The Pregame Peach
The Pregame Peach is the official pregame podcast of the Columbus Clingstones, the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
Hosted by Clingstones play-by-play broadcaster Jack Johnson, the show features pregame conversations with players, coaches, Braves personnel, and voices encountered along the way throughout the Southern League. Recorded around the ballpark and leading up to first pitch, each episode offers insight into preparation, development, and the people who shape Clingstones baseball on and off the field.
The Pregame Peach
September 3 — Ryan Bourassa
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Columbus Clingstones broadcaster Jack Johnson visited with pitcher Ryan Bourassa at Synovus Park in Columbus, Georgia.
Bourassa discussed the development of his splitter and how he is working to build off it, his path to refining the pitch, growing up in North Dakota and the sports he played, and his experience in the Cape Cod Baseball League during the summer of 2022.
Welcome back to the Columbus Klingstones pregame show, game two of six between the Stones and the Montgomery Biscuits. I'm happy to be joined by Ryan Barassa on the pregame show. So Ryan, what has it been like to join a team at this stage of the year where most of the guys in the bullpen, most of the guys on the starting staff, and also Mike Steed, who you've worked with the last few years, you all know these guys. It must feel like different town, but same kind of setup, right?
SPEAKER_01Take takes a little pressure off knowing all the guys, and I was comfortable with everyone. So I feel like when I got here I just fit right in. It's been good ever since.
SPEAKER_00Could you walk me through your arsenal? Because I know you've always had that splitter ever since college. What have you tried to develop off of it? What do you feel like plays well off that splitter when you're going well?
SPEAKER_01Um so I throw a lot of splitters, and then just if I can get ahead with the fastball, it's pretty good. And then I've also been working on a cutter just for another strike pitch and just to have it as more of an in-play pitch, honestly, because sometimes I run into deep counts and then end up walking somebody and then the pitch count gets up. But no, it's fastball splitter and then a little bit of cutter.
SPEAKER_00Who taught you the splitter? Where did it come from? Were you accepting to it initially?
SPEAKER_01So it was in high school. I was trying to throw a circle changeup, couldn't do it, so I just I taught myself actually, and it's been good ever since. Just had to fine-tune it a little bit, have changed grips quite a few times, but I've stuck with this last one for probably six years. It's been pretty good.
SPEAKER_00So another guy in the organization that just got back up to the Atlanta level, Hirston Waldrup, also throws a dynamite splitter. Very similar story with him is that he somewhat self-taught himself, and he would go on YouTube and look up pitchers that throw splitters, how they grip it, release point, different elements that make the splitter as good as it is. So when you taught yourself, what were the things that you looked for?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, it was a lot of trial and error. I didn't know that much about pitching because I was just a sophomore in high school, but I started throwing it and it started doing weird things, so I just kept throwing it.
SPEAKER_00What else did you play aside from baseball growing up? Did you feel like you could have gone pro in anything besides baseball?
SPEAKER_01So I played football, won a state championship as a center in North Dakota my senior year, and then played basketball up until eighth grade, and I golfed a little bit. I actually got cut from the golf team in seventh grade, I think it was, and that wasn't too fun, but I don't think I could have gotten pro in any other sport. I didn't know seventh grade golf had cuts. Yeah, we we had cuts, and I was not on the list. We actually had an indoor tryout, so I think it was a little bit rigged.
SPEAKER_00You should go back revisit that because you should get a more fair shot at the seventh grade golf team. Anyways, what was it like to win that state championship on the football side? Because growing up in North Dakota, you went to South Dakota, but playing high school football in an area where I think people know about North Dakota football because of the great players they put in the NFL. But it's serious up there. There's a lot of talent that comes from North Dakota. So what was that like?
SPEAKER_01It was a lot of fun, man. We had it, we had a great team. We I think our closest game that year was maybe 10 points, but it was a lot of fun. And we got to play in the far redome for the state championship, which is where North Dakota State plays, so that was a lot of fun. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Who was the North Dakota State player that you really idolized when you were growing up?
SPEAKER_01Uh probably watching Carson Wentz play. Him and before that it was Brock Jensen. He was he was pretty fun to watch too.
SPEAKER_00The first time I remember watching you pitch, I was the broadcaster in Orleans with the Firebirds. You were pitching for the Firebirds, you were with the birds for about a month. What was that experience like for you on the Cape, especially growing up in the Dakotas, which is geologically about as far away from Cape Cod as you can get?
SPEAKER_01It was a lot of fun. It was the first time I've ever been on the East Coast besides Florida, but I had a lot of fun. It was a little bit of a talent jump from because I came from playing in the Northwoods and low level D1, but I feel like it was a good test to see where I was at in the baseball world.
SPEAKER_00What'd you learn about yourself from that experience facing guys like that?
SPEAKER_01I just learned that my stuff played still, and at the end of the day, they're just hitters, and I'm supposed to get them out every time.
SPEAKER_00Not every time, but well that's the mindset you gotta have, certainly. When you're signed as a non-drafted free agent, you may feel like the deck is stacked against you to make it to the major leagues, but Hayden Harris just made his major league debut last night, and I'm sure you're aware of his story about messaging the Braves on LinkedIn and getting a chance to just join the organization, then working his way up. Is there anything you can take about his journey, his story that gives someone that has had a very similar path a lot of confidence that you can do it too?
SPEAKER_01Uh just make the most out of the opportunity that I was given and see where it takes me.
SPEAKER_00The goals for the rest of the year, now that you're back in double A, what are they?
SPEAKER_01Just finish strong. Keep throwing strikes and getting hitters out, and hopefully we just finish strong.
SPEAKER_00It's a perfect way to finish. Ryan, thanks so much for taking the time.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.