Chipper Jones joins Chuck & Chernoff

0:00This is a 680 the fan podcast to hear more live and local sports content like this tune into 680 a.m. Or 93 7 FM or download the fan app. Our next guest is always one who will provide those. He is the Hall of Famer and part-time hitting coach for the Atlanta Braves Chipper Jones. Kind enough to join us on the loud security systems news. Medical line chipper. How are you? I'm good. Tell us how are you? Glad to have you. Let's start here with this offense because you laid eyes on them down in spring training. How good can this group be now that Acunia's back healthy starting and we'll throw in Drake and Olsen and Riley and Yaz and Michael Harris. How good can it be as a group? It could be really good. I was very impressed by some you know some of the guys that I've not laid eyes on before but more impressed with the fact that you know the guys came in the camp ready. They came in the camp healthy and you started to see you know while I was down there

1:01you know Riley's center and baseball's only had a gray spring. Yaz had a gray spring. Michael Harris has had a good spring and you know what I'm naming off guys and it's not even the best player on the team. So very encouraged by what I saw in spring training. I can't remember ever winning 21 ball games in spring training and while people say you know it's just spring training. That speaks to your to your depth. You got guys you know coming off the bench that are contributing and you know not just offensively but on the mound as well so we're going to need a bunch of bodies this year you know 162 games so long a season and you know guys are going to guys are going to be on and off the active roster and you got to have guys that can step in. What will make it better for Austin Riley is it simply staying healthy? Is it a mechanics thing? Is it a bad habit just because he's a top five top six MVP guy in my mind and that hadn't been the case past couple years.

2:02Yeah the the injuries you know with the hand you know I've always concerned me because I guess mechanically he leaks towards shortstop with a with a striped foot and you know it's okay to do that. I used to do that as well but my shoulder would turn a lot more than his his his hands and his shoulder kind of goes with him as he leaks towards shortstop and leaves his hands susceptible to the the high and inside pitch because instead of taking it in the shoulder he takes it in the hand and that concerns me a little bit but obviously you know the hernia thing last year was was kind of a fluke thing so I'll tell you what he's he he looks calm he looks collected he looks ready to go I'm seeing him hit balls out to right field and spring training which is a very welcome site that's the approach that that we try to get all those guys to take and you know he seems to be ready to roll the Hall of Famer Chipper Joneses would chuck and churn off on the loud security systems

3:05newsmaker line chip everybody has their theory on the pitching injuries the amount of pitching injuries not just here but across baseball what's your theory bigger faster stronger is not always better you know I think I think most of the guys will tell you that the game has played more efficiently at 85 90 percent that goes for hitters and pitchers you know you get one of those max effort guys out there on the mound what suffers location throwing strikes consistently repeating your mechanics all these things can be done more efficiently at 85 90 percent I tell hitters that all the time so I don't know I know Smolty would probably answer this question better but our guys our guys threw more you know and you know when I hear the guys are hitting 92 94 in a bullpen I think Leo would tell you none of my guys ever threw 92 to 94 in a bullpen you know we

4:06were working on repeating mechanics we were working on owning the fastball on the outside corner for strike one things like that were more important and you know I just think you've seen it with some of the some of the guys like like a swelling box you know he's never thrown that hard in his life and now he is and you know the the the body couldn't handle it up to this point hopefully he gets better and and gets back in there but we'll see what happens so you close your eyes you get chipper vision for what could be with Mauricio Dubon tell us what you think I think you know whenever I talk to hitters I always ask them you know what kind of hitter are you and you know I think some of the smaller guys they they sometimes get a little that Napoleon complex you know they're they're six to eight to ten home run guys they're in the course of the year but they think they're 15 to 20 home run guys and we don't you know we need Mauricio to be the type

5:11of hitter that he actually is he's he's a very good stay inside the baseball line drive gap to gap hitter and you know once you once you beat that into their head a couple times sometimes they start to listen and it was nice to see that he got some results after you know some conversations and he's a good bat the ball skills guys not gonna strike out a lot he's gonna be in a lineup quite a bit this year for us so we need him to go out there and set the table when he's sitting first and turn the lineup over when he's sitting down in the lineup and and be that that role player type of guy that that every time everything needs chip I need to I need you to help me figure out the the Michael Harris thing and I'll call it the Michael Harris thing he's approaching 2100 played appearances in four years he's got 85 walks I've never in my life not possible I've never seen a number like that so we say well how can he be more consistent

6:11you can't be offensively unless you're able to take walks so help me is that pitch recognition is that patience is that more video is that studying pitchers like how do you get into a guy's head of like you can't be a consistent player without getting on base with walks to Michael yeah he was he was doing a lot of things to slow himself up last year and whenever you do that and I say that you know big high leg kick drifting forward with your stride casting out and around the baseball he's doing about two or three things that that all baseball hitters don't want to do and it was all contributing to his swing being slow so when you're swinging slow what do you do you cheat you know and and I think you get fooled by a bunch of pitches I think he's in a comfortable spot right now where and I've even seen him draw a couple two or three walks of this training so it's you know it's it's encouraged like I said it's encouraging but the fact of the matter is

7:16is he's got some confidence right now you know I think you saw it for maybe about five or six weeks last year what he can do with with confidence on his side he's still got that right now and hopefully you know he's a little more mechanically sound he can sit there and wait on the baseball and picking chooses pitches so a 24 year old left-handed hitting catcher I'm all about that I like all of that tell me how Drake does it because it was line drives all season last year absolutely man he's he's everything that I like to teach approach wise as a hitter you know he is sitting something hard middle away I'm going to rifle this thing to to left center field for a double and if they hang me you know the change up or the slider for a strike that's the one that I clip to right center and and you've got to have good bat pass and man who's bad as in the zone a long time

8:21sometimes you can't even see the ball come off of the bat it's you know it stays in the zone so long but just a great kid you know he deserves the rookie of the year and I think he's going to come in and make the statement this year at least he's he's shown in spring training that he's not far from becoming you know the best catcher in baseball and that's the thing that surprised me it's coming up I knew the bat was going to play but man I did not realize how well he works behind the plate you know not just calling a game but but catching and throwing and taking leadership you know roll out there at such a young age it was it was really good to see in the surprising part from from him last year he's ready to take the next step the hall of famer chipper Jones with Chuck and churn off on the loud security systems news maker line help me with the mike is Shremsky thing because he played in that cavernous ballpark in San Francisco gets out of there goes to Kansas

9:22City in the power it jumps this spring it's really jumped how real is that just getting out of a place like that ballpark and knowing the chophouses boy it's it's not far in the distance for a left handed hitter yeah it's a real thing um he's a he's a he's a he's a pro man he's he's a lot like you know Nick Marquay kiss without the you know I might blow up a post office kind of look on his face you know but he's just he's a he's gonna go up he's gonna give you pro advice he's gonna set a good example is an older guy I didn't realize he was she's he 35 years old yeah so it's good to have that experience um you know in the clubhouse um he's got a lot of a lot of stuff to fall back on a lot of experiences to fall back on where he can help some of the younger guys and uh he's you know he's not afraid to to state his case whenever uh whenever he feels like he should he he walked right up to me and started you know talking a bunch of hitting when we were down there

10:25so uh he's still you know he's just a good element to have in the in the clubhouse I'm really looking forward to watching him play well as Walt Weiss the right guy for the job familiar already from you know first off I mean being here eight years he he he hits the ground running and spring training all the guys are comfortable with him you know he's I know you've heard him say it before when you go into a new place it's a half a season before you know you know all your players you know what situations they can be successful in um that's that's not the case here um he just really is the guy I feel was the right move at the right time coming in on the heels of Smith and um I think you're gonna do a great job the guys love him to death and are gonna play hard for him he's gonna hold him to a pretty high standard you know the the standard here in Atlanta has never really changed whenever we take the field we expect to win and we don't go out there hoping to win and um you know hopefully hammers that home to this particular ball club chip I want you to

11:28take me back to your playing days if a pro far situation had happened where somebody got popped two years in a row you're in the clubhouse as a player would you be able to bite your tongue uh probably not I don't I don't there aren't too many up you know instances where I particularly bite my tongue I think whenever I've got something to say I normally say it I like JP um he's he's a good kid he's obviously made some bad decisions um and you know I probably wouldn't have done it publicly or or in front of the club but you know we probably would have had a conversation you know at some point and yeah it's just it's a tough one to the tough one to kind of realize especially that the kind of money that he was set to make last year and this year and Maui's he's not gonna get it and you know kind of a tough conversation to have with mama and the kiddos when you get home isn't it

12:29you know I would wonder yeah that's you remember that 42 million we were gonna get yeah that's just kidding it's not gonna happen so do you think he owes his guys and that clubhouse a call and apology or at this point it's two years in a row guys don't even want to hear it I think that's probably a little bit of both probably split down the middle I mean he's got you know he's got close friends on the on the team you know especially the guys from curious out in the Netherlands um but uh you know I'm sure there are some that are kind of split down the middle um can't really speak for the rest of the guys yeah um all right before we let you go I'm gonna outchipper here a little bit I'm impressed with how much you dig Atlanta sports like I'll get a chipper text on the Falcons or he's watching Hawks what either gets you more pumped or angry when you're watching one of the other teams play what we what gives you the biggest emotional reaction oh I dig being competitive you know I dig I dig it when the Hawks went 13 out of 14 I dig it when they you know get

13:29above 500 first time in a while you know I I I love it when you know the the Falcons are at the top of the you know the NFC whatever it is south you know I I look forward I love Atlanta and I want all our teams to do well and that extends down into the the college ranks as well so um what makes me angry um okay so yesterday we asked the audience because LeBron James was asked for an opinion on Abba dancing queen and he listened to it for the first time he's like that's fire

14:30song he said that song is actual quote was it's good as hell so what is a chipper Jones song that before you were born that you would say like LeBron is good as hell whoa it's not Simon and Garfunco I can tell you that yeah you got it my gosh did this I'm gonna speak you want to just end it yesterday I mean hello darkness my old friend is a pretty good line but I mean I'm not ready to put my head through a wall you know listen to it um I would probably and I had to look this up this morning because I figured you were gonna ask me this just to make sure it was before I was born how about uh I there's a classic stairway to heaven Led Zeppelin um yeah you know might even go a little rocket man out and down I love it I like read your heads out so at some point this season we do a chuck and churdoff chipper outing braves we enjoy a meal and we just do a game together sure she tried chuckles to do that do I think chuckle show up no but at the invite on the front and yes I had a good time last time that was I was about 10 years ago but it was a good time it was

15:35a long time well it'll be on me just like Alex Alex did with you guys it'll be on me so we'll we'll get together soon do you guys think we just make no money I mean it's like charity don't let him roll with that man I will tell the audience though the last time this happened was probably more than a decade ago we were in Orlando and Chip was inside we're I forget we're like Miller's ale house or something and Chuck is parking the car and I walk in he looks at me and goes don't say anything to Chuck don't tell him Chuck walks in and you all know Chuck is white his face got even wider in that moment it was uh it was wonderful chip was sitting next to him Hudson he said right here buddy it was it was uh yeah it was bordering on awkward there for a second but then you know after we had a pop everything was fine I love I you know I like awkward so that works out for everybody chip it's always a pleasure my friend don't be a stranger we'll talk to you soon all right guys take it easy there's all the famer chip or jump security systems news maker live he is the magic third basement he was one of my favorite moments if that could have been somebody had a camera out for that moment I was going into meet Domino and Matt and I walked in

16:37and it was Tim Hudson I was like oh Tim and then chip return around right here buddy it was great oh I enjoyed that this is a 680 the fan podcast to hear more live and local sports content like this tune into 680 am or 93 7 FM or download the fan app