, but if I could take a car or a subway or an underground tunnel or anything, beat me up Scotty to get somewhere, I would do it rather than jump in the plane. I'm sitting there riding on the plane, the you know, the wind shears and this, and I'm going, I'm gonna die before I even get to the stadium at Fenway Park to play this game against the New York Yankees and die madly. I got my whole family, I'm not even gonna make it. And then when I got off the plane, I was riding in a cab and I don't know what was happening, but we kept circling like Fenway Park. We couldn't get into and I'm sitting there going, I'm getting called off. I'm supposed to play. I'm like, you know, I'm gonna be on the field tonight against the Yankees, and I can't even get to the ballpark because we keep, for some reason, like, how does a Cagger Boston keep circling Fahrenway Park? You should know he did. That's a landmark. We know where it's at. So um I get there, um, and I'm I'm I'm on the field and I'm nervous as hell. Like just everything was just so amplified. And that's what I think is so great about the players for PG now, you know, over the years, and people that Nelly knows and that we know, the young guys. These guys come up ready. They come up like you know, on point. They're ready. Whatever we're doing, whatever we know, our platform that we produce gets our boys ready. When I came up, I was sh my back leg was shaking in the badge box so bad I couldn't even keep it still. These guys are coming up back and performing. So our formula for what we're doing at PG is getting dudes on point and ready to play at the highest level, and they're doing it. But yeah, man, I thought I wasn't gonna make it. Gonna be I was gonna crash in a prop plane, couldn't get to the stadium, you know, in the cab, and then, you know, I'm shaking in my boots playing the Yankees. But what a great, what a great film.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Well, I'm glad you said that, Mo, because one of the guys who is everybody kind of unanimously agrees is ready to come up, even though he won't be with the opening day roster. They probably won't be far behind. Now, let's start with Connor Griffin. Huge, huge name in the PG world, now a huge name in the major league world. He's that guy. Everybody's waiting for him to come up. For people who've just heard the name but don't know the game, what what can they expect from this kid when he gets up to the major league level?

SPEAKER_02 9:45

I mean, the kid has been dominating the game since he was 13 years old in perfect game. I mean, he's been all on the select fest all four times. He was an all-American. He's broken many records with us. I mean, the first thing you're gonna expect is a kid's gonna compete when he bats. He might hit a home run. Don't be shocked if he goes first at bat with a double. He might steal two bags that game. And his defense is incredible. He's one of the one of the big frame kids that's truly athletic. Truly athletic, can move left to right well. Again, the guy's gonna go up there and he's gonna probably get the double and still a bag. So I wouldn't be surprised.

SPEAKER_05 10:18

That's what I thought about when I you know, when I thought about him, I'm like, this guy's 6'4, 6'4, 200 pounds. Yeah, and he's that he's a serious athlete. I just heard him on the MLB network where I was into the radio talking about how you know he was working on his jumps, the shortstop, trying to, you know, perfect, you know, his pre-step and different things. He's on top of it. This dude's gonna be ready. And you and we all know, like, the business of of why he's not starting with the team, it's all because of time and service. Like, he played well enough to be a starter. They didn't want to call him up because they don't want to have to pay him too early. And these are the business things that mean the world, we talk about all the time. You know, if and I say it, if I had really understood what it what ownership was trying to do, I probably would have been a better player and a better teammate for the organization. But he's ready to play now, but they're just trying to trying to keep this game. Because you know that I don't think the you know the pirates haven't shown any history of signing their players or keeping their players. So they keep him down for a couple months, gets him up, and they and extends out his his time of service where they have control.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Yeah, it's a hundred percent. If he had a longer contract, he'd be up here for opening day, he's ready, but they're gonna they're gonna make sure that clock doesn't start so they get an extra year on him. Um, another big name from our eco our ecosystem here, Max Clark, who a lot of people say is the first kind of the prototype for what PG can do from like social media and like eyeballs viewpoint on him. But dude, Max is Max is a dude, though. I mean, it's not just all social media. This kid can play.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

No. This kid can play. I mean, I I it was one of the kids I was privileged to coach as well. I mean, the kid plays the game fast. You know, he he steals bags, he's a fundamental kid. They talk about his his flair, his this and that. It's the game. It's what it is. The kid could play. The kid's gonna go up there, he's gonna compete in triple A. And don't be surprised, you give him in three months, he's gonna be back in the bigs with everybody, hitting a couple doubles and stealing a bunch of back. I mean, we're talking about a kid that could probably get 60 bags to 50 bags a season. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Mo is a five-tool guy, man. Five-tool guy. That's his thing. He's he's a group guy. He's got it. And yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:28

Listen, we gotta sleep on the arm. We we we gotta go. Oh there you go. There you go. Listen, these guys now they're they're the training. Forget the flair. Did didn't we all like the WBC? I mean, you guys liked it, right? Yeah, Nelly, you Nelly, you was on top of the WBC, right? Venezuela party you, DR partying, Italy partying, um, Puerto Rico party. Yo, flair is flair. That's what it's gonna be. We need to stop worrying about all that, accept that for what it is. This dude's got the got the got the got the skills. Forget the flair. He's gonna go out there and do it in we're all pulling for him.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yeah, let's go to uh we got two more guys here. Uh let's go to Colt Emerson, uh, another name we know very well in the perfect game universe. Um, Colt is you know, another one of the guys that everybody's got their eyeballs on. Uh if he's gonna get called up. Um they're talking about him as maybe a June call-up again. He's with the Mariners. What do you know about Colt?

SPEAKER_02 13:38

I mean, another another super, super athletic kid, very early on recognized, super PG guy. I mean, he played in every big event for us over here. He he dominated in this space. And then where he's at right now, and I mean, there's no way. Again, if it wasn't for the business of baseball, he should be a big leader right now. If it wasn't for the business side of things.

SPEAKER_05 13:59

As long as our as long as our PG guys understand that, and and you know, we're talking and educating them about the entire process, they'll be prepared and they'll understand what it is. And they're commodities. They're they're they're they they their name, they are the business. You don't need people go, oh, you're doing business. No, their name is the business. As long as they realize that they're gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

From a business standpoint, you don't always get the um the positive end of it, right? You don't always get the positive end of it. You get the like the Chris Sanchez who just got his contract basically torn up and redone because he was making too little money. I mean, that almost never happens, right? So you gotta you learn it hard in the first time up, right? Where, hey, you're a commodity, we're gonna keep up because we want your your your service years to be longer, we're gonna have maintained control of you, but you gotta know on the other end, you gotta look out for yourself too. And I know a lot of fans don't want to hear that in the baseball, but it's true because contracts like Sanchez, or like what they did with Altuve back in the day in Houston, those don't happen very often.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

No, you you gotta understand where you gotta understand where you are, you gotta understand what you are, you gotta understand what your value is, and and get it. I think, you know, you know, our guys, uh our MLB bot guys play 162 games. We start, you know, six months before that, where you know, you go to win the championship, you're basically gonna be out there for nine months grinding. It's it's it's worth it. And everybody's gotta understand that there's enough money being made out there to pay to pay these guys, and these guys deserve it. They work hard, it's a hard game made for only mentally tough people, and people should reward be rewarded for it if they can do it.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

I agree. All right, Nelly, one more guy before we let you go here. Uh, tell me about Tink Hence, the guy in the Cardinal system. I know you're very familiar with him, too, but maybe not a name everybody out there, the average fan knows about.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

No, Tink Hence, man. Uh a big sleeper also in PG, played in every big event, was a shortstop and a pitcher, played for the Arkansas Boys from Arkansas. The kid is up to 99 in triple A right now, dominated. I mean, five-pitch mix, sinker, slider, curveball. With the splitter. I I mean, the kid's special. He had 17 K's when he was in double A. The kid just gonna dominate every space. He went, he went in the bigs, he dominated. I think he had about 10 K's all together with all the innings. He pitched one innings each time. So now they got him moving a little bit, but he's another guy you're gonna watch out for. They're gonna bring him up quick. Cardinals need arms. I mean, he's a big arm for them. So five.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Yeah, the NL Central's wide open, though. I mean, that's they yeah, they're gonna need they're they need arms there because I have a feeling that's gonna be a race all year long. I don't think there's anybody who you can look at in the NL Central and be like, that's they're running away with it.

SPEAKER_05 16:48

No, there's no there's no standouts. Like, you know, you know, Cubs are making some Cubs got, you know, you know, some some players and Armstrong Crow, they you know, they brought in Bergman. But yeah, that that Fragment, that, but that um that AL that AL Central is gonna be wide open. And why not now, you know, give the guys the opportunities. This guy's got, you know, like like FTB said, a five-pitch mix, mix, you know, throwing it 95 to 98. Get that guy out there. You the one thing people don't understand is the minor leagues really doesn't get you get you ready for the big leagues. Why? Because that's why you're in the minor leagues. Because you can't do some of the things that the big leaguers can do. So when you have a talent like that, get them out there and get them on the forefront, let them learn and understand the game and give them opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Nelly, any other uh honorable mentions you want to throw out there? Or uh I don't know we don't want to hold you up too much longer here. We got you, we got you sitting in the car with us today. You looking good, though.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Tamar Johnson, watch out for Tamar. Appreciate you, boss. Watch out for Tamar Johnson, watch out for um the young guys, you know, the Palacio brothers, all those guys are gonna be doing well. This is listen, the best thing about this game right now. The younger guys are coming up quicker, and the talent is only getting better. So, baseball's becoming fun again after the WBC this last time. I mean, I I haven't seen that many fans tune in, and all these countries tune in in a long time. This is baseball's peak time. We're back in the ninth, boys. We need to bring this back up, and I'm excited for this season.

unknown 18:22

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Amen. Couldn't have said it any better. Nelly, appreciate you jumping on, man. No, bro. Call me up. What do you mean? Wait, before you go, Nelly, before you go. All right, brother. Anything you before you go, we do have to talk about uh uh Nelly's dropping a new series here, Mo called Uncommitted. Um, where you know, we at PG, we obviously follow the top, top level guys. We do a great job of that, but Nelly had a great idea of like, you know, kind of following some of these guys who are maybe coming off an injury, maybe a little undersized, maybe just not covered as much, and following their path. Nelly, give them a little bit of a snippet on what people can expect. The first episode comes out this Saturday, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yeah, first episode drops this Saturday. Listen, I just want to show the limelight of the other side, you man. There's kids in Pro Bowl like Jacob Young and all these other guys that Vaughn Grissoms that haven't been blown up, that had to take the long route to make it to the big. You know, I want those guys to get the same love. You know, this is for the kids, not for Totnell, not Mo, not for anybody, not for GSL. We want these kids to all make it to show that it doesn't matter. Just if you're a senior and you're not committed, you can still get committed by the end of your high school season. And I'm showing that now with this series. Tune in.

SPEAKER_05 19:31

I think that that's awesome, man. Okay, that's awesome. Um sometimes you need to shed light on that. It gets it, it just it just involves more people. You know, you you know, you know, we we know that big names are gonna get what they get, but if you you know, we amplify that those other guys, it just it just brings more to the table for us.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

You know, I I love underdogs, man. There's there's always two sides of the worlds in the story, man. The underdog story is the best one, in my opinion. You know, we we expect the golden child to do what he does, but I want the guy that took the long route and become a Hall of Famer. I'll with you, bo.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Love that. This Saturday, Perfect Game YouTube channel. Make sure you check it out. Also follow him uh at FTB Nelly on all socials, and uh all the promos will be there and also on Perfect Game. Nelly, appreciate you jumping on, brother.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Letter, bro. Thank you. Appreciate you guys. Anything you need, hit me.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

There he is, Coach Nelly. Mo. Gotta love it. The best of that's my favorite, bro. Hey, first of all, Nelly, I he knows every single guy who's come up through PG in the last like seven years. And when I don't say no, I mean he gaps them up. They text him, they're calling him after minor league games, they're calling him after games. You know, Jazz chiseling when he started having his blow up. I'm sitting with Nellie, and Jazz is calling him talking about it bats after games. That's that's crazy to be that connected in with those young guys, but it's cool because it is a whole different generation. Nellie kind of is that same type of person, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 20:52

He he's the guy. He's the guy. He's worked his butt off to make those connections. He's trusted, which is the most important thing. And he's great for for the industry. Knowing those young guys and getting him out there, finding out what they like, what they do, how they are, how they work, how they feel. That's just all good stuff for for what we're trying to do.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

All right, let's go through some MLB storylines starting off the year. Um, overall, like, so the one thing that struck me, Mo, is I was going through all the previews, the different teams, the previews, World Series preview, previews of Cy Young. So we're not going shock here. So if it's the Dodgers and the Blue Jays, and everybody's saying both those teams are gonna make the World Series again, which one of those two do you think would most likely not make it if one of them was gonna make it there? And what's the team you think could possibly replace them in the World Series?

SPEAKER_05 21:43

If if first of all, I think the Dodgers are gonna make it. Okay, I don't think that that Toronto is gonna make it. I think Bo Bouchette is a huge loss to Toronto and what. I mean by that is just you know on the field, yeah, you know, guys you're on the field, but I just think he has that mentality that you need to be a champion. You always need two guys to go out and be successful. And I thought that that they had that with with Bo and Junior. Um so I just think that they're gonna they're gonna suffer the biggest loss and they're gonna really miss in. And I and I don't think they're gonna get that. That's just my opinion. All that in terms of in terms of who I think is gonna be in the World Series to replace on the American League side. I mean, I'm not sure there's a there's a team coming out of the L East. Oh I'm not sure there's a squad. What are we thinking about the central? What do you what are you feeling about the section?

SPEAKER_00 23:06

I mean, Detroit is interesting because they went out and they made a lot of moves to take this thing. And I and you know, last year was a fluke look, I'm a Guardians fan. But last year was a fluke, right? You can't lose a 15 and a half candy. That's insane. Not with the talent they had, disparity between them and Cleveland. There really is anybody else. Detroit should be able to stock up on wins. If they're healthy with Burlander, is their four or five or the five in the rotation? I think they got a damn good shot of them.

SPEAKER_05 23:30

That's who I was gonna say. I was gonna say Detroit. No. A lot of times you you have to, they they always talk about like in the NBA, you know, to get to the finals always, you gotta take your take your ropes. You know what I mean? Like, you just don't want to do the finals. It's hard. And I think Detroit's that team that that took their ropes last year. But I think they got a guy, they made some additions that AJ Inch, as the manager, I think is a great captional manager that knows his team, knows how to put the guys in the right spots. And with the additions, I think they're gonna replace the Dodgers. I'm gonna they're gonna replace Toronto as representing the KL.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Now, in the AL East, how do you think that shakes out? Because the Yankees, I mean, man, some of them they don't really have a ton of arms. Um, the Red Sox are young, obviously. You love what Roman Anthony did in the NWBC. The Orioles are sneaky to me, man. They make the Orioles made some nice additions this offseason, too.

SPEAKER_05 24:33

The Orioles have guys that need to come back and play well. Um, their catcher knows how to had a you know, back the year they wanted to hear, wanted to have. I think Gunnar Henderson is a is a is a great player. Uh, and I think they have the ability to catch fire and lean on some of the things they did in the past couple years. You're right. You know, it's gonna be tough for the for the Yanks. You know, uh, you know, with the arms, Red Sox guess are very young. We already know what the Blue Jays are. So the Orios may, you know, you know, one else, someone's got to step forward and win that division. They may just be the be the team that eat back.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

All right, next up, Cy Young, Paul Steens, uh Atari Scuble. And Scuble, the storyline here is is he even gonna be on Detroit throughout the entire year? If they start slow, remember this is last year before he hits free agency, they pretty much pretty much made it known that he's probably gonna end up somewhere else. Do they end up trading him at the deadline? Do you think he plays there all year? And if one of those two isn't gonna win a Cy Young, which one do you think it's gonna be?

SPEAKER_05 25:41

First of all, do I think he's gonna be there throughout the whole season? I say yes. I think that I think you first of all is gonna keep them in. You know, you he's gonna stop. You know, you know, great, great pitching always stops those those long woosing streaks. You know what I mean? He's gonna step up, you know, once every every four or five days and stop, stop the losing. I think that's that's what you need from a number one guy, the number one pitcher in the game. He's gonna stop that woozing streak and get your battery track. I just think that they I just think that AJ knows how to how to handle his how to hell his team to be successful. Let's say that there's a lot of ops, you know, in the American League. There's a lot of young guys, there's some arms. Um what do you think in terms of the odds?

SPEAKER_00 26:35

No, uh, dude, I mean crochet I think crochet's right there. I think the Grom's right there. I think um, you know, let's say, let's say the Detroit does kind of trade in Scooby for whatever reason. The Framber Valdez, who just got signed over there, I think him in that ballpark, he's gonna be lights out there. I think he's a guy who could push for a Cy Young if they're you know, maybe they're scuffling a little bit to start the year and then they take off in the second half. Dude, the AL is loaded with arms. I mean, absolutely loaded with arms. And, you know, I it's I I don't, it's hard for me to imagine a scenario where uh Scoobyl doesn't win this Cy Young, but it might be because he's just not on the short anymore. Maybe he's over in the NL at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_05 27:09

Well, listen, man, I I I love DeGram's makeup. You know, I know he's gonna try to come back and be that, be that guy. Uh but you know, you know, what is it, second year off the laundry? He was that second year, you know, the pretty strong. Um Garrett Grossays, there's so good, there's so good pitching. But you're right, you know. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go with the ground. I'm gonna go with the ground.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

Um out of all of thinking that you know he's gonna he's gonna really turn the camera, turn the corner. Hey, get back to I'm I'm gonna go with the ground.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

All right, how about the MVP side? Obviously, Otani and Judge are far and away the favorites. And if they're healthy, man, it's it's hard to imagine a scenario where both those guys don't want MVP again, right? But you do in the AL, you got guys like Grand uh uh Blad McGrove Jr., you got Cal Riley, hell, you even got Bobby Witt Jr. If the ro if the Royals are uh playing well this year and they're making a run at the Central, he could be in it. And then over on the National League side, you got Soto, who's now with the Mets. Um, you've got Acunya, who's supposedly healthy. Obviously, there's always uh Tatis Jr. If he's back to full strength, Schwarber. I mean, what do you think? If you're gonna if you're gonna say one of those two guys isn't win the MVP, which one is it gonna be? It's probably it's probably health, right? If it if not if one of them doesn't win, it's gonna be health. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:33

The Nash League, I'm thinking. So I I'm I'm I'm hearing that, you know, um uh he's gonna have a guy sitting behind him uh with uh the boat. He's gonna get some pitches that he's gonna really try, drive the ball. I think he's gonna turn around. Listen, when you go for listen, that whole don't don't interest anything that whole issue from yeah, keep standing in on the off the air to uh to queens and little little little uh things that like sad and fan and I think now Rasona's gonna clear his mind. He's got Bo sitting behind him, and he's gonna go he's gonna listen, he was still great master. I don't know what people are taught me, but I think he's gonna really take off. He's that type of guy. I think he's gonna take off and have that career.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

And yeah, I mean, he was he was a menace in the playoffs against my guardians, I can tell you that much.

SPEAKER_05 29:42

Listen, that's you know, that's what you're paying that money for is he's not afraid of the big role mate. Um I just think that he's gonna, I think the second year in, he's gonna be with a guy that uh snapshot. And I also think that, and I'm gonna go, if I'm going with the Orioles to win the East, which I think is gonna be a tough definition, um, I'm ball with God or Harrison. I think I think that it's USA, it's his USA play, not in fire, but it's got him a little bit, he's he's elevated his brain. He was my day. He could come through on that big stage, and I think he's gonna take that to the Auros for the senior shoe to happen great year. If they're gonna win the AL East, I believe he's gonna.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Dude, that would be massive. He's got the makeup for it, man. He's that guy. He's got the mentality, he's got the poise. I can see it, I can totally see it. All right, this is the last one on the throw, too. And I got this is an interesting one because I saw this stand, it blew my mind, bro. Do you know the last time a manager got a job in ML in the MLB with no managerial experience, just jumping straight from college to the pros was in 1907. And this year we have another one, and it's Tony Vitella who's jumping up from Tennessee, which is obviously an amazing collegiate program. He's jumping up and he's now gonna be managing the San Francisco Giants in the you know how you know how sports are. Pro sports are a copycat thing, and everybody in the league is watching this because if it works, you know what's gonna happen next. They're gonna go start pilfering the MCAA ranks and pulling guys up left and right. So, what A, how do you think he's gonna do? And B, what's what do you think that transition is gonna be like for him? Because it's a completely different ballgame, a whole lot more games to play, a whole lot more personalities, money, the whole nine yards.

SPEAKER_05 31:39

I think this is culture style. I see Ronald Lawson today. That stabilizes your infield. Guys like that that stabilize what you're doing, that don't make you have to have to get extra outs, make it loose to you clay, that that that that like there helps your defense. I'm gonna get guys that can play defense and pick up the ball, and they're gonna work on it again. If the ice still strikes, they're gonna have an opportunity to great player. He's going to feel that energy. I'm sure. I'm sure Tony's gone over there and talked to him and probably feels that energy and is what it'll go out and have a full season there at pool. We already know he can win a world soon. Uh and they have a great dirt baseline. Uh, I think all he has to do is communicate. Listen, it's it's it's a different world. Uh ACAA, uh, SEC to MLB. But also, baseball is the same game. You know, in the you know, in the butt, you know where to hit and run, you know the the game tells you what to do. If you can get a he can get an order, a lineup that gets on base and puts that Raphael Divers in position to drive and runs, a guy that's already played the game and knows how to do that, and that might be your MVP too. Not thinking about it all. So on that side, if he could get that going, great communication with his veteran players. Go out, talk to the guys, let them know how you feel, let them know what you're trying to do. They got to be in your court. It's a it's a game of communication and talking.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

If he can do that, he has this chances being successful as anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

And Mo, how do we start this episode? We started by talking Nelly about all these young guys coming up, right? And what'd he talk about? All the young talent right behind them. But look at the major league level. I mean, teams are getting younger and younger. Guys are getting drafted, they're up within a year and a half now. Some guys are up within a year. I mean, if this could be the wave of the future, is bringing up the guys who are relating to those younger players. Because, you know, I love Tito and I love some of the older guys who are who are managing it. They do a good job. But, you know, these kids start talking, they don't know what the hell they're talking about these days. They got all the brain rot language and all that stuff. These are still kids.

SPEAKER_05 34:02

Yeah, you got it. You got it. That's what's so great about Dustin Perry K. And I you know, and I think Tito's Tito's on top of it too. And I think that's why these, you know, our our veteran managers are still veteran managers because they're doing something that's attracting and keeping them in the game with the young guys. So now, you know, when when I was coming up, it was 24 Ramos roster, it was 22 veterans and two young guys. Now it's the reverse. So they're running the show. So we gotta figure out how to work that. But, you know, I think those guys that are still in the game that are veterans, they're doing that. And they gotta keep doing that. They know how to adapt. But yeah, our game is getting younger, flashier, flarer. Gotta get guys that could communicate and get the best out of Peak. But I think, you know, listen, running Tennessee over there with, you know, what Tony was doing, that ain't no easy job either. There's a lot of a lot of expectation, a lot of different things that you're admiring, and all different types of of uh of different platforms that you have to work on. At least now you don't have to worry about school. You don't have to worry about people go to class, you're not gonna worry about study law. It's all baseball. So if you can just get the money mixed, never know act.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Yeah, and the last couple years in college baseball, there's been a bunch of money in it, too. So it's not like the money, that's not like the money's foreign to him anymore. There's guys who are high paid on his college team, they're just a lot more high-paid now when they get to the Major League level. That's all. Hey, you know what?

SPEAKER_05 35:34

I wasn't even thinking about that. That's that is so that is a great assessment right there. They're already doing it. Like, it's just a little bit more money, but they're already managing Mice. So maybe that's what these MLP orders and GMs are thinking that now with this. It may be really not much difference from what they're doing right now with MLB.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Mo, I gotta show you out real quick. I appreciate you. You took my son in. He was coming down here to Cocoa Beach for uh his spring training starting out on here. He took him in for a couple, a couple hitting lessons at the Vaughn Sports Academy. By the way, gorgeous facility. Gorgeous facility down there, man. I would work out in that gym seven days a week. I felt like I was uh on an NFL, I felt like I was on an NFL team working out, man. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

It's great. Will Junior, I don't know if he's a junior, but good, good, like he got a good young, respectful son.

SPEAKER_05 36:29

It's gonna make suffer to, you know, everything he wants to be in the right, you know, whatever jockey cheese is. But a great, I had a great two days with a worker who just talking little things, just trying to be positive and give people it was great to work with. You know, we can come by anytime you know, walk up here.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Nah, I appreciate you, Mo. It was uh it was gracious of you to open the doors for my son and me. And uh, I'll be down there. We'll be doing this thing in person here soon. I'm telling you. We gotta I got I'm driving back and forth across the state of Florida. I'm doing this episode from a Starbucks travel baseball. Hey, you we might be doing a podcast, Mile, but we're still travel baseball dads. That's that's all I know.

SPEAKER_05 37:05

He's sure right. You sure right. Well, be safe, bro. I'm here for you. Me, son, come over here.