Angel Martínez showing his power and Slade Cecconi refining his breaking pitches for Guardians

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1:14Welcome back to the Cleveland baseball talk podcast. I'm Joe Noga joined by Paul Hoynes. The Guardians fall to the Rangers three to one in surprise on Monday. But on how Martinez taking advantage of playing back-to-back days after the split squad game has another big game home run and a double three hits in the game for a guy who you know could be a guy who gets maybe squeezed out by the idea that Steven Kwan is a moving to center field. On how Martinez taking advantage of every opportunity and sort of saying hey don't forget about me when it comes to a crowded outfield mix. What do you think of on how Martinez and his power outburst here over the last couple of days? I'm not surprised Joe he came to camp you know 15 pounds heavier. He looks bigger, stronger. He spent the winter in the Dominican Republic working out. He's you know he lives a short distance from Cleveland's academy of the baseball academy down there and he and his father go there every day or we're going there every day

2:18working out. You know they were working on his switch hitting ability. He's tough against right handers struggled you know from the right side of the plate so they really worked on that and he's you know he came up as a middle-end fielder. They moved him to the outfield and he's he loves it out there. I think he played what close to 90 games in center field last season. So he's got some experience out there and and he's versatile. He can play into corners. If you remember you know he was a star spring training a couple springs ago. I mean he was hitting like 500 and then he got hurt. The ball off his foot and opened the year on the I.L. then he had to I think he had handmade bone surgery that got in the way so hopefully I'll can put together a strong camp and you know earn a spot on the 26-man roster. I really think his versatility is important to the Guardians and it's something that Steven vote won't forget about. Yeah they like his versatility and they like that he sort of is a spark plug makes things happen at the top of that lineup when

3:22he's up there you can run the base as well and sort of he's a he's a he's a prototype guards ball type player for for what they're looking for and you know when he's going well like he said he was batting right-handed when he hit that home run yesterday off Austin Gomber and that was in the third inning a 406 foot shot to pretty much center field or three exit velocity off the bat. Yeah just to have him hitting from the right side of the plate you know three hits in the game I've drove in the the run with the the solo home run he's now hitting 385 in spring training with a 1500 OPS what four out of his last five hits have been for extra bases so those are all very very positive steps steps very positive signs for on home Martinez in this this outfield sort of race and not much else happening offensively for the Guardians yesterday Jason Churio and Joe Lampy with base hits so the guys everybody who started in the outfield yesterday

4:25for Cleveland you know managed to collect a hit we also saw Reese Hoskins in the eighth inning pick up his first hit of spring training a first hit in tenet bats over the last couple of days since joining the club we did have a a strikeout he's got five strikeouts in tenet bats so far but it's it's just a matter of getting up to speed for him I think that's why you see a veteran like Reese Hoskins normally doesn't play into the eighth inning he was the DHS today but you know normally they're they're out of that game you know a little bit earlier but they're trying to get this guy at bats and get him up to speed with everybody in training camp right now Joe he missed what baby the first week week and a half of spring training I bet he's sitting in a cold tub right now he's got to be he's got to be aakin right now but he's playing catch up like you said they're trying to get him as many at bats as they can it's usually he's been daching so you know

5:26not too much wearing tearing the legs there but so it was good to see him get get that hit well maybe you know get maybe can take a step back now take a little deep breath and regroup he said when he came to camp Joe that he was behind that he was gonna have to it it's gonna take him some time to just get the feel again just get the swing down and I'm sure he's been swinging the bat all winter but there's nothing like it when you come to camp and you're facing live BP and Daniel Espino is throwing a thousand miles an hour to you know and the pitchers always seem to be ahead of the hitters at this point of the spring so you know he's just got it with feel its way he's been through this many many times before and if you know if he's healthy I think he'll find a groove here yeah nothing nothing matches game speed or game action you can't simulate it so you just got to sort of be ready for it and then in the conditioning you hope that kicks in at some point I'm a mound slade secony make made what his third start I believe yesterday

6:33went yeah third start two and two thirds innings only allowed three hits but one of those was a two run home run I did have four strikeouts and after the game Stephen vote talked about how that was probably the the best breaking ball that they had seen out of slade secony pitch that you know vote said quote gave him fits last year so you know good to see that that secony is sort of locking in and you know focusing right now this is the time of training camp when when you can still be sort of searching and tinkering and fishing around with some of your pitches they're sort of working on his pitch mix right now and we'll probably see the things tighten up and sharpen up you know later in camp Joe he said in the post game interview with the writers in good year or I should say a surprise Arizona said he's been working on his cutter trying to tighten it up get a little more action on it something he can you know throw to both both righties and lefties and he's also spent the winter working on a sweeper trying to

7:37get it a little tighter a bigger break on the sweeper I should say so those are the two pitches that he's been you know experimenting with and it was you know I he said the slade said that you know he's trying to you know maybe get the get the hitters get get something in their mind besides a fastball but just get them off the fastball and he's been trying to tighten up these two breaking pitches to to give him some options there so that's been his focus I guess in the offseason and his spring training clean outings for Sean Mattson Jack left which Jorman Gomez as far as not allowing runs Ryan Webb and Logan McGuire also had squirrels appearances Tommy Mace gave up a run on a hit and a walk in the eighth inning for the Guardians but you know the a lot of those guys are our depth guys right now as opposed to any of the guys are really competing four spots in the bullpen Jorman Gomez did go two innings in that outing allowing two hits

8:37in a walk but you know still managed to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard so again the the Guardians who started off pretty hot with the four game win streak at the beginning of cactus league play now five and seven overall they have played did played two split squad games already within their first you know twelve games or so so you know it's it's a lot of games in a hurry up up up front I don't know if that the scheduling has been influenced by the WBC or not but you know they've got an off day after today's game against the Dodgers they've got an off day schedule for Wednesday I think Stephen vote mentioned something about the fact that they're trying to plan some fun activities they he didn't give a lot of details on that but I don't think anybody's going to be jumping out of any planes anytime soon I'll carry Frank Kona and the front office but something fun might be a long way for the Guardians and their staff just to sort of break up the monotony of

9:40spring training so far yeah Joe I don't know what what was he talking about are they gonna Bob for apples or they're gonna have like brings me uh well I I don't know if you saw I don't know if you saw the the social media posts that they had last week but the the the PR crew had I believe it was puppies out oh yeah and like seven in the morning and you were you out there you did you walk by the bed yeah you didn't pick up a puppy what's going on because I would have taken it home well that would have been fun you get off the plane and you know a couple Jackie picks you up and you've got a puppy under each arm that probably would have gone over really well I'm sure but it was neat to see like Gabriel Areas and Brian Roqueo and those guys and what they did was they put a timestamp of what time the the guys were showing up at the ballpark each morning and boy I do not envy those guys who have to wake up at probably five in the morning every day to get ready to go to the ballpark and and get there on time for their workouts and stuff but it was nice to

10:42see them all you know with the public see a couple of the guys actually probably did try and adopt those those dogs while they were out there yeah they were cute but as far as today goes Joey Cantillo on the mound in good year against Roqueo Sasaki battle of the two of the biggest ERAs in cactus league play right now Roqueo Sasaki kind of throwing up red flags for the Dodgers they paid a lot for this guy coming from Japan and he has he has been underwhelming to say the least yeah interesting you know those are like spring training ERAs Joe just to start of the start of the season ERAs or start a spring training ERAs 13.50 for Cantillo 20.25 for Sasaki Sasaki is an interesting guy they use him as well as a starter as a closer last year it seems like it doesn't really matter how well those those Dodger pitchers pitch in spring training or during the regular season as long as they can manipulate them for the post season and use them in different roles

11:45you know their their golden I guess that's what happens when you you know you can have a 300 million dollar payroll and you've got pictures stacked up behind pictures but interesting you know Sasaki you know I really like him I hope he's I hope he's healthy I hope he stays healthy because he can do a lot of things for that club he you know he can start he can close and he's just what he's 21 22 so really everything is in front of him well and and he's got to develop I think he's got to develop his third pitch his secondary stuff is it's not as strong obviously as fastball the live arm is is what you see the as hard as he throws and he's got a breaking pitch it's pretty good but he really does need to develop a third pitch if he's going to be an uneffective starter right now they reason they move him to the bullpen is because they they can they can limit his repertoire there in the bullpen and and make him more effective that way you look at that and then you you look at Joey Cantillo who seemingly coming into the these first

12:45couple of starts really has a sort of maybe a leg up on the competition with Logan Allen heading over to to pan him off for the the WBC Joey Cantillo is a guy they they've started and they they're looking at him and it looks like he's in position to to maybe win one of those the last couple of spots in the starting rotation but he has to go out there and you know sort of sort of take the job I guess is is what's where the point that he's at right now in camp yeah no doubt about it Joe I mean you know kind of the offseason buildup can a lot of people were picking Cantillo is a breakout pitcher of the you know break out they're break out pick of the season that kind of thing but you still got to go into the mound you still got to get people out you still got to get your game in order and I think Cantillo is is kind of at that point a spring training right now you know you've got to you know start you know like just get get your repertoire under control and you know just you know concentrate and I'm sure he is and I still think he makes a rotation you know he's

13:50out of options and his stuff is still really good he's healthy so you know I think he's in a good spot but what's at your page say don't look over your shoulder in case somebody's gaining on you so he's got to he's got to keep pitching you know you got to just keep going out there and doing it right man and you know that's the opportunity starts today again and he's he's had a pretty tough couple of uh you know pretty decent teams he started against and this might be his second start against the Dodgers I'm not really sure but you know obviously the Dodgers a tough team to uh to sort of try to lock in and focus against you know and and try to eat your best results uh today going against them in good year the day before an off day for the Guardians and want to talk about upcoming the the Guardians are going to be facing the Guardians prospects are going to be facing the Angels prospects in the spring breakout game that's going to be happening on March 19th at Tempe Diablo Stadium out there and that's uh you know I don't know if Travis Bazon will be back

14:53by then probably from the the WBC I don't know what his participation level is going to be they're going to announce the rosters for those games coming up later on this week but this is again the second third year in a row for this spring breakout showcase where they're trying to get the top talent the top rookies and prospects playing in these showcase games I think they're only seven inning games uh and what happens is uh the each team is able to put together its own roster of their top prospects I know a lot of these uh draft picks from the last couple of years have been playing recently for for the Guardians Ralphie Velasquez you know had a big game in last year's spring breakout but the major league baseball came out and announced that next year the format is going to change and and set up just one showcase game each for for each of these teams they're going to put together a little tournament in the grapefruit league and a little tournament in the

15:53cactus league and they're going to declare champions of the spring breakout tournament next year they've announced that format change so trying to to sort of extend that the success of that spring breakout format what do you think of the idea of a spring breakout tournament for these these prospects and rookies I love it Joe I think baseball you know really I don't think any sport has more interest in their young players and you know any any of the big you know big professional sports has more interest in any of their young players and baseball does he always people love prospects they love rookies they love the follow guys through the minors and project what they're going to do and this is just another way to put those guys out front you know give them a chance and more recognition because you know how it works in spring training I mean every team has has their you know kind of set lineup that they the 26 guys they want to make the club and as spring training goes along those guys are going to get most of the playing time the younger guys get

16:55sent down and you never see them again until the minor league season starts so this is a great way to showcase the talent in Major League Baseball and there's a lot of it could you have imagined a showcase like this when you know let's say a guy like Francisco Lindor was was coming up and everybody could see the the personality and everything that went went with Francisco Lindor what he could do on the field but then you also gave him a little bit of a spotlight there that would have been tremendous for him you know a lot of the the top talent that's come up recently has even played in a couple of these spring break out showcase events guys like Paul Skins and Nick Kurtz you know top rookies over the last couple of years have basically been part of this showcase partly because Major League Baseball is sort of instructing and demanding that the teams play these these top rookies in this showcase game it's also teams want to be able to put their guys out there and let them know Griffin okay yeah we're going to see Connor Griffin 19 year old prospect

17:58who actually probably has a chance to make the roster for the the pirates this kid's going to get a chance to play and he's sort of the the the prime example of why they want to have this the showcase because these are going to be the guys who are in the the work of the year discussions yeah no doubt about it you know that 2024 draft class Joe is getting a lot of play you know a lot of those guys are already in the big leagues and I'm sure that you know that these showcase games you know we'll take advantage of that there those guys are going to be in you know they'll play in these games and it just kind of add a little more a luster to it and a little more you know a little more publicity to to them and you know like you said shine a light on on the talent and Major League Baseball and and why not the players association is trying to get more money to to the younger players or the last basic agreement or they put some clauses in there to do that and this is another way is just showcasing what kind of talent there is in Major League Baseball

19:04and the game is getting younger and you know this you know why not put your best foot forward if if you're mlb tigers out in field or Kevin McGonagall outfielder max Clark you know probably scheduled to participate in this as well and this is being opportunity if you're a guardians fan and you want to go covert and you know start scouting the other teams McGonagall and max Clark are going to be guys that make a difference for the the tigers either this year or or next year at some point so getting a look at those guys to see what's coming to see what you can expect the guardians to have to go up against you know regularly in the a l central it's a nice opportunity there as well so yeah the spring breakout series and the spring breakout tournament now next year it should be a lot of fun but first you got to get through the wbc and a lot of teams are are dealing with that and and we saw we've seen some of the the starting line-ups and not necessarily starting line-ups but the team photos within their uniforms hens he's been

20:04retweeting a few of those I know excited to see the team canada team photo with bone ailer standing next to Josh nailer Josh nailer wearing the the captains sea on his jersey no surprise there for team canada that Josh nailer is the the captain for the Canadians that's that's a great that's a cool thing I think this is the the first one Josh has played in I know he didn't play in the last one he was kind I think maybe coming off that broken broken ankle or he decided not to play but I think Joe in the future you might see you know three nailer brothers on that team eventually with miles right I mean with Oakland I mean I know that was that was Josh's dream he said I'd love to see the day we're all three of us around team canada well all three of them on one roster playing and competing together I think that would be a pretty amazing you know Josh and and Bo had that experience playing together here in Cleveland before the trade last season so just you know great to see that and then you know you

21:10you've got the team USA guys are in their uniforms going through their workouts and getting ready for their you know a pool play in Houston next week they've set their their rotation as we see what the the pictures are going to be for team USA Logan Webb Terrick Scoobal Paul schemes and Nolan the Claim will start the four games in pool play for a team USA Terrick Scoobal going against Great Britain and Paul schemes going against Mexico in those games coming up in a couple of weeks are it in actually not too long won't be too long before those those games take place coming up here in pool play in Houston Houston but you know brings up a you know seeing the guys seeing Aaron Judge out there and seeing Cal Raleigh and and the team sort of going through its paces and workouts and and whatever and and the the questions are in the comparisons to team USA the the gold medal hockey winning team teams the men's and women's Aaron Judge you know

22:14pointed out he said all the guys from team USA the the baseball squad were watching very closely and watching very intently as both the hockey teams went through their their gold medal winning you know sort of runs there in Milan how how important is it for team USA to sort of get that inspiration from the hockey side and would you rather have a hockey gold medal for the first time in 46 years or would you would you want to see team USA's baseball go out there and and win the the world baseball classic over over rival like Japan that's that I'll take both Joe I'll take I'll be a pig and take both but yeah I I would think team USA is got a you know gets a little adrenaline boost from the women and men the hockey teams have won the gold medal at the Olympics I think it might be well said you know I don't know you know you think you throw the get you you kind of you know these teams you throw together the team for the for the for the gold medal

23:14the hockey team right under kind of same circumstances you know they're not together that long you know probably the WBC I think it's a little shorter you know time frame I would imagine don't they shut down the NHL for a couple weeks yeah the NHL they didn't have any games at all going on while they were it's not like spring training which which kept going on while the WBC guys are are away so yeah that that that's different for sure but like you said it's not like some of these other teams that they're going to be facing the team from Great Britain or the team from Italy might have a few major leagueers on the roster but certainly not a lot of the the all star of the star power that a team USA would have you look at team USA baseball and and Japan as far as just being loaded with major league talent the Dominican team but that's an all star team if you take them to the major leagues you know you look at it compared to the hockey teams team USA and team Canada and hockey were were top to bottom their rosters were NHL guys playing against some

24:18countries that had maybe you know a handful of NHL guys on their roster and the rest are firefighters and plumbers it's you know not exactly but you know that that's sort of a you know the joke there the competition won't be as intense until you get to the maybe the knockout stages for team USA's baseball squad it's always seems like a very difficult job for Mark de Rosa the BBC team USA manager to get all those personalities in the clubhouse and get them all pulling on the same you know the same end of the rope because these are these are the best players in baseball has kind of cracked a code or whatever it is to get the game's best players and this this roster is loaded so how do you work that how do you keep people happy who's the bench guy you know all these guys are like stars and so who's going to be the guy coming off the bench pinch hitting in the ninth inning and to get that buy in from him to be that guy I guess is is the difficulty for

25:22a derosa but you know just even having guys like Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh commit to the roster is a big step and yeah I think they're they're playing for something I think they see Shohei Otoni strike out Mike Trout to win it in the in the last WBC and they say you know we're not going to let that happen again there's a pride there that you know it's sort of sparked by something like that it goes back to the you know the mirror I I can never not watch Miracle when it comes on and I'm flipping through stations on TV you know that's that's must see and watch it I get I get chills every time I see that movie every time you know you think about you've seen the documentaries about the 1980 US gold medal winning hockey team and just what a what an important moment that was for the world for sports I think everybody who plays with USA across their chest and any of these tournaments and any of these sort of events like that takes something from that US hockey team and and you know

26:23the pride that you feel playing for your country even those baseball guys they know about it they've seen it they want that feeling and they want to be able to go out there and wrap themselves in the flag and celebrate a gold medal or a championship like that so I think that's a big reason why these guys play in the in this tournament you mentioned Mark DeRosa and the job that he has to do could you imagine having to hear from 30 different GMs and managers chirping in your ear about their pitchers or how many innings they're you're playing their their star players there's a lot of people with a lot of investment in some of these these games here so every one of them is every inning is going to be important there there's nobody at you know that you talk about that bench guy well that bench guy even has a big contract and a GM who's worried about getting him back to camp yeah Joe I mean you hit the nail on the head Kurt Russell with the herb Brooks you know my free game speech oh my god I want to run through a law when I listen to that I get so

27:26fired up that's the best speech of all time get out of Hoise's way he's going to be fighting kneecaps it's going to be great all right Hoisey Wadley when the WBC games you know start later on this week we'll we'll definitely have our eyes on Japan the Tokyo dome where those first games will be kicking off because Travis Bazzana and team Australia will be out there oh we'll keep an eye on that it's going to wrap up today's edition of the Cleveland baseball talk podcast we will check back in with the again tomorrow right here monster energy everybody knows white monster zero ultra that's the OG it kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing but ultra is a whole lineup now you've got strawberry dreams blue Hawaiian sunrise in vice guava and they all bring the monster energy punch so if you've been

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