E285 Dodgers Pitcher Walker Buehler
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 22 minutes
Words per Minute
214.89763
Summary
Coming up on his third season as a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers, here to talk about the revamped Major League Baseball season and what that looks like, is my friend and all-star pitcher, Mr. Walker Bueller. I ll sit and tell you my stories, shine on me, and I will find a song I ve been singing just for you.
Transcript
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Coming up on his third season as a starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers,
00:00:05.400
here to talk about the revamped Major League Baseball season and what that's going to look
00:00:12.020
like, it's my friend and all-star pitcher, Mr. Walker Bueller.
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I'll sit and tell you my stories, shine on me, and I will find a song I've been singing
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We got a poikenspan, it's like a little brown stick.
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And what can it do, can it jump high or anything?
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Now, how much training goes into training like a hunting dog?
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No, that breeds like all South Carolina, so you send it there, Huntsville maybe.
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Dude, I'd send that little bastard to Japan, dude, have him come back like a little ninja,
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Then they wouldn't know what ducks are looking for.
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But he'd be able to sneak into somebody's house at night, though.
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You'd be like, dang, that's the only dog that can use a sword, man.
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Walker Bueller, you guys are back in training camp.
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Now, what do you guys, what does baseball call it?
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Well, I've heard summer camp, which is an interesting one.
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Like, I'm going to swim in a lake or something.
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But no, I think kind of spring training 2.0 is what they're kind of going with.
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And so, you were saying you had a place out here in L.A. and then you had to get, you
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had to, you were ready to come back for the season, right?
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So, for us, we kind of get six, eight-month leases, just trying to find somewhere for the
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And then I got wrangled into a 10-month lease because I really wanted this place.
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And it was like, this is my last year on my first part of my rookie deal.
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So, I was like, all right, I'll just get the cool one.
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So, no, I got lucky somebody leased it out and I got to find another place.
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And so, the time at home, were you like uncertain up until the last minute?
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Or is like, is the players, like who's communicating with the, excuse me, who's communicating with
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the players like, we're going to do something, we're not going to play, we are, like, is there,
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So, we have, obviously, we have our big players union, right?
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And, of course, I got thrown into being our rep two weeks before baseball ended up coming
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But, I had been kind of just sitting back, chilling, waiting to hear when we were going
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And then, two weeks before everything kind of came together, it was like, hey, Walk, now
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So, a lot of group me's on a set of, hey, what do you guys think?
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It's pretty complicated, all the shit, you know, all the stuff that goes into it that
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And then, it's like, hey, you're right in the middle of it.
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So, it's been a little bit of a learning curve, kind of, huh?
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And, what's going to be different about the season?
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And, you guys are in spring training, summer camp 2.0 right now.
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And, what's going to be different about the season?
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Well, first off, they're telling us that you can only have a certain amount of guys in
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the dugout, which is weird because we all sit in there and hang out and bullshit and
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So, now they're saying, if you're not playing, you have to sit in the stands.
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Except they're going to be us wearing our full uniforms.
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Oh, I was going to say, you should be changing into something more relaxing.
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I told, I talked to Kersh the other day and I told him, they also said we can go home,
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which is like not something that has ever been okay.
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So, I told him, hey, I may never watch you throw live all year.
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I said, I'm just going to sit in the pool and watch you on TV if I can leave.
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Oh, because you wouldn't even have to be there because usually the
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The bullpen will still be out there, but us, we'll just, starting pitchers usually
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sit right there in the dugout and kind of hang out.
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Dan, it's almost like, you think you'll miss that part?
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You know what's weird is in Asia, that's like standard operating procedure for them.
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Like if they're not pitching, they're not there?
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Yeah, they go in during the afternoon and get their stuff done.
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But, we had a Korean guy, Hyunjin Ryu, that he like hated watching.
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James, because he'd never done it in his whole life.
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And then he comes to America and like expected to stay forever.
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That guy would be out of the locker room within five minutes of the last out.
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He's like, I'm not even getting paid for this overtime.
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I went to actually a baseball game one time in Japan.
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I went to one in Japan and I went to one in Cuba once.
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Yeah, I was in this school program and we got to go abroad.
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And one of the things we got to do when we were there was go to baseball.
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Yeah, so I guess there's some sports diplomacy law or something.
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At that time, we were like the only Americans ever allowed in there.
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I don't think you really want to win over there.
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And do you notice anything different about the way that they play or anything?
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Yeah, I will tell you the weirdest thing that they do.
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So you know how if you strike somebody out, they throw the ball around.
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And it just goes once to the third baseman, to the shortstop, to the second baseman,
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The pitcher will get it, throw it back to the shortstop.
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And the games took like 30 minutes longer because they're just flinging the ball around
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I remember one time, actually, because one of the things I was doing when I was traveling,
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I went on this thing called Semester at Sea, and it was like a school that goes on a ship
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and takes you to different countries when you're a student.
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And so we went to Hong Kong, and so I remember just walking around during the day and playing
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And the thing that they do there that was different, after somebody scores, they run it
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You run it up to the top of the key and then start the game again.
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If you threw it up there, they would kind of throw it back, and you had to run it.
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It was like, and it feels weird just to run with a basketball, you know?
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So, but I remember that was like the strangest thing that I remember that was just like
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So with the dugout, say in a regular game, you know, can you go over to the other team's
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If you do that, normally there's a fight involved.
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I don't know if you saw last year, there was a guy named Amir Garrett who pitches for the
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He played basketball at St. John's, so he's this big, tall dude, reliever for the Reds.
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And they were, Reds and Pirates had this whole beef all year.
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He just ran directly at their dugout, one on 30.
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He seemed like he's ready to cause a little trouble, too, man.
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He seems like that girl in the NBA that everybody bangs.
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That's as good as it gets in a baseball brawl there.
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Now, usually it seems like the pitcher is kind of the one that starts the brawl.
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Yeah, it usually boils down to somebody getting hit.
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Now, me being a smaller guy, we do rehearse my moves if anything like that ever happens.
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Well, somebody's going to run at me if I ever get into one of these situations.
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Okay, so yeah, because you'll hit them on accident.
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So you have it kind of rehearsed what to do then?
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Right, because they're going to be bigger than me.
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I either have to slowly creep, wait for the corner infielders to come and get them for me.
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How do you – here, move this a little closer if you don't mind.
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How do you – because your size – how does your size compare to some of the pitchers that are out there?
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Yeah, Kershaw is about two inches taller, but he's about 40 pounds heavier than me.
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Yeah, I'm just – I'm skinny, you know, compared to most guys.
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And does one of your arms weigh more than the other one of your arms or not?
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I would imagine the right one's a little bit bigger just because the extra ligament in there.
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Because you – what, you got an extra ligament put in?
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Yeah, so I tore the one, but they left it and put a new one in there.
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But they cut – so if you go like this and then move your finger up, see that big line?
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I've got it on that one, but not on this one because that's what they cut out and put back in my elbow.
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So, yeah, because I always thought Tommy John was a shoulder.
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Do you know if you – is there a certain like life expectancy on those parts of a pitcher's body where you like, okay, like an almost like an oil change.
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Okay, at three years I got to take it in for this and then at nine years I got to take it in for this.
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Like Kershaw's never had an elbow or anything like that.
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But once you have one, they say you got about eight years with that new ligament, then they'll have to do something to keep it going.
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So, we're hoping it'll, you know, exceed those numbers.
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I started throwing four or five miles an hour harder.
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So, you just sit there and lift and watch baseball and play golf basically.
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And I got to the big leagues really quick after that just because it made the game a lot easier.
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So, because I know you're out of – you're from Kentucky.
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So, you get drafted after your junior season typically.
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And you still come back for your senior season?
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And now, when you get drafted, a lot of times it's like it seems like these guys – where
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But, which for most people would be a really cool thing.
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Your first-round pick, I was the third guy on our team to get drafted.
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So, it was kind of like I was happy, but I was also a little, you know, pissed.
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But do you get a little pissed all the time about a lot of stuff though?
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I was like, one of the only things he ever gave me was my Napoleon complex.
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It's like, this guy has the tallest Napoleon complex we've ever seen.
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So, he works Bank of America, kind of boring commercial lending stuff.
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So, she has her own little law firm there and does all that stuff.
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But she used to tell me my favorite thing was she would tell me a case when I was like
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And I would tell her what I think it was worth.
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Like, yeah, they left this gauze in this woman.
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But I always said that's probably what I would do if I didn't play.
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But I'm kind of glad I don't have to do that shit.
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Did you, did you, tell me a little bit more about some of the new rules that are going
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So, you watch a baseball game, you know, people spit.
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They're saying instead of spitting, we're going to have a wet rag in our back pocket.
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So, we can touch that and then go to the ball because you need a little moisture sometimes.
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So, we'll see how long that one lasts, I think.
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Because someone's going to spit immediately just by nature.
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Is it a penalty if you spit or is it going to be like somebody saying, hey, trying to
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I don't understand why it would be a financial thing.
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I think it's a bacteria in the air, they believe.
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I also know that if you hit a ground ball and more than two guys hit, touch the ball.
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This is going to be like the un-Harlem Globetrotters, man.
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And so, are you concerned about how, and now hold on, there's more rules though too.
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I read one that there is, because I didn't know about these.
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So, but there's one where if you guys, you guys aren't going to bat anymore.
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So, there's two pitchers maybe that can actually really hit.
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So, but now I got to face another actual hitter.
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So, a lot of those guys in, because the American League, they have.
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So, they have a, so American League pitchers, it's harder for them to get a no hitter.
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It's almost like we're not playing baseball anymore.
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So, now also there's a rule if you guys go to extra innings that they're going to put someone
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So, that, they've been doing that in the minor leagues for a long time.
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It'll, JT actually came out and said he wanted a home run derby.
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He said he wants a home run derby to break the extra innings, which I love.
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I think it'd be hysterical at the end of the game.
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And that's what the extra innings really are, because everybody wants to hit the walk
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So, everyone just tries to hit home runs all the time in the extra innings anyway.
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So, they've done this rule with the guy on second forever in the minor leagues trying
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And now we're going to give it a go in the big leagues, I guess.
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I luckily have never, like, had to start an inning that I didn't let somebody on base
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There'll be pressure right out the gate, because that guy's already there.
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And then there's, like, a million different strategies.
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You know, you can bunt or whatever to try and get him to third so he can score easier.
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It might be a way for a pitcher to finally get back in the batter's box, though, because
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But even if your team doesn't get to bat first, you still get the bottom of that inning,
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Yeah, because that almost seems like, man, you could easily get the.
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Yeah, maybe it'll make it a little more exciting.
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It might, because sometimes these games just go on forever.
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We had that World Series game two years ago that went 17 innings.
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I was at the ballpark longer not playing than I was.
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Shit, I got home at, like, three in the morning that day.
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And when the game starts, like, so whenever it gets into late innings, guys are just trying
00:18:08.780
Because it's just a beautiful thing to see on this 14th?
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It's very funny how it happens in the extra innings.
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Like, everyone either punches out or hits the homer, you know?
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So you can't go over to the dugout for anything.
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Can you run over there and tell him something if he's on the team?
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You know, I don't know if they're going to let us have phones, walkie-talkies.
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But even before that, like, say last season, you wanted to tell a buddy something.
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And, you know, there's certain times where it's okay to, like, go say what's up.
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So, like, in batting practice and stuff, sometimes we'll linger out there and talk to the other
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But, you know, after a certain point, there's nothing.
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We got a question right here from a young fellow right here.
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And this might be Crone Gracie right here, this guy.
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How do you feel about the whole sign-sealing scandal that's been going on?
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And do you think that it's going to affect in any way or shape the way that you guys played
00:19:34.640
So what's interesting is they were doing all this shit live.
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So they'd know what was coming before it even came.
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A lot of guys, you know, we do scouting and things like that, that you can push a limit
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and we all kind of know what that limit is and they were past it.
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They weren't doing anything near what Houston was doing.
00:20:00.100
They were knowing what the signs were and then finding ways to communicate.
00:20:08.680
Or do you think a lot of that's been exaggerated?
00:20:09.860
No, I mean, the videos seemed to really say that that was what was going on.
00:20:16.100
I had been in the big leagues, but I didn't make the postseason roster, so I wasn't there.
00:20:20.560
But from everything I had heard, I think it was pretty legit that they were doing something.
00:20:25.820
And so say if something like that is going on, who knows about it on the team?
00:20:30.840
Yeah, that kind of stuff is obviously going to be relayed to the pitchers and catchers more
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That stuff kind of traveled like wildfire, I guess.
00:20:43.260
Didn't they say possibly wearing buzzers, too, even?
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But I think if you get caught for one thing, everybody can say you could do a million different things.
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And it's kind of hard not to at least think it could happen.
00:20:59.940
Yeah, because once you start also taking advantage of the rules or bending them,
00:21:03.160
once you get one way to do it, it's easy to be like, oh, I can also probably do this way.
00:21:07.800
And Jose Otuve, after he hit that walk-off, and they all rushed him at the mound.
00:21:13.080
At the time, I was like, oh, that was adorable because he's like, don't rip my shirt.
00:21:17.380
But it seemed like after, it was because they would uncover his buzzer.
00:21:29.020
Obviously, we weren't in the locker room or in their locker room and knew what was going on.
00:21:32.420
But if something like that was going on on a team, right?
00:21:35.640
Say it's going on, even on your, it was going on, and just as a hypothetical, on a team that you're on,
00:21:40.880
wouldn't, would somebody on the team, is there a code in there where it's like, this is how we do it,
00:21:46.100
it's just, this is our, how we do it this year?
00:21:49.740
Or if that person raised their hand, you'd be like, dude, chill the fuck out, man.
00:21:52.240
Yeah, there's some sort of, there's some sort of like clubhouse security, I guess,
00:21:56.400
where everything kind of, a lot of stuff stays in there and shouldn't go anywhere.
00:22:00.200
So, like if somebody on your own team told on you about it, like, there'd be problems, I think.
00:22:08.200
But yeah, I think if it's helping you win, I think everyone's going to know on the team
00:22:11.380
and everyone's going to be involved personally.
00:22:19.740
Um, do you, do pitchers get, are you, when you go out there to play, um, and last year
00:22:31.200
Um, when you go out there to play, are you playing, okay, I'm going to beat this other
00:22:36.840
Like, what is the pitcher's kind of motivation?
00:22:39.560
Or maybe not even motivation, but who is he, who are you against?
00:22:44.760
Yeah, I think, I think it's the other team is the big thing.
00:22:48.780
But when you face guys that you've, like, grown up watching, there's a little bit of
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like, oh, shit, like, I'm facing Max Scherzer today.
00:22:57.140
And I think for me, it was always like, oh, I get to hit against him and just see what
00:23:03.160
But no, I think most of the time it's, it's the other team and the pitcher's kind of secondary
00:23:09.100
Okay, so, so when you're pitching then, if it's a certain pitcher up there, then you
00:23:15.480
Like for you, it'd be, I think like for you, it'd be like, oh, I'm getting more views on
00:23:19.660
But if we had the same guest who's did more, it would be more important.
00:23:29.680
And if a pitcher gets up there, so it's kind of cool.
00:23:32.560
Say if there's a, if there's a great pitcher, it's kind of cool for you to be able to bat
00:23:38.020
Yeah, because you've watched it on ESPN your whole life, right?
00:23:40.280
So you're like, oh, like, why can't these guys hit this?
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And then he throws you that one pitch and you're like, oh, now I get why nobody can hit
00:23:51.400
Well, he threw me a fastball and the first one looked, wasn't super hard.
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And then a couple more pitches, he threw me another fastball and I didn't even see it.
00:23:58.640
I guess he just kind of like laid off one and then threw one hard and I was like, oh my God.
00:24:03.560
I think I was like laughing, walking off, just like I have no chance.
00:24:09.360
Here we got a kid right here that has a question.
00:24:18.420
When I'm watching baseball, there's a couple guys I kind of key in on wanting to watch.
00:24:23.680
Guys like yourself, Jack Flaherty, Max Scherzer, guys that are just bulldogs on the mound.
00:24:29.840
I was wondering if Walker had any guys that he likes to watch, whether it's starting pitchers
00:24:34.940
or position players, but guys that he just enjoys watching them do their thing out there
00:24:56.420
Yeah, I don't really know, man, but it's just people like it.
00:25:00.280
And now it's just become the sign off on the end.
00:25:08.080
Hey, our trainers get so mad because I just watch Instagram videos all the time while
00:25:12.660
they're working on my arm and they just hear all these Theo-farer videos.
00:25:18.040
They're like, oh, man, Walker's not going to have a good year.
00:25:20.620
One of my first days back, like a couple of days ago, I was watching shit and they're
00:25:29.700
Well, I think the first time you said you heard about me, we were talking about Bryce
00:25:38.080
I'd have been combing my hair with cocaine, bro, if I'd have had that kind of money.
00:25:46.620
We always get these new interns and I show them there's one.
00:25:50.020
You talk about eating pineapple and somebody's grandmother or something.
00:25:54.040
That's like the first thing I always show these interns.
00:26:06.080
They're like, man, I'm going to go get a job with the Marlins after this.
00:26:13.740
But no, one of the guys you mentioned, Jack Flaherty, is a buddy of mine and we've pitched
00:26:17.340
against each other twice and back in the Meyer Leagues, too.
00:26:20.160
So he's probably one of my favorite guys to watch now.
00:26:29.400
They got three guys in the big leagues now that were all high school teammates, which
00:26:32.780
Oh, I think O.J. Simpson teaches PE over there.
00:26:41.860
So is it easier as a pitcher when you get up there to bat against a pitcher?
00:26:45.900
It would seem like, oh, well, you know what they're doing.
00:26:49.500
You know, I think my career batting average is under 100.
00:26:52.780
So I don't think I have any way to say any of it's easy.
00:27:00.180
But, you know, it was part of the game, I guess.
00:27:03.560
Do you feel sad even walking up there sometimes with a bat?
00:27:09.580
Because there's a viewer, you're like, oh, man, this scene's real sad.
00:27:14.020
It's almost like when they shoot Bambi in that movie.
00:27:17.560
Kind of feel like a gladiator, but you're like the guy without a sword.
00:27:22.160
Oh, let's see what this guy with the notebook is going to do over here.
00:27:25.700
Damn, and you can't act like you don't have a chance.
00:27:28.300
So a real hitter walks up and they're like, all right, I'm trying to hit this ball hard.
00:27:33.260
I just walk up there and try and see as many pitches as I can.
00:27:35.840
Like, my goal is to foul balls off most of the time.
00:27:42.060
If you see six pitches, you've done like a really good thing.
00:27:45.280
Oh, yeah, instead of just three right down the middle.
00:27:50.700
And so you can't tell, though, when a pitch leaves a pitcher.
00:27:54.860
Are you then not a pitcher once you're batting?
00:27:56.760
I mean, I know that technically you're still a pitcher and you're batting,
00:27:59.660
but is there any insight as to what's going to happen each time?
00:28:04.120
I was actually a really bad hitter in high school because I would like give these other guys credit for like,
00:28:08.940
I'd be like, all right, if that was me pitching, I'm like looking for this pitch,
00:28:11.700
like I would do this and they would never do it.
00:28:23.380
And so I'd be like, oh, I'd throw a slider right here.
00:28:25.360
And they just throw me a fastball right down the middle.
00:28:27.720
But it was just because they were a bad pitcher.
00:28:38.880
Man, I remember the first time I ever got up to bat, man.
00:28:44.840
I mean, I remember one time they put us out there.
00:28:46.400
I remember eating psychedelic mushrooms out in the outfield.
00:28:51.160
Dude, we had right and double right on our team.
00:28:56.260
And one time I ended up working at the snowball stand for two innings, dude.
00:29:10.520
And then I had an appendectomy in my appendix burst when I was a kid, lapping the bases.
00:29:24.620
This was back when you could still call kids an MF-er.
00:29:34.460
And he came and dragged me by both my arms from third to home, dude.
00:29:38.480
And we got the run, but it was like, dude, who gave a shit?
00:29:44.620
Yeah, it just meant you didn't get slaughter rolled.
00:29:47.000
Everybody there was a Vietnam veteran, dude, getting sunburned, waiting for their check.
00:29:53.500
So, any other expectations you have going into the season?
00:30:08.080
That'd be the biggest thing in the playoffs and all that.
00:30:10.200
But with all the new COVIDs around, I don't know what's going to happen.
00:30:19.580
So, what they did, normally we play every National League team.
00:30:22.420
So, we go to the East Coast, back and forth all the time, which sucks because we get screwed on the time stuff.
00:30:27.900
But we're only playing, I think we're only playing, like, the NL West, so our division, and the AL West.
00:30:34.820
So, we're kind of staying out here, which will be nice, travel-wise.
00:30:39.380
Instead of six-hour flights to Washington and shit like that.
00:30:46.820
What do you think, like, is that going to, is everybody still going to care about the game as much?
00:30:53.200
It takes some of the energy out of it, for sure.
00:30:55.320
You know, like, I think a lot of teams are talking about buying crowd noise or pumping crowd noise in there.
00:31:02.820
I saw in Korea, they're using sex dolls in the stands.
00:31:07.940
Some teams I heard are, you can pay 50 bucks and get a cardboard cutout of yourself, put it in the stadium.
00:31:15.980
So, you look up, it's just all these cardboard.
00:31:20.500
No, but they're doing some wacky stuff, especially over there in Korea.
00:31:25.060
Yes, those were sex dolls cheering on a South Korean soccer team.
00:31:43.720
Over the weekend, mannequins were placed in the stands for a match against Wangju FC.
00:31:49.680
Someone's social media already had the telltale signs.
00:32:00.620
I love the idea of having somebody be able to send a picture in or get themselves put in the stands.
00:32:05.340
Like, for a certain, like, you could do that as a gift to somebody.
00:32:10.360
Yeah, happy birthday with three in Tondra Stadium.
00:32:14.960
And maybe somebody that doesn't want to be there.
00:32:45.940
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00:36:11.640
I am using Progressive and I know that I'm paying too much.
00:36:15.240
So I'm going to check it out and see what I can do.
00:36:23.420
So yeah, I'm trying to think of anything else that will be different out there.
00:36:25.620
So there'll be no snacks because nobody's buying them.
00:36:29.480
It's just going to be solely to make sure that they have a season probably to keep the
00:36:38.960
You know, I think one of the big things has been the owners come out and saying,
00:36:42.200
we're not going to make, we're not making any money.
00:36:46.500
So these owners, yeah, they're not bringing in cash, right?
00:36:49.500
But they can sell this thing for X amount more every year that they keep it.
00:36:53.280
So, you know, we're excited to get back out there and play, obviously.
00:36:57.460
And, you know, at least people can watch us at home, which will be fine.
00:37:03.760
We're going to get to do, we're going to get to do something.
00:37:06.920
There's a few guys that have opted out of it, which I think, you know, if you have
00:37:10.400
family and stuff, I think that's a, that's a decision that you have to really like
00:37:21.140
And he's not just Latino, he's specifically Mexican.
00:37:23.600
And he works at this, he's like the manager at this cafe that I go to all the time in
00:37:41.700
Every time I go in there, he doesn't even say your name anymore.
00:37:58.500
But do you think that chip, where does that chip on your shoulder come from, man?
00:38:00.980
Because you definitely like, you have an intensity about you that I think, like when
00:38:05.640
I first met you, I was like, wow, just because of your size.
00:38:08.140
And I mean, you're, you know, you're bigger than me, than I am.
00:38:10.480
But, and this was the same way when I met Drew Brees.
00:38:12.340
I was like, wow, I, this is not exactly who I expected.
00:38:15.680
Maybe if I thought these days of a major league pitcher.
00:38:18.800
I think, as I said earlier, Napoleon complex is for sure part of it.
00:38:28.280
I think when I played baseball, I was like, oh, I'm the smallest one, but I'm not, I don't
00:38:33.940
And so I think you take that little fear and turn it somewhere else so you can kind
00:38:40.100
And as the stakes get higher, I think it just amplifies it for me, at least, where I get
00:38:49.940
When you're pitching, do you, is there a pitch?
00:38:53.020
Like, does the catcher, who gets to pick what pitch you throw, the catcher or you?
00:38:57.120
So the catcher gives, the way they explain it, catcher gives you a suggestion and you agree
00:39:03.700
We have a whole big meeting that's like 30 minutes long, going over every hitter and what
00:39:10.020
So we kind of know, like, at least out there, I don't have to think as much.
00:39:14.820
Now they kind of just remind me and then I throw that pitch.
00:39:18.540
But my rookie year, we had a really veteran catcher, so couldn't really shake him off.
00:39:26.540
So if you had Mike Piazza or something sitting out there, you'd probably go along with what
00:39:33.100
And you, and knows, the assumption is that he's been there longer, so he knows what you're
00:39:39.420
Now, if you throw a pitch that they choose, then it's also kind of nice for you because then,
00:39:43.000
if it gets rocked, you have somebody to blame it on.
00:39:46.000
You know, it's, that's an, the worst possible scenario is you shake the guy off three times
00:39:50.380
and throw it and then he hits a homer because then the catcher just says, listen, dumbass,
00:40:01.100
So that, so that relationship between catcher, pitcher and catcher is pretty, it's pretty severe.
00:40:08.320
You know, you have to be, or else you're going to freak yourself out the whole time.
00:40:12.340
And do you have, does every pitcher have every same pitch as everybody else?
00:40:17.860
No, everybody's got different, different stuff.
00:40:19.940
And even we all call certain things the same thing and they act completely different.
00:40:28.640
Like it just, oh, I throw a slider and mine moves like this and there's moves like this.
00:40:41.200
It's just, they're all different little variations.
00:40:47.480
Oh, he tried to send me a unicorn egg one time.
00:40:52.460
He definitely, dude, he pulled a seashell out of his hair one time and I listened to it,
00:40:56.660
And it told me the future whole story, but then he made me give it back to him.
00:41:04.420
We were in Phoenix eating breakfast or lunch or something.
00:41:12.780
I tanked up on all his boys dressed exactly the same.
00:41:22.000
I think he has a flower on his glove, which is one of a kind, dude.
00:41:25.520
He told me he was trying to, he told me his glove was vegan.
00:41:37.720
How much does, some of the pictures I noticed, like even Mike's one of the guys who their
00:41:42.840
How much are you allowed to do there before it's like considered a type of trickery or something?
00:41:48.880
Oh, if there's nobody on, nobody on base, you can basically do whatever you want.
00:41:59.640
So that's when you're creating deception in an illegal fashion.
00:42:09.360
So if you got a man on third and balk, they score.
00:42:17.300
Oh, everybody gets a free base if you want, no matter where they are.
00:42:26.060
I was in eighth grade going to watch our varsity team.
00:42:28.720
I was like so excited they lost on a walk-off balk.
00:42:41.000
Like what do you have to do when you're on the mound?
00:42:43.240
So when you get your sign and you come, you have to stop.
00:42:46.360
So your body has to fully stop before you pitch.
00:42:48.380
So when you're young, you just kind of get it and throw it.
00:43:00.620
You have to like disengage the rubber, all these kind of boring rules.
00:43:05.660
And then like you balk a lot when you're young because you don't know what you can and can't do.
00:43:11.800
Yeah, probably once you get called for it, then you start to really, you're like, okay, I've got a malfunction here.
00:43:16.240
The weirdest one I've seen guy just drop the ball on the mound.
00:43:18.460
If you drop the ball while you're touching the rubber, it's a balk.
00:43:23.260
I've seen a guy bringing it down, and he hit his leg, dropped it, balk.
00:43:28.480
Would you ever, how much pride is in it where, say if you're not doing well out there, you're just having a game where it's not going your way.
00:43:39.160
So there is a point in every game where it's all about preservation of the bullpen.
00:43:44.580
If you're getting crushed, you just try and like survive as long as you can.
00:43:49.200
Oh, because you want that to save the bullpen for other games.
00:43:55.440
So I got killed in Atlanta my first playoff start.
00:43:59.820
Second inning, I walked a pitcher to force a run in, which is as embarrassing as it gets.
00:44:09.340
I'm like, all right, throw three straight balls.
00:44:13.160
People send it to me just for fun all the time.
00:44:22.120
And at that point, I ended up throwing three more innings, gave up no more runs.
00:44:27.860
But those three innings, save three innings that one of our other guys didn't have to throw.
00:44:31.560
So it also gives you a little bit of redemption then.
00:44:34.080
Yeah, a little bit of like, listen, I screwed this one up pretty good, but at least I kind of.
00:44:39.740
It'd be like if you bombed, if you went out and bombed, which I'm sure happens, at least you finish your 10 minutes.
00:44:45.940
Instead of, oh, shit, at minute two, this is going really poorly.
00:44:49.360
So now my backup, now the guy after me has to do my eight minutes as well as his 10.
00:44:53.300
Yeah, so you want to try and at least just get there, even if it sucks for you.
00:44:59.540
Like, is the feeling when you're out there like, like, is it once it, if it starts going
00:45:06.440
bad, like say in that game, okay, so it starts going, it started off bad, but you were able
00:45:11.580
Like, does it feel like you lose your confidence?
00:45:16.640
It just feels like everyone in the world's staring at you and telling you that you suck,
00:45:20.760
you know, and even though you don't, and you know, you don't, you know, you go, you go
00:45:24.620
home after that game, you obviously don't get food because there's too many people that could
00:45:30.480
So you get room service and whoever brings a room service, they'll smile and you think
00:45:42.180
You're like, oh, that guy fucking, he must be a, he must be a Cardinals fan.
00:45:46.000
You also sometimes will change your whole diet for about 12 hours after you get beat
00:45:54.820
Because you think I might have, I fucked something up along the way that, that led me to get killed.
00:46:01.840
Like you're like, how do I, because you've been doing well and how do I solve this?
00:46:07.700
Karmic, a lot of karma elements in baseball, the whole superstition and all that stuff.
00:46:11.940
Now what's harder than, so say you're having a tough game.
00:46:14.540
And you, you know, you're having a tough game and you know, you feel everybody staring at
00:46:19.460
Is it better when you're in that dugout then when the team's batting, at least, is there
00:46:24.920
Because it's like, that's when your head's going nuts.
00:46:27.340
When you're out there, it's kind of like, all right, fastball, we'll try this one again.
00:46:32.980
When you're sitting in the dugout and you're just like looking around, everybody's, we're
00:46:40.600
When the camera shows the pitcher who's losing, he's always by himself over there and he's
00:46:50.540
So you have a contract now and then what happens?
00:46:54.260
So how long does a rookie contract, is there a year, amount of years to it?
00:46:57.160
Yeah, so you become a free agent after six full service years.
00:47:00.620
It's just, you know, stuff I'm just curious about.
00:47:02.660
I think it's interesting because I think people probably know the least about baseball contracts
00:47:07.440
I'm like, when somebody, Zion Williamson gets drafted, everyone knows how long he has to
00:47:13.000
be a Pelican and what he's going to make and his shoe, nobody knows shit about us.
00:47:17.300
We have to play six full seasons in the big leagues.
00:47:24.220
So if you don't, whatever six times 172 is, you have to have that many days in the big
00:47:43.860
Then it's you versus the team and an arbitrator and your agent.
00:47:50.500
So the team will sit there and tell you to your face how bad you suck.
00:47:55.800
And then the guy in the middle will tell you, here's where we're at.
00:48:01.020
So after this next year, you'll be able to go in arbitration.
00:48:06.380
In some ways, that third season is a big season for guys because they want to do well
00:48:13.200
So this was like the worst season you could get hurt.
00:48:15.860
That's why I mean, Corey Seager got hurt in its third year.
00:48:18.740
He probably made half of what he would have if he would have played healthy.
00:48:23.240
But also, it's interesting because this season counts as a season, right?
00:48:27.800
So I wonder if they'll really put as much value.
00:48:30.760
It's almost like, well, they still just go off of last year.
00:48:33.860
Because if you do great, they can say, well, you wouldn't have sustained that.
00:48:37.960
And if you do terrible, they can say, you were terrible.
00:48:41.480
But our argument's like, well, I wouldn't have sustained the shitty part either, you
00:48:46.560
You're going to say, they're going to say one thing and you're going to say.
00:48:54.760
So you go up against a guy, like, are there pitchers where you're like, okay, I'm excited
00:49:00.980
Like, do you feel like it's, this is going to be a real pitcher's game?
00:49:05.280
Do you feel, well, you don't ever feel like any of them are going to be hitter's games
00:49:07.760
because you don't want that team to be hitting.
00:49:13.040
Jack Flaherty and I have had two good, we both did really well against each other.
00:49:18.740
So, um, Scherzer and I had a couple of good games, a pitch against Garrett Cole, which
00:49:25.880
That's when it, that's when it really is like when the matchups are really like, okay.
00:49:29.140
Because it's all over social media and it's like, we're the only 100% starter, right?
00:49:34.060
Like the manager could flip the lineup if they felt like it.
00:49:37.420
But the media knows it's Bueller versus Strasburg tomorrow and that's everywhere.
00:49:51.920
Uh, my question for Walker is who's the hardest hitter you've had to face so far?
00:49:59.680
See, I like this black Charlie Blackman is a guy that has the best numbers off me in
00:50:06.820
I don't know if you want to pull up a picture of him.
00:50:08.200
Yeah, pull up a picture of a little Chucky Blackman right there, dude.
00:50:21.980
See, I think if he threw a little beard, we could get a...
00:50:31.100
There was, he looks like that UFC fighter that won this past week too.
00:50:41.140
I've really gotten into that stuff since this quarantine.
00:50:45.600
That's what I was saying about, that's what I was thinking about you guys the other day
00:50:48.620
I was like, man, if you guys get, just coming back and being there for people right now
00:50:52.920
is going to be huge because people want to watch anything.
00:50:58.520
I mean, you can't even get, there's no fresh television shows because everything, they're
00:51:01.700
putting on shitty television shows they weren't even going to pick up.
00:51:06.940
They have like, you know, it's getting real bad.
00:51:09.860
It's just people just sharing rumors as quick as they can.
00:51:12.860
I mean, it's getting really, really limited out there.
00:51:14.960
They're like a cross between cops and cheaters.
00:51:20.440
I think that was a little before my time, to be honest with you.
00:51:24.660
I remember watching it when I was like 12 and being like, this is so old.
00:51:29.560
Dude, the best cheaters was when the guy busts somebody on a boat and the guy stabs him on
00:51:37.960
Dude, I met that guy at a wine function out here in LA, dude.
00:51:41.860
He was like, yeah, man, that was a tough episode.
00:51:52.920
Dude, I met, yeah, let me see if we can see that stabbing.
00:51:59.760
Yeah, I'm back up off my boat, you know what I'm saying?
00:52:02.200
His quality looks like my sixth birthday home video.
00:52:15.500
He's a little, he seemed like a little bitch, too, Joey Ducker, so I think he kind of went off.
00:52:35.640
Now, there's off-season stuff you can't do, right?
00:52:40.760
Yeah, I mean, I think kind of the obvious stuff, skiing, stuff like that we can't do.
00:52:49.080
But if you break your collarbone, your contract's gone.
00:52:57.500
Some people have some weird stuff in their contract.
00:52:59.580
I've heard guys aren't allowed to wear flip-flops, you know, because they have bad ankles.
00:53:07.800
So, but yeah, golf is even supposed to not be allowed any tubing, skiing, snowboarding,
00:53:16.020
So do you feel limited everywhere you're a contract or no?
00:53:18.120
You just kind of know that those are the rules of the business I'm in.
00:53:25.840
So, yeah, I mean, I'd like to go ski, but you just can't do it.
00:53:33.000
Do you think you guys will have the opportunity to bring in new fans with the games starting up?
00:53:37.800
They said that at UFC, I was listening the other day, I think it was on Chael Sonnen's
00:53:42.600
podcast, but that they brought in 100,000 new fans, 100,000 people watched UFC for the
00:53:52.660
That wouldn't, that doesn't surprise me at all.
00:53:54.540
You know, I think they did a really good job actually being the first, you know what
00:53:57.600
I think they probably have the most controllable environment though, because you have the least
00:54:03.820
So I think they did a good job of like taking advantage of it.
00:54:06.580
Um, I think more so our fans are like going to be happy that we're back, I guess.
00:54:11.540
Um, but yeah, I mean, hopefully everybody watches and we're getting back before the NBA, so maybe
00:54:17.280
get some of those fans a little bit waiting for, for them to come back.
00:54:24.720
You know, what will be interesting is they should have more focus and information maybe about
00:54:29.340
you guys, the players, because they're not going to be focusing on the stand.
00:54:33.380
You know, there won't be anything really to look at in the stands.
00:54:36.200
So they're going to have, yeah, they're probably have an extra 20 minutes a game to fill, you
00:54:42.180
I've seen some good fights in San Francisco, by the way.
00:54:48.560
Dude, I was, I'll tell you, this is before you were a Dodger, I got, I was high on cocaine.
00:54:53.300
This is when I was using drugs and I was high on cocaine at the Dodgers game, dude.
00:55:01.320
And the nosebleeds, I think are also a gang that's up there as well.
00:55:04.500
There's literally a gang called the nosebleeds up there.
00:55:07.580
And there was one dude, man, I was so sketched out.
00:55:09.840
There's one guy the whole time is threatening to kill me, bro.
00:55:15.120
And he keeps saying, man, I'm going to fucking kill you, papa.
00:55:17.520
And then there's another guy, bro, who kept trying to sell me more drugs.
00:55:25.400
And there might not even really have been anybody there.
00:55:36.860
And then every time there was a foul ball or any time the ball hit the bat,
00:55:47.320
You guys play at one of the biggest stadiums, don't you?
00:55:50.100
That was the one thing I remember the most from my debut was, like,
00:55:54.700
You know, you run out there and you're all tired from running.
00:55:57.520
And adrenaline, you look up in this stadium, seems like it goes on forever.
00:56:01.820
And you just, it's so weird to me how big they built these things.
00:56:07.060
Here we got a young fellow right here, a Twins fan.
00:56:16.120
This is Noah from North Dakota, Minnesota's neighbor.
00:56:19.220
If you didn't know North Dakota is a state, just a quick question regarding a specific MLB stadium.
00:56:27.300
I know that you play the Rockies often, being in the NL West, and you had 16Ks on them last year at home.
00:56:33.700
But does your approach change when you're going into Coors Field to pitch in Colorado due to that high altitude?
00:56:58.340
So, you know, I think every time I pitch there, I just come up with some new thing in my head that makes me think I can survive.
00:57:08.680
So that's not the kind of place you think I can probably get a no-hitter out here.
00:57:13.300
Hideo Nomo, who was a big Asian pitcher for us back in the day,
00:57:16.880
he threw a no-hitter there, though, which I think is maybe the most impressive thing of all time.
00:57:24.740
You know, I almost feel bad for some of the pitchers that got drafted there
00:57:27.820
because you're not really, like, playing on the same game that we are because it's just –
00:57:37.600
So the ball can't – like, as the ball goes, it'll move certain ways because it gets air and you're spinning it
00:57:44.380
There, the air is thinner, so it doesn't pull it the same way.
00:57:47.160
So if there's less moisture in the air, then there's less for the ball to grip on while it's in the air?
00:57:50.940
Yeah, so you can't do the same things that you normally do or you have to try and aim certain –
00:57:55.660
you know, all season you throw one pitch the same way to the same area
00:57:58.480
and it pretty much does what you think it's going to do in there.
00:58:01.300
It'll end up half – moving half as much and right in the middle and they just kill you.
00:58:05.900
Now, what about – how do you pitch – so say you want a guy to hit a ball, like a ground ball.
00:58:10.540
Like, how do you pouty – how do you pitch to him?
00:58:14.620
Higher means ground balls – or higher means fly balls, lower means ground balls typically.
00:58:19.880
Now, obviously, the scouting and all that stuff and kind of the research that we do.
00:58:23.860
So certain guys really can hit the ball low and whatever.
00:58:32.440
Do you guys – is there a lot of like – do you feel like there's good team unity,
00:58:36.760
as much team unity as you've gone up through the ranks?
00:58:41.840
Yeah, so you play in the minor leagues and that's like the toughest thing to actually have like a cohesive team
00:58:45.840
because every week that team has two or three guys that they didn't the week before.
00:58:51.180
And everyone's – you've got to be super selfish in the minor leagues.
00:58:53.960
You try and not act like it, but 95% of your thoughts are about how good you're doing.
00:58:59.440
Once you get to the big leagues, it's about winning.
00:59:01.500
So, yeah, in the big leagues is where you kind of come together more.
00:59:06.360
But at the same time, you've got guys that are making crazy money
00:59:08.720
and living a completely different life than you.
00:59:11.000
And if you're making the league minimum, some guys are making $25, $30 million.
00:59:18.600
The other thing I think that's hard about LA is none of us live near each other.
00:59:22.960
I think if you play in Cincinnati, you're going to live in two or three little neighborhoods.
00:59:27.460
And you can go have a barbecue on off days and stuff like that.
00:59:31.000
But for me to go to Kirsch's house from Marina last year, it was an hour and a half.
00:59:35.520
So it's hard to do that kind of stuff, I think.
00:59:37.340
But I think inside of our clubhouse, all of us are pretty close.
00:59:41.160
Is there a sport that you guys compete in off outside of baseball?
00:59:47.860
I've kind of been swimming in some other waters.
00:59:51.160
Because I'm playing against guys that are making real, real money.
00:59:53.660
And not that we don't make enough money, but comparatively.
00:59:57.340
So you can just get bullied and lose all your money.
01:00:00.080
Oh, so you guys would meet up and do some poker games or stuff like that?
01:00:03.860
That's like the big past the time on the flights thing is we play poker.
01:00:08.840
Do you all play rummy, gin, anything like that?
01:00:10.900
We used to play a game called 357, which is my personal favorite.
01:00:14.780
And what screwed me is I won a lot of money playing that game.
01:00:19.060
And so then I had to stay in the poker games or else I was like the dickhead that won the money and then bounced.
01:00:29.520
So we're playing this other game and then this was my rookie year.
01:00:32.520
We got some new guys on the team at the trade deadline.
01:00:42.700
But I'd rather lose it than be the guy that ran away, I think.
01:00:47.980
What were some other things going into those minor leagues and being in that vibe where it's like, are there things that you miss about that a little bit?
01:00:56.380
I mean, you used to share like a two-bedroom apartment with four guys, which is like, it sucks.
01:01:02.200
It's not perfect, but it's kind of fun at times, I think.
01:01:06.020
You know, everybody rolls to the field together, goes home, kind of.
01:01:09.500
Yeah, it's fun to have people to clown around with.
01:01:11.200
Yeah, just mess around with after games, especially because you're, first on the minor leagues, you're not making no money.
01:01:20.540
So you're making, you know, you're talking taxes.
01:01:23.140
You're getting like $400 maybe every two weeks.
01:01:27.840
And that's only for seven months of the year, six months of the year.
01:01:35.180
So you almost, a lot of those guys have to have somebody to bankroll them almost or you got to really share places.
01:01:39.720
Yeah, I know a lot of guys that get jobs all offseason and then try and train and whatever.
01:01:43.940
But that's where the luxury of being picked high in the draft is, is you get this little bonus that, you know, kind of sets you up to where you can live and just train and get ready to get to the big leagues, I think.
01:01:54.360
What do you think the dismantling of that, like this season they didn't have it, you know, they didn't have the minors.
01:02:00.860
I'm not sure if those guys are still getting paid.
01:02:05.100
But would that be tough to say, like, if you'd have gone through that?
01:02:10.320
Do you think you still would have been pitching a year later?
01:02:14.020
As I said, I was really fortunate to have kind of a little nest egg to fall back on.
01:02:21.640
And the other thing that sucks about that is there's no clue if and when they were going to play.
01:02:25.940
So it's not like you can walk into Lululemon and get a job and say, hey, you know, I can be here for a year.
01:02:34.200
You have to say, listen, I'd love to have a job, but I may be gone in three weeks, you know?
01:02:39.600
So that's where it was pretty financially tough.
01:02:42.500
And David Price, who we just traded for from the Red Sox, came out and really gave all of our minor leaguers like $1,000 in June, which is just super, super cool.
01:02:53.220
Just to kind of help guys try and stay afloat during this whole thing.
01:02:56.860
Yeah, and just that support that other people are thinking about you, like, hey, you know, somebody else is thinking about what's going on with you.
01:03:03.560
We just got him, and he still did that for our guys, which I think was really, really cool.
01:03:09.580
And, you know, some teams have committed to paying that stipend for a while.
01:03:14.400
But, you know, I don't think minor league baseball will ever look the same because you're thinking, like, we have a low-A team in the city I'm from in Lexington that was on the list to be chopped before all this, let alone after.
01:03:28.080
But, you know, these tiny, small towns, there's just not that many people.
01:03:32.020
So it's hard to own a baseball team in rural Iowa, you know.
01:03:37.280
But it's a bummer, too, because then the kids that were going to go there and watch the game who were then like, oh, I want to play this.
01:03:42.180
You know, who are finding that, you know, filling that space in their head where inspiration lives aren't going to have that.
01:03:49.920
And, you know, you're not going to have, I don't think you'll have as many kind of Cinderella stories.
01:03:53.740
Like you talked about Mike Piazza, he was like the last round pick or whatever.
01:03:58.580
You know, I read his book, I forget what round it was, but back then they had like 70 rounds.
01:04:04.180
Yeah, the last slice of Piazza, I think, was his book.
01:04:09.960
But obviously we tell some pretty bad jokes in here.
01:04:14.580
Oh, man, I was going to ask you about, we were just talking about the minor leagues.
01:04:23.660
Yeah, so we did our second one this past year, which was pretty cool.
01:04:26.900
The first year, I had an uncle pass away from kind of long-term complications of child pediatric cancer.
01:04:45.640
But, you know, back in the 80s, 70s, they didn't know what they were doing.
01:04:54.460
That was the original like Facebook share, dude.
01:04:56.180
They would put a picture on a jar and set it at the pizza place and raise money.
01:05:08.660
And then Rich Hill, who played with us the last couple of years, started a foundation called Field of Jeans,
01:05:17.980
He and I ended up becoming really close and talked about he had lost a son, which was fucking devastating, obviously.
01:05:24.000
We, you know, he told our whole team the story.
01:05:26.280
And so this past year we did it for his new initiative and raised $100,000 this year, which was really, really cool.
01:05:33.260
So, yeah, I mean, you know, I think everyone does a golf tournament, you know, but it is really fun and cool.
01:05:45.160
That's brave of him to even want to, you know, memorialize that.
01:05:49.940
I think even memorializing things can be kind of brave because you have to go through some of the feelings and stuff.
01:05:54.260
You know, he was super emotional about it, obviously, and, you know, spoke at the event and stuff.
01:05:59.880
And people were just like, all right, we're buying all this shit.
01:06:03.600
And obviously, you know, the city of Lexington, being from there, it's pretty close-knit.
01:06:10.240
It gets, you know, a lot of southern cities, too, get a rough rap.
01:06:13.920
Everybody, especially right now, everybody, you know, the news wants to make the south look kind of bad sometimes, I feel like.
01:06:18.820
And that stuff really makes me mad because there's some amazing cities there, man.
01:06:30.960
I saw a guy, I saw a guy do the worm all the way around a four-way intersection.
01:06:43.300
Look, it looked like he had some miles on his belly.
01:06:55.460
I used to work as a tour manager for this guy, Josh Kelly, who is a musician.
01:07:00.020
And he and his brother, both musicians, and they had a golf tournament because his brother works in that band Lady Antebellum.
01:07:09.200
And I got to stay in a, they put us up, it was in Augusta, Georgia, and they put us up in different, I don't know.
01:07:16.620
And Ozzie Smith was in mine, which was really, really cool, man.
01:07:32.140
Remember Dave versus Dan for the Olympics or whatever?
01:07:35.860
You were probably too young, but it was like Dan versus.
01:07:45.720
This was back when it was just Man versus Man, dude.
01:07:49.800
When Man was less lonely, and now it's just Man versus Wild.
01:07:57.620
They were both supposed to go to the Olympics, and I think one of them didn't qualify.
01:08:08.100
At advertising, the campaign was a television commercials.
01:08:13.540
O'Brien and Johnson were favored to win medals in Barcelona, which had recently lost U.S. market share to Nike.
01:08:18.820
He was hoping to rebound with their endorsement.
01:08:22.740
When arrived five weeks before the games began, when O'Brien failed to qualify for the American Olympic team by missing the pole vault.
01:08:31.680
So all of America's fired up for them to go to the Olympics.
01:08:39.240
Well, so my Olympic story, the first guy, or this spring, first spring training, I got to play golf with Michael Phelps, which was one of the coolest things ever.
01:09:00.080
I've never seen so many shoulders, so he raps when he's done that golf club.
01:09:10.220
He seemed to be a cool dude, and yeah, it was fun.
01:09:14.940
Now, golf tournaments, I will say one thing that's amazing about them is the people you
01:09:27.060
That's the one they have the hole where everybody screams and yells.
01:09:33.400
That's, oh, Michael Pelt's at Waste Management.
01:09:34.340
Yeah, see, that's at Waste Management, because he lives in Arizona, I think.
01:09:38.440
Yeah, put up this, I think it's a 17th hole Waste Management or whatever, or type in Waste
01:09:53.860
Yeah, so this is the only thing in golf like this.
01:09:59.300
They build up this giant stadium all around this hole.
01:10:31.340
Damn, Ricky Fowler is damn beautiful for a damn golfer, huh?
01:10:50.140
Trump's son looks like the caddy right there with that.
01:10:53.980
It's like a damn club in Vegas around this place.
01:11:01.000
It's in Phoenix in, like, early February, I think.
01:11:04.440
And so, they got a little quiet for when the actual hit.
01:11:10.860
Because there's one where he full-on, like, pumps up the crowd before he gets to the ball.
01:12:00.980
Are there any things about pitching that you correlate over to golf that help you?
01:12:05.760
I think playing baseball and playing golf are actually, like, you have the basic, like,
01:12:11.820
And so, most of us can hit the ball pretty far.
01:12:14.100
But in baseball and golf, your legs work completely different.
01:12:17.840
So, we all have bad swings, even if they look all right.
01:12:20.560
Because our legs don't operate the way they should, I think, is the biggest thing.
01:12:25.660
Like, hitters don't really play golf much because they feel like it's going to mess with their swing.
01:12:30.140
So, like, when we were growing up, like, in high school, they'd be like, I'm going to play golf.
01:12:58.560
So, the head of the union's name is Tony Clark.
01:13:00.420
He had a pretty successful, like, a really successful career in the big leagues.
01:13:03.800
And then we have, like, his help, not helper is not the right word.
01:13:11.620
He helped with the NBA, CBA, with the NFL, CBA.
01:13:17.300
Yeah, but the head guy, the guy that comes out and speaks that you've heard him comment was a player.
01:13:25.500
We have big group phone calls and kind of talk through some stuff.
01:13:30.000
I mean, it seems like you're kind of fucking growing up a little, dude.
01:13:51.960
He's a Boykin, so Beryl Bueller the Boykin kind of works.
01:13:57.380
It's like a small cocker spaniel, but they're all brown.
01:14:02.620
He'll be about 30 pounds, but I wanted a hunting dog.
01:14:05.600
I do a little bit of duck hunting here and there.
01:14:08.820
So we got that one because it's the smallest one you can get that can really go do that stuff.
01:14:14.360
But also small enough for my fiance to travel with a little bit.
01:14:20.320
She is absolutely obsessed with the first dog, Nala, our little French bulldog.
01:14:38.320
People have told us that puppies are harder than kids, and I somewhat believe them.
01:14:55.300
You know, but then I just left them at home with Mackenzie, so she's dealing with both of them.
01:15:03.700
So will you get to go back at home at all during this stretch?
01:15:11.400
We had it all planned out, but obviously that got changed up a little bit, so we'll figure
01:15:17.320
And you think you'll go head-to-head with Joe Musgrove this year or not?
01:15:20.260
No, we won't play them unless it's in the playoffs, because they're in the East.
01:15:29.120
Do you have an arch rival out there that you love to pitch against?
01:15:36.020
Obviously, the Giants are big, and the Rockies have a lot of talent over there, so playing
01:15:42.500
But that stuff happens more in your division, I think, than anything.
01:15:50.200
Do you want teams that have a lot of good hitters, or are you better if teams are kind
01:15:53.700
No, I mean, I'd rather face your Little League team than a Little League team.
01:15:59.000
In all honesty, but no, I mean, I think it's good stuff when you're trying to get ready
01:16:03.540
for the playoffs and things like that, when you face these good teams and get used to,
01:16:07.320
all right, these guys could legitimately kill me.
01:16:11.320
So, you know, it takes a little something to get ready to get go like that.
01:16:15.700
What were you going to say about Charlie Blackman?
01:16:22.920
Well, he's had the most success off me in the big leagues ever.
01:16:32.420
Is there anything about him specifically that you notice?
01:16:34.820
You know, I think as we scout, you learn, like, oh, this guy hits this pitch really
01:16:39.160
good and this pitch really bad and things like that.
01:16:42.040
And, you know, my strengths as a pitcher, what I can do best is kind of his strengths.
01:16:47.520
A lot of times, you know, you want to stay with your strengths unless a guy has a glaring
01:16:54.160
So I just kind of have to go with what I do well and he happens to handle it pretty well.
01:17:00.240
But there's just bad matchups and good matchups.
01:17:02.940
There's really good hitters that just I match up well against or are really bad hitters,
01:17:07.640
you know, against most people that still get do really well against me.
01:17:11.500
That just that's that's why baseball is kind of a weird game in that way.
01:17:20.220
Is it you guys or what's weird about that is when a guy bunts like that's our only
01:17:33.360
And then I see it on replay and I run like an idiot.
01:17:51.300
Oh, you might have dysplasia like my buddy Scott's Australian Shepherd.
01:17:56.520
I bet that that athletic shepherd still runs way better than I do.
01:18:02.240
Walker Bueller, thanks so much for joining us, man.
01:18:11.960
You know, I don't know if you're going to be able to come to any games.
01:18:17.120
Dude, I might buy one of those cardboard cutouts.
01:18:20.320
Or we'll send Michael Lennon, or we'll send Nick.
01:18:23.820
What we'll do is we'll get some of our buddies and find some bad photos of them and just submit them.
01:18:28.640
Bro, you know what would you find if we paid for Brian and Brendan to be out there in the stands?
01:18:39.800
I guess Brian just got his eyes done or something, I heard.
01:18:51.000
Maybe we'll do a little fundraiser or something and we'll buy that and then we'll donate the
01:18:59.280
Maybe we'll do that to him and maybe Shaub after he got knocked out or something.
01:19:06.060
Shaub's going to hate hearing about that, but I agree with you 100%, bro.
01:19:15.620
I have to gain 60 pounds, but I could do it, bro.
01:19:17.980
I might have to meet these guys before we do it.
01:19:20.260
I'll meet them and then we'll reveal them the next day.
01:19:23.180
If we get it done, man, we'll have to get you over on Fighter and the Kid and you'll
01:19:31.820
And thanks for, yeah, you took me out to the game last year, man.
01:19:37.140
We sat right behind Kershaw's family, actually.
01:19:44.360
Now, I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves I must be.
01:19:53.200
Oh, but when I reach that ground I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones
01:20:04.080
But it's gonna take a little time for me to set that parking brake and let myself unwind
01:20:31.040
And I will find a song I will sing it just for you
01:20:46.220
On a runaway train with a heavy load of my hands
01:20:56.700
They're worn so thin that they're damn near gone
01:21:02.220
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jonathan Kite and welcome to Kite Club
01:21:06.900
A podcast where I'll be sharing thoughts on things like current events, stand-up stories, and seven ways to pleasure your partner
01:21:19.340
And as always, I'll be joined by the voices in my head
01:22:02.400
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