TRANSPARENCY: White Sox PULL BACK Curtain, SHOWCASE Munetaka Murakami & MLB Draft Strategies

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Water usually wins. It rots wood and tears docks apart, unless you build with treks. Trek's marine grade decking is 100% submersible, built to resist rod and solid and fresh water. Water has met its match. Trek's decking. Visit treks.com slash docks. More juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan. With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible, it's personalized, so if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way. It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain. That's a better way to money. Let's get started at nm.com. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The White Sox want to take you beyond what you see during 162 game season, and I'm actually

1:03impressed. They're going to be so accessible. Hello, I'm Todd Welter. Welcome to Lockdown. White Sox, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now, the number one sports podcast network. I'm a lifelong socks fan of and podcasting here for the past two seasons and covering the team well before then. And also, I've covered originally baseball for outlets associated with the Associated Press. When I sat down with team director of creative video production, Brian Galey, to go over a neat way the White Sox are giving fans more access to the team with the YouTube series beyond the 162. And I actually do really like this idea. I like that the White Sox, because one of the things that I've been advocating for is that the White Sox try to make themselves more accessible. Make us be able to give us a chance to see how is the proverbial sausage getting made. How is Chris Kets growing into his role? How are they preparing to make this decision, number one overall? What's just basically going on beyond the scenes? So maybe we can get a better idea and that way we're not really scrutinizing the franchise.

2:05And I think that this is really good for the organization to be like, okay, we're going to pull back the curtain. And one of the things that I like about talking with a lot of the White Sox people behind the scenes is they acknowledge what we're seeing and you're going to get that when you listen to Brian, they acknowledge that there's highs, there's lows, there's fan frustrations, and they're not just going to kind of, you know, scrub it away, they're going to show it to you. And that's why I really wanted to sit down with Brian and get a chance to talk to him. And again, there are good people in the White Sox organization. So I think you're really going to like what Brian has to say. All right, Brian. One thing I've been advocating for as a fan and as like a host here is for more content that makes this team feel accessible. So how does this series provide that? Yeah, that's a great question. Really it's going to provide that by being regular check-ins with these players that we've gotten to know and players that we think will be here for a while. So you know, last year I think for us as a content team was kind of the year of the

3:07call up video and that was great and that was exciting. And those are always like amazing pieces of content because it's something that these players have worked for their entire life. It's their dream come true. It's a family moment. But not these players are here. They need to sustain it. They need to keep the momentum going like we've talked about. So we want to show what's going into that process. We also want to show a lot of these players personalities. Like we've gotten to know Chase Mydraff, you know, Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teo, Edgar Caro, Shane Smith, all these guys well. It's interesting already during the off season and spring training seeing them in their second year with like more confidence kind of more coming out of their shell a bit in a few cases. And that's been really cool to see. So to your point, I think it's a great time to give fans a more regular behind the scenes type view into this team. All right. So while this team isn't expected to have a winning record, although hey, we're hoping for a surprise. Yeah. There is this buzz around this club with the young players. So how is providing this behind the scene access kind of going to be pumping up the excitement and really, you know, getting this team, you know, getting fans excited about, hey, the

4:09White Sox, you know, are going to be exciting this year, hopefully. Yeah, absolutely. It's funny. You mentioned that because I've been thinking a lot lately about how I joined, I came to the White Sox in 2019 and that you're the White Sox 172 and 89, but that was also the year Tim Anderson won a batting title. It was a year of a lot of walkoffs and things like that. So it was, it was actually this kind of magical year. And so, you know, it's really more about providing those moments and showing those moments. And I think that's what we're looking for this season. So what we want to do with Beyond 162 are all access show, which by the way, a sponsor by rate is when those moments happen, we want to capture the immediate reaction. We want to follow players, you know, after they touch home plate, even into the, into the dugout, into the clubhouse and kind of get those interactions and get their relationships with each other as well. So that's really the hope this year. I think, you know, record aside, I think their hope is to have those moments and then off field, we plan to have those moments as well. We can certainly get into it. But, you know, we do have the number one overall pick in the MLB draft this year. So there's going to be a lot of high points, I think, that we're going to hopefully be able

5:12to kind of show fans something new about. So one of the things that you just brought up, the number one overall pick, it is something that a lot of fans are following. I know I've been watching Rock Chowolsk and Justin LeBron. How are you guys going to be kind of angling, you know, or showing how the team is preparing to make probably one of the most, you know, all franchise alternating picks in franchise history, or at least since 1977, how are we going to get to be able to see that? Yeah, so I'll preface it by saying you do need to tune in, but we did have cameras at in Texas over the weekend following Mike Shirley, our director of amateur scouting, following a couple other members of our scouting team and our baseball operations team as they scouted all those guys you mentioned, along with Brady Emerson, who's a high school talent, a very high high school talent, and then, you know, truthfully, there's those main guys for the number one pick, but we know our scouting, our director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley is also focused on the next picks, and these are huge college programs that they're watching. So we had a camera there with him all weekend, getting their reaction, kind of going through

6:14their process as they mentioned, it's still early, and those names are definitely in, you know, out in the public right now, but a lot can happen. So we want to give as much access as we can, our scouting team, our amateur scouting team has been awesome with that access, so that's coming down the pipeline in beyond 162 as well. All right, so you guys already got the episode one provided out at my buddy Bez, who we were down at Sox Fest, I know he made one of the clips, he was texting me, being all excited. Yep. You know, some of these new players, especially in Moonataka, Maracame, what went into telling these stories in that first installment? Yeah, so it's really a kind of an organizational effort, you know, Sox TV, the video department were in the communications team, and so it's really understanding as these things are coming, how can we present them? So for instance, when Moonataka Maracame came to Chicago for his initial physical before he'd even signed with the team, I was their documenting, their shots of him getting out of the car, their shots of him putting on a white socks jersey for the very first

7:15time. And then we recorded that message that everyone loved over the off season where he said call me Moonay. So it's really like a huge effort of just kind of communication and collaboration, and that's going to continue. And that continues with our baseball operations team as well, like we've got, we've got some content coming up from our team nutritionists, we've got content coming up from our, you know, straight and conditioning staff who really are like working constantly to make this the best on field product it can be. So we're excited to show all that process. Good time out for those listening on Apple or Spotify, but more of my conversation with Brian Galey about beyond 162 and how this makes the team more accessible is coming up next. This week's MLB top 100 highlight is brought to you by MLB the show 26, the latest from the beloved video game franchise. Each week we're highlighting the stars of MLB's top 100 players list, the elite names you'll be controlling, building around and going ahead to head with in MLB the show. Well, the white socks, they don't have any players in the top 100. The Colson Montgomery could get there if he crushes 30 to 40 home runs of season, Kyle

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11:21And just like that, you're done. Your turbo tax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. And doing my taxes is not easy as I have a mix of freelance income and salary income. So you know, you got $10.99 to deal with and W2s. And that's why I've used turbo tax in the past to make the process so easy and less stressful. And at TurboTax.com, slash local, to find a store near you and book your appointment. Thank you for making lock down White Talks. You're first listening the day and thank you for making lock down the number one sports podcast network and don't forget to check out the everyday club for ad free episodes and access to a group chat with me and other listeners of the show. And I got a thread set up to talk about what's happening on game day, you know, free from those social media trolls, so we can talk about what we're loving, what we can't stand,

12:21what we're frustrated about, what we are enjoying. We can talk about it in the Discord chat. So tap the link in the show notes or go to lockdownwhitetalks.supercast.com. That's lockdownwhitetalks.supercast.com to learn more. All right. So how intentional was it to open the series by spot letting me know both of these player personalities and the impact on creating culture in this young clubhouse? Yeah. It was super intentional. I think a lot of questions people had about Mune, about when he talked about Murakami, was how would he fit in with this team? And I think what we were able to show in episode one of Yon 162 is that it was pretty seamless. I think like I mentioned earlier, a lot of these young players are really coming out of their shell. They have awesome relationships with each other. The camaraderie is excellent. I know like, I want to call out Chase Mydrov, Kyle Teal, of course, Colson Montgomery, but Shane Smith was someone who stood out to us who really seems really comfortable with himself kind of coming into his own and his personality. So a lot of that's natural. You know, if we're around, we're able to capture that.

13:22I'd also like to give huge props to Anna Abel on our team and Remi Sylvan, who were there capturing these guys as they got the call up information last year as they got the news they're being called up. These are some team members of SOXYB who are there, so they've gotten to know these guys. They have amazing relationships with them. And so it's really help us with that access and to really like see these guys open up on camera, truly be themselves. So I know we have to stay tuned, but you know, it's all this access. You're going to have spring training, a camelback to opening day in Milwaukee and then the 2026 draft. Um, kind of how's the rhythm of the series going to go throughout the season? Yeah. So we definitely, each of our episode outlines kind of have those big moments. And this next, this next episode will detail, you know, what happens in the World Baseball Classic as well. I think, you know, from what we saw at the last World Baseball Classic with our players playing this year, there's going to be some big moments. So that's going to be great. So not only do we want to show that as it happens, but when those players return back to the White Sox later in the month, we kind of want to show that transition as well. So if Kyle Teal, you know, or Sam Antonacci or Mune, hit a huge home run, hit a game winning

14:27home run, the World Baseball Classic, we're going to get both instant reaction and then how does that affect them going forward in this White Sox season. So we do have those huge kind of like 10 pole moments throughout the season planned out, but then we're playing to be there when the unexpected happens. The ultimate unexpected moment in my career was certainly the field of dreams game to Manderson hitting a walk off. And you know, we had our text throughout the whole game. If this happens, if this happens, cover this, cover this. So we're going to be doing that all year. This is a big first for us. It's a lot of work. But we're going to be doing that all year every game. If someone hits a walk off, we're going to follow them. We're going to get that immediate reaction. We're going to try and bring this personality and this other side of the players to the fans. Can we grab in any of the footage off the coach's phones because I saw that, you know, these are kind of the neat things that maybe you guys are going to be trying to tell the story, like James Feigen of Sox machine had that out where like, you know, the coaches are using the, you know, their iPhones to give feeling tips. And you guys have the technology, you know, kind of just showing that, hey, the white, you know, the way things that the White Sox are doing business, things are changing. Yeah.

15:27No, absolutely. That's been noticeable here for sure. And we want to show all that. We've got some first person footage coming soon with a, with a player. So keep an eye out for that. So yeah, it's going to be a lot of different angles and a lot of different technology that we want to show people for sure. So the next episode launches right as the season gets underway on March 31st. How does that timing amplify, you know, your storytelling? Yeah. The idea is to obviously like kind of give a, give a great recap of opening day. I think opening day for all baseball fans is just so momentous because spring training is long, the training before that's even longer. And that's kind of like you're the first day of this, kind of the first day of school. So we want to show a lot of what goes into that. I'm personally very excited that the team's opening in Milwaukee this year. It's just a short, you know, road trip for both the team and the fans. So like, I think we're all going to kind of be on that journey together. So that's going to be pretty awesome. So from there, we definitely want to, you know, we want to go, go big on opening day, really show out how everything led up to that.

16:28But it's going to be important for us throughout the series of how does this, how does this extend into the season? What is, what are these moments mean for a competitive white socks team going forward? And that's what we want to try and show every single episode, you know, how is this team keeping up the momentum? What does this mean for white socks fans and the white socks team long term? Is there going to still be some focus though on the farm system because it feels like the next wave is going to be coming through, you know, with Brayton Montgomery and Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith? There is this more. Okay, the theme is we are sticking with the Big League club because, you know, one of the things that I've been observing is it just seems like the theme of the team is internal improvement. Let's get better with the young core that emerged. Let's keep working forward. You know, so I was just wondering, are we going to still be seeing some farm system stuff? Yeah, for sure. It's top to bottom, really. It's, and then including, you know, we have a huge storyline about our new facility in the Dominican Republic as well for recruiting international players. So like, it's, it's really top to bottom. You know, some of that, some of those items will be sprinkled in throughout the year when they make sense, when, you know, when story lines are fully developed, but we're definitely

17:32to be detailing the farm system. We've got a really nice story on Brayton Montgomery that we're developing that we'll be sure to release later in the season. So yeah, that's definitely top of mind for us. All right. And these episodes are going to be rolling out monthly on the white socks YouTube channel and at whitesocks.com. One of the reasons is obviously you need to have the time to tell the story and edit it correct? Yeah, that's correct. I saw somebody commented on the first one to please make these longer and I said, not, we'll try. We'll do our best. But yeah, we want to keep things relevant. So, you know, we're, we're releasing an episode of the Tuesday after opening day and that's going to contain a lot of opening day content because it's going to be top of mind for people. So yeah, it's a mix of kind of longer, more evergreen stories and then immediately what's happened with this white socks team in the last few days last week. All right. So what are you most excited for fans to experience as beyond 162 unfolds over the course of the season? I'm honestly pretty excited about some of the some of the front office views they're going to get to see some of the development, like how deep the conversations with front office office members are going and how kind of on the same page this whole staff is.

18:37I think that's going to be exciting as well as I'm expecting some big moments at the ballpark this year. I really am and I think that we're going to be able to kind of like ride that wave kind of ride that roller coaster. And then, you know, to be honest, storytelling highs are only good with some of the lows. So like we're going to show some of the lows, we're going to set up some redemption stories. We're not going to shy away from those items either. Yeah. I like how that you brought that up because some people might be saying, well, it's produced by the white socks. So I'm going to show good things. But you kind of have to show the good and the bad to make a good story and to be able to acknowledge that, hey, you know, things are, you know, we acknowledge what we're seeing on the field and we want it. Those are good stories to tell. Yeah, absolutely. And I think like in recent memory, Colson Montgomery is the best example of that. Like he's been very open about the lows he experienced. But those only made him, you know, made it more satisfying way to do some highs, both for fans and for him and for the white socks organization. So like I said, you've got to, you got to show some of that as well. All right. So final question. How did you convince the front office to be so open because some front offices, they

19:39want to be sneaky. They want to keep things on the DL. I think it is good that the front office is willing to open up especially with the draft, especially, you know, Chris gets, you know, he's a, he's still a young GM. You kind of want to see how's he going about and how is he developing himself? And I think that this could answer a lot of things. So how did you get that by it? It's really relationships and trust. I think myself and our staff, you know, I mentioned Remi and I also want to mention Connor Smith, who was on the road with Mike Shirley in Texas. It's, it's us being around and being available. You know, there have been times when we've also helped out baseball operations. With the video, like recently, I just like minor league camp kicks off next week. We were able to produce a video that they're going to show all the minor leaguers to hype them up. So it's really like a two way relationship. And then, you know, kind of explain to baseball ops how we can, we can help them, how we can set up some of these highs by showing some occasional lows. So it's just a lot of relationship building and trust building. All right. Well, Brian, I appreciate your time and I'm looking forward to the next episode. Thanks, Todd. I appreciate it. Yeah. Again, it's beyond 162 and all access show presented by rate.

20:42And it's available on YouTube and white sucks.com every month. Well, that wraps up this extra edition of lockdown white socks. I'll be back tomorrow with fan pole Friday and make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel at lockdown white socks or you get your audio podcasts. As this shows available on places such as Apple or Spotify, you can email me with questions and comments to at lockdown white socks at gmail.com. You can also follow the show on X formerly Twitter at lockdown socks. You can also find the show on TikTok at lockdown white socks. And if you never miss an episode, the everyday club is built for you. Get locked down white socks and free plus members only discord access and so much more. Head to lock down white socks dot supercast dot com. That's locked down white socks dot supercast dot com to join the club. For those of you on video, we send you to the first ever 24 seven national lockdown podcast network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure your second listen is locked on fantasy baseball. You gear up for the MLB season. Have a great day and I will talk to you later.

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