The Kid is Back
Listening to Xander Bogaerts and Brett Sullivan talk about Fernando Tatis Jr. this past week was almost like listening to any two fans gushing over his abilities. It was striking to me. Very rarely do Major Leaguers discuss their teammates (or opponents) in a way that makes it almost sound like that guy exists on a different plane.
In speaking about Fernando’s return recently, I said that watching him makes me feel like a kid again. The awe and wonder at him being able to do things that most everyone else cannot. Be it hitting a ball all the way out of Dodger Stadium, avoiding a pickoff at first base with a crazy Matrix slide, or scoring from 3rd on a popup to the second baseman. There are guys who can do those things. But very few who can do them all. He’s just…fun.
The last year obviously hasn’t been great, but a fresh start has arrived and I’m just glad the fan in me gets to watch this guy play baseball every day. It’s that much of a treat.
Chapter 2 Begins
There are a lot of cliches out there about the length of the baseball season and a lot of debate about when things really start to matter wins/loss wise.
I feel like there’s been enough chatter as of late on the latter, but as for the former, there’s no doubt that the second chapter of the 2023 regular season begins tonight for the Padres.
The recent offensive struggles combined with Fernando’s return (after 564 days) have really brought a sense of a fresh start to this series in AZ. The fact that the brutal 24 games in 25 days stretch to open the season ends this weekend also buoys the feeling and hope that things are going to be reset.
We’ll see how it all plays out, but this is one long novel and we’re just getting started.
On Soto
Yesterday was really fun. I love me a 1-0 game, though I understand that it’s maybe not as enjoyable for everyone in the midst of the recent team-wide offensive struggles. Either way, Juan Soto blasting a mammoth shot to a rarely-reached area of Petco Park made me feel like things are starting to turn.
It’s been a while since I’ve linked to a longer written piece and this week there’s a perfect opportunity to do so. I think we all know Soto is not off to the start that he would hope for and in a recent article in Sports Illustrated, Stephanie Apstein got some great insight from Juan about what the last year or so has been like.
First off, the whole story is a must-read for any Padres fan, but I want to dive into one aspect of it all in particular.
One of my pet projects as an announcer, if you will, is to provide constant reminders that the guys on the field are actual human beings. And while this may sound quite obvious, I think as fans, we have a tendency to forget it.
Here’s Soto discussing some of the fallout of his rejecting a long-term extension from the Nationals last season:
The news that he had rejected nearly half a billion dollars pitted “all the fans, all the Dominicans, even my family against me,” he says. He felt completely overwhelmed as he tried to navigate their skepticism. “A lot of teammates were like, ‘We respect your thinking, but that’s a lot of money,’” he says. “I’m like, ‘Guys, I’m trying to do what’s best for me and what’s best for my family.’ And you gotta go out there and perform. And you try to perform for guys that doubt you. And that’s one of the things I hated.” Some of his relatives still do not understand, he says. They have agreed not to bring it up.
That’s pretty intense.
Look, I’m not asking you to cry for a guy who turned down that sort of money to play baseball, and who will do just fine financially over the course of his remarkable life, but I do think it’s worth illustrating some of what’s been going on for him and how, like the rest of us, there are easier times and more difficult times for baseball players. Sometimes our favorite player’s slump is about more than just keeping his hands down at the plate.
Broadcasting with a Clock
Since Spring Training, I’ve received a ton of questions about how Tony and I are adjusting to broadcasting baseball with a clock. It’s a great question and one that was asked by Bryce Miller of the Union-Tribune to our entire broadcast team this past week.
Bryce did a really nice job on the story, which you can check out here.
Q&A
Speaking of broadcasting, I get some version of this question all the time. We’ll go with Rob, who sent this in:
Q: How did you end up taking the path to become a play-by-play guy? I'm old so my fascination was with the transistor radio under the pillow at night. I thought my parents were clueless, but talking with them years later, yep, they knew but pretended I was getting away with it. Anyway, back to the question. How did you decide to want to be a sports broadcaster?
A: Like you, Rob, I grew up obsessing over not only the on-field aspect of baseball, but the broadcasting, too. My early baseball heroes were both players and announcers. I was just instantly fascinated by it. And so at a very young age (when I realized playing in the big leagues was never going to happen), I began thinking about what it would take to be an announcer. As a kid, I would turn the volume down on games and pretend to broadcast. As I got older, I’d set up a baseball video game to play so I could announce that. I’d watch and listen to every game I could get access to. Once I got to high school age, I started picking up little part-time jobs and internships—anything related to broadcasting at all. And then in college, I worked full-time at the student radio station, broadcasting hundreds of baseball, football, basketball, and volleyball games over my four years. And that was before I ever had an actual professional job.
It feels boring and indulgent to tell my whole story from there—maybe some other time—but suffice it to say, this is all I’ve ever wanted since I was probably seven years old and I can’t believe I actually get to do it. Getting to work for this team, in this town, at this time, and with Tony is all just a crazy amount of icing on the cake.
On Low Scoring Games
There’s an age old debate in baseball about whether 2-1 games are more entertaining than 10-8 games. And I have no interest in rehashing that right now.
However, with the Padres having played a good number of tight, low-scoring affairs already this year, I do want to point out that not all 2-1 (or 1-0) games are created equal.
Just because a game is low scoring doesn’t always mean it’s a well pitched game. It can just be bad offense. Like guys missing pitches they should hit, a ton of walks, etc. Those games, in my humble opinion, are just ugly.
But the ones the Pads have played lately have been really entertaining to me (results aside) because the pitching has been stellar.
Anyway, just sort of a random thing I like to harp on.
Here to Serve
One last silly thing.
Tuesday I made my weekly visit with Ben & Woods on San Diego’s #1 Sports Station, 97-3 The Fan, and as is usually the case when the team is under-performing outside expectations, I found myself playing the role of therapist for the hosts (mostly Woods) and some of their listeners.
After I hung up, Twitter user Lorenzo posted the following picture:
More than happy to be of service.
Enjoy tonight…