Josh Donaldson and Russ explain what Jose Bautista is REALLY like

On this episode of GET IT DONE LEAGUE, Josh, Arash and Russ talk everything from Jose Bautista stories, to their drafts and more!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Somebody bought water balloons. And it's just one of those slow motion times where like we saw and it was just like knuckling right at this lady's head. Right on her head. And we're like, oh crap. Like, so we start, we start, we start taking off. And I'm like, dude, hit me with a water balloon so we can say that we got hit too. So we run down and she's going to make it a complaint down to the front desk. And we're like, no. And we see her, we're like, oh man, did you get hit by a water balloon? She's like, yeah, some kids got us. I go, yeah, they got us too. This isn't the tri league. Yeah, this is the get it done league.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Get it done league! Man oh man, we are already into June. It is episode five of the Get It Done League. And you know who gets it done week after week here. There's Josh Donaldson, the MVP. There's Russ Martin. A couple of weeks after Rockin' the Habthat. It's Noz Amour. It's the Expos. Russ. Russ, we're kicking it old school today.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah, I'm bringing back uh bringing back the old school vibes here. Got uh I don't know if a lot of people know that. I got drafted by the Expos and out of high school.

unknown 1:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

It was late. It was second day, 35th rounder.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

But uh that's still gotta be pretty cool though to be drafted by your hometown or as a hometown kid.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

It was cool. It was cool. I I I was picturing myself, you know, hitting home runs at the at the big O. Just uh, you know, never happened.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Who is who is the guy in your backyard from the expos that you were trying to emulate his batting stance like or like pitch like or whatnot?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Uh so early on, I would say there was Tim Rains I liked a lot. Oh, Rock. The Rock. Sure. He was awesome. Uh I wasn't a lefty, but I loved watching Larry Walker play. Uh Delino DeShields with his chains on with the swag. Uh he was so swaggy.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

He was a tight uni, too. He had a real tight uni.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

He was so swaggy. Um yeah, but like those were probably my favorite. Oh Henry, they used to have this candy bar called O Henry, and every time he did a homer, they'd be throwing candy bars, chocolate bars in the field.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

He's my favorite player right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

He's my favorite player. I'm pretty sure I saw a couple dudes like open it up during the game and take a bite of it.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

I love that. I love that. Man, like we forget like Randy Johnson, Pedro, like they were exposed, man. Like Bartolo Cologne. Bartolo Cologne.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Uh part of it. The big cat, Andre Scaloriga, the biggest words in the history of the game.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

And he's hit one of the I saw Instagram on him the other day, like the furthest home run ever. He hit it in like almost out of the stadium at old Marlins ballpark. He do you remember that?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

He nuked that.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Insane. I used to love uh I used to love the big cat when he was with the Braves. Obviously, that's who I grew up watching. He was over there, he was uh man, he was he's a he's a on TV. He looks way bigger than what he actually is, but man, that guy had some pop.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

So Russ, 35th round at a high school, it's before MLB Network, it's before social media. How do you find out as what an 18, 19 year old that you're drafted by your hometown team is just like a phone call to the landline at the house? Pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

And actually, we we only go to 11th grade in high school, so I was 17 years old. I was like a senior in high school in the States when I got drafted. So wow, didn't even have any facial hair. Yeah, I had like little like little mini sideburns starting to come in.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

You know, that was I thought Canada, I thought I thought Canada had up to grade 13, and then they just got rid of that. Is that different in Montreal?

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Quebec's Quebec's its own animal. Yeah, Quebec's different. So of course it is. Of course it is. I didn't sign, I went to JUCO, and then you know, was on teams with guys that had full beards and stuff, and I'm like, dude, I'm these guys are men, I'm still a kid. What's going on here? Yeah, but that helped you.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

That helped you.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

It definitely did. Definitely. What was your draft day, JD?

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Uh 2007, I got drafted by the Chicago Cubs, and I got taken in the 48th overall pick. And I remember I had like a big draft party. All my friends and stuff were coming over, coaches. And I remember like once it got out of the first round, I was like, damn, like I was a little disappointed. I had to go upstairs, kind of collect my thoughts for a second, and then I got the call at 48. Um, because that was the very first year they had the draft on TV.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

And I was like, but they only did the first round, right?

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

And so it was like, once it got past uh the first round, they got to supplemental that went off air, and I was like, damn. I'm like, I thought I was gonna get on because I thought it'd been pretty cool. The first draft on TV, first round, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be pretty sick, sick moment. And then it kind of fell through. And uh anyway, I got taken 48th, and it was still nice, but I I definitely remember like sitting there thinking, like, these teams messed up, you know, like uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

I remember sitting, I was like, I was a little bitter, even being taken in the 48th pick, but uh at the end of the day, you know, speaking of the moments, did you ever did you remember the first time that you played a video game and then you you played with your own player?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yeah, so NCA baseball came out. I don't know if you remember that. Like it was it was like the show. Uh, so whoever does the show um put out a college version and they had me, my number, and all that play in third base and everything. And when it first came out, I think my stats were like 67. I was terrible, I was awful. And I'm like, this sucks, dude. I'm like, I gotta build this guy up. I'm like, these guys got me as a rating at a 67. I'm like, this is bullcrap.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

But I still, but it was still fun. So I'm looking at the 2007 draft. Okay, it's actually it's actually not a bad draft overall. There's some real names in here. David Price. Price goes one, Mustakis goes two, Matt Wheaters goes five, Laporta goes seven, Baumgarner 10. Uh the Jays in the first round that year, they took JP Aaron Sebia. Rick Porcello was 27th overall, and then Revere after that. Even the second round, JD, like you're there with some decent names. Todd Frazier went 34, Travis Darneau 37, Sean Doolittle, who you probably played with in Oakland, 41.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

I did, but he was a hitter, and that dude could bang too back in the day.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

He could, huh?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, he had it. Isn't Porcello the guy that had his no-hitter rune by a bad call?

SPEAKER_02 7:43

No, that was um Annabal Sanchez.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Annabal Sanchez, another title.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yeah, yeah. Jim Joyce meant missed to call it first base, but he handled it great. Uh yeah, you know, there's some decent, like there's some good names on that draft, but I remember I went to a showcase with Dardo. Was I catching, right?

SPEAKER_04 8:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Uh JP Aaron Sebia, who got drafted by the Blue Jays as a catcher, me being a catcher as well. I remember that, like, I mean, JP had a great year that year um at Tennessee, and I got to play against them. So, you know, there was just always that kind of you're always looking, you're checking everybody out that got in front of you, and then just the teams. I was like, you know, yeah, it's my job to make them look like they made a mistake. That's how I always looked at it.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Well, you did a pretty good job of it. Uh by the way, uh shout out producer Stu. It was Armando Galaraga who had the perfect game uh blown up on the Jim Joyce call. Armando, sorry. So dang it. I I don't think I've ever asked you this, Josh. What happens if you didn't make the position change from catcher?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yeah, you know, I honestly I think that it's kinda we we're probably not here today. I I don't think that I I think I was starting to figure out hitting anyhow so but it's just different, and and Russ can attest to it. It's different hitting as a catcher when you're an everyday guy, just because of the bumps and the bruises, you're taking balls off the forearm, the wrist. It's very difficult to be the type of hitter that a normal position player can be because you are taking those bumps. Now, these guys today that get to go down on one knee, like you get to save your legs a lot more than you know how we were kind of taught to catch coming up. Um, and it probably takes some off of stress off your hips. But I don't we're definitely not sitting here, you know, talking about me being in MVP and three-time all-star, whatever it is. But yeah, I think I would have ended up figuring it out some way, but probably not near the level of where I ended up getting to at third base.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

So you come out of Auburn and you wanted to shout out the alma mater because it's right around that time of year. It's June. What do you got?

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Yeah, you know, I want to say good luck to Auburn. They're hosting the retail, they're the number four seed this year, which is incredible. Um Butch Thompson, Carl Donemaker, Gabe Gross, and the boys down there, they've they've done a great job this year. And my message to you guys is you've already put in the hard work. This is where it gets fun. Don't leave anything out there on the field. Make sure that you're putting your best foot forward and win the whole damn thing.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Boom! Mic drop. I like it. There you go. I like it. Channeling the inner major league. I love that movie. Yes, I love that movie.

unknown 10:53

What?

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Okay, big leagues aside, what was the most fun you guys had playing baseball? At what level? Like Russ, I know you've you have such appreciation for baseball Canada, what it did for you. You talked about the JUCO route you took, JD, UN S C C along the way. What really stands out as the most fun? Again, big leagues aside, in your baseball journeys, Russ?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Uh there's I I I've had fun the whole way through, uh, but some really fun moments. I remember leading up to uh the world championship in Edmonton. I think it was in '99. Sounds right. Uh if I'm not mistaken. But we traveled from we started in Ontario in Guelph, and then we worked our way towards Edmonton. We were busing kind of everywhere, and and we'd stopped to we stopped in North Bay, we stopped in in Winnipeg, uh, we stopped in, I think we stopped in Saskatchewan somewhere. Um, but that that was really cool, kind of like making our way all the way through to to the world championship uh in Edmonton. And it was it's just lots of fun, man. Just putting on the the Canadian jersey and and and repping your country. There's really nothing like it. That was awesome. Um Juco had a blast. Jose Batista was actually my team teammate in JUCO. And and back then he pitched. Uh he pitched. He pitched. He was throwing. Oh, did he just did he give up bombs or what? No, he dude, he was lights out, man. Was he? Was he a starter or a closer? He was more of like a closer. Yeah. Um, but I'm pretty sure he started a game in um in the state championship. He was, I mean, he was throwing 94, 95. He could, he could, as a closer, he'd he'd hit 96 miles an hour. I mean, everybody knows he had a cannon in the outfield.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

So he was Joey Punch Outs before he was Joey Bats? He was Joey Punch Outs.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

Was Bautista more pissed at Umpire's missing calls as a pitcher or as a hitter? Oh, that's a good question. Definitely as a hitter.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Okay, okay. I was I don't know if he could get more pissed. I mean, he'd have been ejected on every game as a pitcher.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Oh man, he he he got he he was so passionate. Like I love Bautista. We had like this little like storage room, and there were coolers in there. And like if he got rung up on a bad call in JUCO, you could just like there's not that many people in the stands, and you just hear like banging all over the place, like boom, boom, boom. Like, just he's taking a bat and just destroying coolers and and all kinds of stuff. He was uh he he definitely cared a lot.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

That's awesome. That's all I I I got uh from when I was by the most fun I ever had in probably any baseball at any level. It was when I was 12, 13 years old. We had like an all-star team, travel ball team. We'd go everywhere, kind of like what Russ will say. But we for our World Series one year we qualified to go to the World Series. It was in um Starkville, Mississippi. We got to stay at the Mississippi State dorms. So, like to go to a university, we're staying on campus as like a 12, 13-year-old. They had bowling alleys there. Like, literally, we were waking up in the morning, we were playing, we'd go on the tennis courts and we were playing um baseball, but with like a little short bat and like a tennis ball. And so we're running around. Then we're playing like four baseball games a day for the World Series, and then at night we're going back. And this we used to play King Griffey Jr. baseball in '64 and have tournaments all all for like three hours, and we had like a double elimination tournament. And then and then it went from that to then we went and took all of the mattresses because we had the entire uh dormitory to ourselves.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

We went and took all the mattresses, lined the entire uh room with mattresses, and we just did WCW WWF, like like we were like just WrestleMania, like 10 guys in there, just absolutely getting after it, wrestling. Then we would go from that to somebody bought water balloons, and the dormitory was probably like five or six stories high, and so we go all the way to the top, and people are walking outside just like 10 o'clock at night, and we're dropping water balloons from the fifth, and we like we're getting it around people, but nobody's hitting anybody, and then finally, like the youngest, he wasn't even our team, he was our coach's youngest son. He was like eight at the time, foo. And it's just one of those slow motion times where like we saw, and it was just like knuckling right at this lady's head, foo, right on our head, and we're like, Oh crap! Like, so we start, we start, we start taking off, and I'm like, dude, hit me with a water balloon so we can say that we got hit too. So we run down and she's going to make it a complaint down to the front desk, and we're like, No. And uh, we see her, we're like, oh man, did you get hit by a water balloon? She's like, Yeah, some kids got us. I go, Yeah, they got us too. And so we walk, we walk away from the um thing, and she's like, I know it was you, you little shit. And I was like, it wasn't me, but it was one of us. It was one of them.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Dropping bombs at Mississippi State's a teenager, hitting bombs against them a few years later. Exactly. It all came full circle. It's the get it done league. It's Russ Martin, it's Josh Donaldson, I'm your host, Arash Madani. Just for fun uh to wrap this, I found this Bautista quote talking about umpires. Quote, when I see something out of line and that I think in my head looks out of place I react, this is where it gets good, boys. Sometimes I have trouble more than other players dealing with my production being affected by somebody else's mediocrity.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

I love that. I absolutely love that. I mean, hey, Joey Batts, very smart guy. You know, he said that in a very eloquent way, I feel like.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

He was always that way, huh, Russ?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Oh, absolutely. He I mean, the most the the Latin blood came out, you know, super passionate. Super passionate.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

But that was the one that was the one thing though, I think as part of like Russ and I's job, kind of when we got there, and the other guy was Danny Valencia when we were there at the first half of I think before he got traded in 15, is backed. If he got a college strike on him early, he really would get kind of down, right? And we were always like, hey dude, like it's fine, clean it, let's go. Next step back. So we were able to kind of step in, and then Danny Valencia, I mean, he pumped Jose Batista, uh, Jose Batista's tires more than anybody I've ever seen. I mean, he literally was just sitting there with a pump, and you could just oh my, you could literally just see like Batista like start from like here, and then by the end of like a Danny Valencia said, he's like walking out, like, all right, all right, wham, Homer, yeah. And then one of my favorite clips of uh assist, assist Danny Valencia. There you go. Valencia, like, I think Batista got thrown at and he goes deep. You gotta pull this clip up. And and Valencia's like, he he says a couple choice words, he's like, GD, I love this. And it was real quiet at the beginning, and it was because Batista like just hit a home burn. He was just fueling. Oh my god, it was so good, so good.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Uh I didn't expect to hear fluffer on the show today, but hey, that's uh He was if you gotta get it done, you gotta get it done.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

That's how we got it done for sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

It is the get it done league. It's Donaldson Martin, I'm a Rash Madani. All right, guys, I wanted JD, you brought this up in our group chat. Like nobody pitches complete games anymore. We know that. And as a byproduct of it, we're just not seeing no hitters anymore. Like the first no-hitter in the big leagues since August of 24, almost two full years, happened last week, but it was a combined no-hitter by the Astros. Three different dudes were in on the mix to get it done. What what do we make of that? Is that is that a air quote real no-hitter, or is that not?

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Well, you know, I have a unique, I think both parties on here have a unique uh perspective of this because I actually did catch a combined no-hitter in the minor leagues. Okay. Now I remember calling the game, it was just as stressful. But like when the game was over, I was like, uh, this is kind of whatever, because it wasn't one guy that did like that's what makes it so challenging is one guy going out there and doing it, and now his name gets put in the record books. Now it's like, do you put all three guys' names in the record? To me personally, I'd like to hear what people have to say about it, but or what their opinions are on it, is I don't think it should even go in the record books. I think it's just like, all right, hey, it's a no-hitter, but because it's multiple guys, I don't think it should go down.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

It just does it doesn't hold the same prestige, right? It's just not the same thing. As a catcher, I mean you're happy to to to call a no-hitter for sure. The only time I caught one was in the minor leagues, too. But um it's definitely not the same thing. But the one thing that about the no-hitter that was just thrown, I think the guy that closed out the game, I think it was his first appearance in the big leagues. Could you imagine how nervous you would be your first outing in the big leagues? And it's and you gotta close out a no hitter?

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Allenbert Santa made his major league debut and retired the final six hitters to complete the seventeenth regular season no hitter in Astros history.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

That's the definition of getting it done right there.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

No doubt. On your debut, that's Wow. Unreal. Like what was the manager thinking? What was oh hey, kid, like you got the last three today. You've no hit. Oh, we had a no-hitter going. Last six, Jade.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

I guess you're up nine zip. That's the deal.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, still, I don't care. So I think that kind of just furthers our point. The manager didn't even care if they had the no-hitter. Right. Nine-zero. We're going to have a guy make his debut. I don't think it made it any less. I think it definitely made it harder for the kid to probably go out there and perform. But you got to kind of see it to test his metal a little bit. Russ, what do you have any other interesting uh stories about no-hitters?

SPEAKER_00 22:43

I I mean, I'm you guys know I'm a winner, right? You're a winner. You're a winner. Oh, you got it done. You got it done. I mean, obviously it takes the whole team. And I had no part, you know, in productivity in this win, but I remember getting no hit by Jared Weaver, and there was another reliever. We got no hit and won a game 1-0. It was in 2009 or 2008. And it was, I think we scored a run in the fifth inning. Matt Kemp gets on. Uh Jared Weaver makes a throwing error. Kemp steals second base. He gets to third base somehow with less than two. Blake DeWitt comes up, hits a sack fly. We're up 1-0. And I remember Chad Billingsy started the game for us at um with the Dodgers. And he was nasty. He was he had great stuff. Yeah, great. He could spin it. He had cut on his fastball. Um, anyways, fast forward. We we get to the the top of the ninth, we we get him out, and we look at the scoreboard. We're like, dude, we just won a game and we got no hit. Wow. I don't know how many times that's happened in the history of the game, but that was that was it's gotta be under, it's gotta be under five.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

I mean, could you imagine?

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Like the other team, you're like, what are we like, what do we have to do to win a ball game, man?

SPEAKER_03 24:05

Like that was that was peak Jared Weaver, too. Like 09, the Angels got to the CS. Lackey was in that rotation too. Is that what he was still at 97? Oh do you how do you go back into the clubhouse after that and sit down your locker and be like, wait a minute here? I threw a no-hitter and we lost.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Yeah, but the other side of that is we're so good we get no hit and we still win a game. We like we we can we can't lose.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Yeah, I would say I would say probably Jared Weaver was thinking uh after he just threw a no-hitter and lost, he was like, I'm in the wrong organization.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

I my talents getting the Angels back then had a good team, they were like pesky. You know, they had choked. That was a hit and run. That was the hit and run error. Yeah, just small ball error.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

Tori Tory Hunter was in that mix. Love Tory, one of my favorite all time.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Yeah, did you play with them at the Twins? No, but I I do have a good Tory Hunter story if you want to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

So this was kind of towards the end for um Tory of his career, and he was in Minnesota at the time, and he smacks a ball to dead center field and it hits the top of the wall. He gets a double. And I looked at him and I was like, almost got out. He ends up getting the third base. I'm like, hey man, I'm like, that was a good swing. I go, but this offseason, if you want that ball to go out, come to the house and we'll do a little bit of strength training. And so he just starts dying, laughing. We're having a good time. Oh, my very next at bat, I think I was facing Trevor Bay, he throws me a high changeup, and I hit it the same identical spot. I hit it and it goes out and it clears by like five feet. And as I'm rounding first base, I take a peek at him, and he's sitting there with this biggest smile on his face, and I start going, I start doing this full flex. Full flex. I start I start giving him like, hey, wait room, let's get no and he's just cheesing from ear to ear. And uh yeah, that was that was one of the cooler uh moments. Yeah, I just not a lot of guys on the baseball field probably talk trash to each other or like give you know poke fun at each other, but I definitely was always kind of having a good time.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

That's the like that that's the stuff that you remember. Like, has it just become too corporate, too serious, or just dudes different now?

SPEAKER_02 26:45

I I I mean, I think for one, there's cameras everywhere, so people were nervous to do something. John Boy's doing his thing too, right? Yeah, so I I I mean, and I I think overall baseball guys are just nice guys.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

They're just nice. Donaldson notwithstanding, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

I was an outlier.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

Amazing. Um, one other thing that that came up earlier this month, and I've meant to talk about it for a while because like this is the stuff you'd see in movies and in shows. You know, Cal Raleigh's in an 0 for 38 slump with the Mariners. And then Logan Gilbert, one of the pitchers, goes over to him and says, Hey Cal. Okay, I get it's the longest hitless streak of your career. I get it. This is what you gotta do. You gotta go into the shower and in full uniform and just wash all the bad juju from the baseball gods off of you. And so Raleigh does that, fellas. And the next game he gets two knocks. Now that's like that, that's the stuff you'd see in a show. You guys must have some stories like this that have come up along the way.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Well Russ, I I got a story. It's my debut. It's May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. It's a Friday night in LA, May 5th, 2006. And I I remember getting to the field and looking at the lineup, like, am I gonna be in there today? And then, okay, I'm hitting eighth, catching. I'm like, okay, here it is. It's my debut. And the team was on a five-game losing streak, and we had, you know, we had, you know, Nomar, Garcia Parra, Jeff Kent, uh, JD Drew, um either the list goes on. Sandy Alamar Jr. was in the clubhouse.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Like, let me pick some of those names up off the list.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe was starting that day. But I remember before the game, they're like, okay, guys, you know, we're on a five-game losing streak. We need to switch things up. We're gonna do a shot at tequila because it's Cinco de Mayo. Oh wow. We did a shot at tequila, and I'm like, he's like, Russ, you doing it? I'm like, well, I'm super nervous. I'm like, absolutely, you know, like give it, give it, you know, bring that, bring that shot over here. He's Canadian, dude. Are you kidding me? Of course he's gonna take my my debut. I take I take a shot at tequila before the game, and uh end up having a pretty good game. I think we won like it was like 3-1 or 3-2, had a couple RBIs, got my first hit against Chris Capuano. Um, and then we just continued to take a shot every day before the game, you know, until our first loss. And and I I don't know, I forget the stat, but like I think we won 23 out of 24 games that I caught in to start my career, or something like that. It was something absurd. Is that good? We got hot. Did you break it?

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Everybody's like, please get Russ behind the plate now.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

Well, that's that's that's a year or two after the Red Sox story, right? When they're down three zip to the Yankees and the in the CS. And as the story goes, Donaldson's buddy Millar comes around with a bottle of Jack Daniels and says, Everybody take a swig. Let's all just go out there, relax. Let's go do this thing. That was insane.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

I have something similar to that, but I have a couple avenues that I could go with. The first what with uh from a team aspect, I think it was 2014. With the I was with the A's, we were starting it, we started off hot, we had some injuries, we were getting banged up. We're in New York playing the Mets, and Cocoa Crisp comes in and he brings in this fire sauce, and like I didn't really know what it is. He's like, this is eight million something joules hot sauce, whatever. I don't know how they measure something like that. I'm an athlete. Um so we go in, they they they turn the radio on, they we start playing Welcome to the Jungle. Welcome to the jungle, and it's just pumping, right? And everybody's like, hey, we're about we're lining up, we're doing a team, and we're all gonna put a dab of this hot sauce uh on our tongue or on our gums. They're like, are you in? I'm like, uh, sure. Yeah, I'm in, man. And nobody really told me they were like just like doing like a like this. I thought they were gonna do this. So this is 10 minutes before the game. And I go, I take this thing, boom, boom, I hit it within like 30 seconds. My mouth, I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh god, oh god, oh god. I'm like, this is trouble. I I gotta hit, my eyes are watering, I can't see anything. I gotta hit in 10 minutes, I'm hitting second. I go straight to the freaking kitchen, I'm like, I chug pretty much an entire gallon of milk, right? And then I gotta go play a game. And so, but the great the the funny thing about it is this is baseball guys for you, is we win. Of course, of course. So the next so the next day we do it again. No, this time I smarten up, and I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna take a dab. And the guys are like rubbing it on their gums. It's still burned, like it's still burned, but we win 10 in a row. Oh, wow. Something we went 10 in a row, so we did this for 10 straight days, and then we're kind of like we finally lose. We're like, oh God, thank God we all had to do this. Well, it's like two games after that. I'm oh for three, and I'm sitting there, and I was kind of banging when we were doing the sauce. I'm like, I'm oh for three. I'm like, I'm going to the clubhouse and getting the sauce. Because hey, when your mouth's on fire, you're not thinking at the plate. Right. You're just like, my mouth hurts, right? So what happened at the next day? Oh, of course I got a hit. What are we talking about? I wouldn't have kept doing it. But so like that was, you know, and then probably like from a personal, like own slump buster like type of thing. I remember when I was with the Jays, I just kind of came off of an injury and I wasn't feeling right at the play. Like I hadn't had a lot of it bats. And me and Tulo were in the clubhouse for like two hours uh in our birthday suit, uh pitching to each other with little tiny plastic wiffle balls with like a little skinny bat. And it was probably like the it was probably like an hour into it. I was like, wham, I kind of I really felt the hips get in front and really get a good snap. And uh it had a really good snap that and I was like, I looked up, I was like, that was it. That's it right there. Next day, very next day, we're playing the Cincinnati Reds. That's when I hit my uh first Homer in the fifth deck.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

I can just imagine what Malloy and Moose and the equipment staff are thinking. Oh, they've seen the club apps, getting everything ready.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Meanwhile, these can we get sound effects of what those swings sounded like while you were in the birthday suit?

SPEAKER_02 34:34

Yeah, I don't know. It was it was slapping. We'll just say that it was a lot of slapping.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

So let me let me just so my notes are tequila, hot toss, naked wiffle ball, and slapping.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

That's the recipe to get out of a slump. No, for me for me, it was different. I I I'd hit with batting gloves on, and if if I was slumping, I'd either change bat, if that didn't work, then I'd go no batting gloves. Like no batting gloves was my like, okay, I want to I want to feel the wood in my hands. I want a different feel on that to play. Yeah, you do. That was kind of like yeah, you remember seeing that.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

No, you really like to feel that wood in your hands.

SPEAKER_04 35:29

You too.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

You two pause. Well, you gotta say pause after that first.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Yeah, can't we just like edit that to where I say pause with it? Can we can we do that?

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Oh my gosh. I helped you out. This is all these years later. That's what makes this thing amazing, isn't it? Rust, you can't win with this dude.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

You just can't. It's amazing. I mean, the guy just told a story about being naked with a with a with a skinny stick and and like a throwing little balls at each other, like, and then he's making fun because I'm with the slap. I'm holding it.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Don't forget about wood. You just you were saying you really like to feel that wood in your hands. I said, Yeah, you do. Well yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Okay. All right, let's let's let's let's move on, gentlemen. Um, because we have six years old, man. Oh, I I'm looking forward to the golf course, fellas, because I want to see what it's like out there when this thing takes off. Um I don't even know how to segue, so let's just move on because we have to go to our fan first question from Slap and Naked Whiffle Ball. Look, if you're outside the ballpark, you're gonna see our crew. Uh, feel free to have a question for either of the guys, for both of the guys. And this was the question from this week outside of the Rogers Center in Toronto.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Josh Donaldson haven't seen a guy like that in a while. You know what I mean? He he he just brought that that energy and you knew he was gonna hit one out. So I would ask him, can you inspire our team right now? Because that's the type of thing I'd like to see from a guy like Vladdy.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

So, JD, people still remember the swag, the attitude that at any time you could just bring it and hit it out of the park. What what would you kind of suggest to Vlad right now?

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Well, I mean, a thing for me, I'm not what I had to learn to do is because I was always a high energy guy, is that I had to learn how to control that and use that into my favor. Like when I got excited, I could I could literally feel like the blood just flowing through my body. And it was just like once I learned what that was like, of like when I started getting adrenaline pumps, when I was younger, I would swing harder. Right, and it wasn't gonna be as beneficial when I matured as a hitter and I felt that, especially like we start talking about going into the ninth inning and you know, game on the line, like and I would immediately start getting this boost of adrenaline. I changed my mindset. I said, all I have to do is touch it, just touch the barrel. And then once I fit figured that out, once I figured out how to just like move it like 60, 70 percent, and then let the adrenaline do the rest of it. That's when I really took off, especially in big time moments. And so the energy was always there, but I had to learn how to harness that. What I would say to Vlad, from what I see for him, it's not a it's not a matter of energy or or whatnot. I think he needs to he would be one guy that I'd say try to hit a homer just because he just gets so much um on top of it a little bit. And I don't want to say like try to hit a homer as far as like he needs to try to swing harder. Right? I don't think he needs to try to swing harder. I think he needs to just like start envisioning like let's look up to the second deck, let's look up to the um what's the center field?

SPEAKER_03 39:29

No, the flight deck, the west. The flight deck.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Let's start looking at the flight deck. Because I know he likes to say to the big part of the field, like, let's start looking at the flight deck and start envisioning, like visualizing balls going that way. That's what I would say to Vlad, because I just think he gets he just hits the ball too low too often. And he he has plenty of pop, he has plenty of bad speed, he has the pitch pitch recognition. I just think there's times when he needs to start taking a little bit more visual uh chances of looking at and trying to hit the ball a little bit more in the upper deck areas, and then that'll kind of flatten him out to start getting the ball in the air.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

Love it. That's some great insight. We appreciate uh the question. Our fan first crew is gonna be outside the ballpark all season. If you find them, ask questions for Donaldson, for Russ, and we'll share them on the show. Guys, uh, you're Toronto bound in just a few days. We're uh Joe Carter classic coming up. Uh tell us about how you got involved and what uh what you're expecting this weekend for a dude who's getting a statue unveiled of himself a little later this summer. Go ahead, Josh.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Yeah, I mean, Joe's this is the second time I've done the event. He does a great job. Um, he's you know, Joe Carter is an amazing human being. So anytime that you can help Joe out, it's uh if if it lines up, it's obviously a must do. And uh a Toronto, a Toronto Blue Jay legend, obviously. Um so it's it's always good to get back in the environment with those guys. And you know, Joe is a legend. Like he's a Toronto Blue Jay legend, and he'll always go down as that, and he's a great human being, so we just always enjoy helping Joe out.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

I I like going back to the to the Joe Carter classic just to hear him tell the story of the World Series and the homework. Like I never get tired of hearing it, and they'll show like video footage of it. For me, it brings back memories because I was a fan, you know, as a kid watching. So I I look forward to that. I think Kevin Pilar is gonna be there too this year, which it'll be fun to see Superman, yeah, in the flesh.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Yeah, KP's been moving in into the media world doing a bunch of analyst work and studio work and podcast work. So it'll be good to have the band uh back together. Fellas, this has been great. Lots of laughs, great stories, wiffle ball, tequila, hot sauce, slap.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

You gotta make sure it slaps the outside of the leg.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

The rest of the all those things combined, and you're getting it done for sure.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

That makes it the get it donely. For Russell Martin, Josh Donaldson, Rash Madane saying, we'll see you next time. This has been a great show. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_04 42:36

Get it done, Lake!