Luke Jones and Nestor prepare for Opening Day against Yankees and discuss the big league debut of pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez in Texas.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, day, rodriguez, game, grayson, talking, jacob degrom, baseball, baltimore, pitch, inning, opening, major league debut, pitchers, years, thursday, road trip, point, maryland crab, season
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
W and st Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we have positively moved opening Danny and moving to Maryland crab cake tour as well. I was at Costas all day Wednesday, you’ll be hearing that as part of the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery in conjunction with our friends at window nation. I gave away some instant scratch offs. I’ll be giving these away at Faith Lee’s all morning on Friday. We’re rain checking the actual crab cake tour, but we will be at faithless having crab cakes and beer in the morning. Little spatial issue about setting up and where we want to be. We’re going to do the show on Tuesday at fails. But in the meantime, come on down on opening day. We’ll be failures all morning. enjoying ourselves Thursday. We’ll be Pappas next week in Bel Air. So double duty next week fade these Tuesday. Pappas on Thursday in Bel Air. And then on the 27th back downtown to Captain Larry’s in Federal Hill. I’m really looking forward to that crabcake had a chat with Maura down there for those of you know her in the community. Luke Jones joins us now. Lots of things happen on Wednesday. Luke had double duty as well, the liars luncheon, where there was lying and intimidating going on and no questions about Lamar Jackson. But in the meantime, you know you leave that presser and the Orioles wind up bang in the opening day while starting Grayson Rodriguez. It was a very, very active Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore sports. Yeah, it
Luke Jones 01:19
really was and I think for the Orioles while you’re disappointed, but hey, you’re going up against Jacob deGrom when he’s right. He’s beaten just about everybody. So you know, on paper that it’s not a great matchup. But the reality was with Grayson Rodriguez and we talked about this before the season started. I mean, this was a guy who I do think and yes, people have been skeptical with service time manipulation and all those different things that we’ve talked about that the Orioles have done at times and other clubs have done at times. We get that but the reality is Grayson Rodriguez did not have a very good spring you had an era of just over seven. He had issues the second time through the odor. His command hadn’t been as sharp and I think for all of the acclaim and justifiable acclaim and hype for him. You have to remember he missed three months last year, right when he was on the cusp of being called up in June to make his major league debut. He had the lad injury and he missed three months and I think ever since then he’s just trying to get back to that point. So he goes to the minors first started triple A wasn’t the strongest, you know, he walked forward got through four innings. It was choppy. So just out of sheer need because Kyle Bradish takes a line drive off his foot on Monday night and Tyler Well steps up does a great job in emergency relief. Kyle Gibson steps up pitches a day early, earlier than he was intended. The Oreo season started on Wednesday. And I don’t think it was because they really really wanted it to be Grayson Rodriguez, it just turned out he was on regular rest and he was next man up in the pecking order. So you really don’t know what to expect beyond that. And yes, the Orioles lost the game on Wednesday. But after a really shaky first inning where you’re kind of saying oh, this is kind of the some of what they had been concerned about in the spring. This is what we’re seeing. He looked like a guy who didn’t look like it was his major league debut, and did not look at all intimidated by facing someone like Jacob deGrom on the other side, he was really impressive. And I think it’s one of those days where yeah, you lost the game. But if you’re an Orioles fan, you came out of Wednesday afternoon, I think feeling better about this club and three and three road trip come home now day off because of the postponement as you mentioned, but I think Grayson Rodriguez, he passed up the initial test and I think it was well worth the wait to see what he did in his major league debut.
Nestor Aparicio 03:42
Well, I would say this if he’s going to be healthy, and every fifth day can come out and he’ll get better, right? He does. Well, I mean, he’s of the pedigree, healthy, healthy, healthy. That’s Ryan healthy taking the ball every fifth day, six day, whatever it is. And I’ve been doing this 31 years, man, you know, like I just I’ve seen every I always bring up rocky Carpenter, but I can bring up Jimmy Haynes I can bring I can you know, I can go back to any of these pitchers that storm DAVIS You know, I mean, guys that were thought to have. Palmer like stuff. I mean, even with Bedard, even with Adam Lowen, right. Like there’s just all of these different pitchers that we expected something out of and they rose to a point or they found their place in Jake area. His case after he left in Gaza means case after he left in some of their cases. You know, 10 years in the big leagues after they leave, right you never know. But to see a guy that is this talented, come up. How can you judge him on a one off, bring him up, put him in the pressure cooker. First start he’s crying after the game with this one. bother me, that would tell you all that you need to know about the yips that you might have getting called up to start a game on 24 hours notice because do got hit with a line drive. I mean, a lot has happened since I left you with Fenway Park in Texas in regard to their rotation, why Rodriguez pitch, how they’re banging in this game, how they’re moving the game, how it’s gonna screw up, Springsteen on Friday night, I mean, a whole bunch of things. But part of this is this has changed the structure of the season for them. Because you and I and Jim Palmer, everybody else was talking about Rodriguez as a damn maybe later in the month. If it’s era seven and Norfolk, no bueno. I had people actually text me so they’re bringing him up. He didn’t have a good start. You know what I mean? Like, so there’s all of that. But then there’s to your point. You know, if the littlest kid has confidence in health, confidence and health, he’s got the pedigree that if he can’t work it out, Shame on him, you know what I mean? It’s not their fault. They it’s not coddling or anything like that. But he had a seventh era and they were gonna hold him back. And that seems reasonable to me. But I did like what I saw, I was over costless. I was doing the show. And I’m watching and I’m thinking to myself, this kid takes the ball every fifth day. I think by July, they’ll have it figured out. And that’s when they need to have it figured they need to win every game right now. And they haven’t. And they’ve lost games, they should have won and won games they might have lost right so far.
Luke Jones 06:21
Yeah, I mean, they’re a drop fly ball away from having a foreign to road trip, which I mean, the reality is, look at this team last year, they played way better at home. And we can talk about the wall in left field. And we’ll certainly talk about that as they begin their home schedule. But it was more of a struggle for them on the road as it is with most teams. I mean, let’s be clear, unless you’re an elite team. The idea is to make your head home and to hold your own on the road. And that’s what the Orioles did over their first road trip. But I think the worst thing you could say about Grayson Rodriguez after the first inning and I wrote this at Baltimore positive.com is what he wasn’t quite as dominant as Jacob deGrom. Which I mean that’s 99.9% of pitchers in the league, really over the last few years when he especially when he’s healthy, so, I mean, he was impressive. You see the fastball. 9697. He struck out as Corey Seager a couple times you’re talking about three time All Star shortstop, you know the slider and changeup got better as the game went on. But he just he looked like he belonged. And I think anytime you’re talking about these, debuts and the Orioles have had their share over the years, I mean, DL Hall made his major league debut down at the trop last August before they transition him to a relief role for the rest of the year. But you go back to Kevin Gasman in 2013. Dylan Bundy was in such a unique position because he was out of options and they had to bring them up to the bullpen in 2016. But you go back to area Mattis, Tillman, all these different guys, you have that debut? And usually it’s some good, but it’s usually a mixed bag and sometimes it doesn’t go well at all. Curt Schilling’s
Nestor Aparicio 08:01
major league debut and look it out throw that turned out, you know, major league debuts are always been a big deal right up there. And if this start the everybody will go out see a pitch against Oakland, right? He’s gonna pitch next week, it’s gonna be a bigger deal that night.
Luke Jones 08:13
Oh, no question about it. I mean, this this guy, some of the names you mentioned. I mean, yes, the Orioles have hyped their own guys for a long time. Every team does that. Everyone loves their prospects a little bit more than everyone else. But keep in mind, Grayson Rodriguez is someone who’s been not just a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball over the last three or four years. Over the last few years. He’s been a consensus top 25. I mean, last year, at this time, he was regarded as a top right handed pitching prospect in baseball by most outlets, you know, baseball, America go down the list. So the expectations have been there. And they’ve been there for a while. And what’s exciting about this because he was a high school prospect when it was the final year, the Dan do cat era when they drafted him in 2018. He’s still only 23. So you’re not talking about someone who who’s kind of labored and struggled through the minors. With him, I think the pandemic is the thing that slowed him down the most and of course, the injury last year. So he’s been successful at every level. So that’s where I think it was a little bit of a surprise that what happened this spring with him having the shaky command not being quite as sharp as they thought. And I do think that the organization expected and even wanted him to make the opening day rotation. But once he struggled, you look at that. And then yeah, that service time and all the other different things you can point to which oh, by the way, the guy who beat them out was Tyler Wells who pitched his butt off on Monday night. So let’s remember that as well. So you know, all of those factors at work. And you know, the recent issues aside in the spring and even going back to his first start at Norfolk, which you know, how much you want to put into into that. Who knows, but it does come back to what you said the crew him rises to the top right? If you’re talking about a talent who’s really worth his salt, and he’s got the pedigree, he’s got the makeup, the talent, all the different things at work. And assuming the organization hasn’t done anything egregious in their development, which Hey, the Orioles in the past, you could say that about some of the pitching. You know, some of the pitchers, you talk about a Jake Marietta, for example, they didn’t handle very well, to say the least. But the chances are, if he’s meant to make it, if he’s truly good enough, he’s gonna figure it out. And whether it was on Wednesday afternoon, the way he pitched or the starts moving forward, you know, Bradish is not eligible to return for at least two weeks. So he’s gonna get at least a couple starts here. And we’ll see how it goes. But if he’s truly good enough that he’s truly talented enough if he truly has everything that it takes to be a major league pitcher, which is not an easy thing to do, then yeah, generally, you’re gonna figure it out. So I think in that in that way, that’s why it was so encouraging to see him have a rough first inning, but then look so good after that. I mean, he truly got better as the game went on. Missed a lot of bats, like we said, had five strikeouts. I retired What 13 of the last 15 He faced or something like that. So it was that was really nice to see. And again, you’re talking about someone who by all accounts it’s not just the Orioles talking this up but everyone you know a baseball America fan graphs go down the list, the athletic, anyone that evaluates minor league talent, they’ve said for the last couple of years that this kid’s the real deal. So it was nice to see him. Certainly show that on Wednesday afternoon and
Nestor Aparicio 11:39
gaming the second or third inning as it might have gone, right.
Luke Jones 11:42
Oh, yeah, no, I was wondering if he’s gonna get out the first when you’re talking about hitting that 30 pitch mark in one inning, especially with a young pitcher and keep in mind, this is a young pitcher who the Orioles have handled very carefully. I mean, you had to cancel 2020 Minor League season. You know you had the injury last year so I’m guessing he was probably at the point where one more hitter two more hitters if he doesn’t get out of it in the first he’s done after that,
Nestor Aparicio 12:10
many times, set his name without him ever throwing a pitch for the team. Think it’s amazing how many times we said his name. Dylan Bundy was another one of those guys we kept saying is they because he had a fun name too. But you know, Manny Machado felt like he got here quick. You know, a lot of these guys we talked about and they get here Mark Akers, some of these other guys that were first round draft picks, but talking about a pitcher for to your point for five years and see him get Mike Tyson. Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched. Right. And he’s in a big stadium. And it’s two o’clock in the afternoon. And wow, you know, I mean, to see him battle out of the corner was something you want to see. Right, literally. I mean, it wouldn’t have been as good as you know, eight scoreless innings. But I mean, just don’t want to see it.
Luke Jones 12:56
No doubt. And again, even though pitchers will downplay those one on one matchups, and they’ll say, Well, I’m not really competing against Jacob the Grom. He’s not stepping into the batter’s box. You know, he’s on the other side and Palmer even talked about it during the telecast when you’re going up against, you know, I don’t know, catfish hunter or whoever, you know, Palmer’s contemporaries, you know, talking about the best of the best that he faced, you are gonna have a little extra juice, and you know that you’re gonna have a smaller margin for error. So for him to handle the first inning, and for him to pitch the West rest of the way that he did, you know, at three pitches and five innings, so 53 pitches over the next four innings. I mean, that’s good, especially when you’re talking about mixing in some strikeouts there. So again, if you don’t want to make too much out of it, because it is one start. But there was a lot to like from that start and it’s cool to see and how could you not love the scenes of seeing his dad Gilbert just living and dying with every pitch and then of course, the embrace that Masson showed on the postgame show. I mean, that tugs on the heartstrings, there for anyone who loves who’s love baseball at any level, you can appreciate that kind of a scene and just makes it that much more fun. And that’s another element to this that as strange as the circumstances were, that Grayson Rodriguez made his major league debut in Arlington about three hours from where he lives in taxes. So it’s pretty cool. So some of the circumstances weren’t ideal, but there’s one where I think the baseball gods were smiling and Grayson Rodriguez to have it line up the way that it did even after what had been a rough spring for him.
Nestor Aparicio 14:29
You know, the baseball gods had me in touch with Dave Johnson this week, my old pal from the east side, and he had that experience you know, with his with his boy pitch and So, Steve, that’s that that is special. Obviously Ryan Ripken to star now, you know, with that, so there’s some baseball legacy look challenges here. We will get to some football. We’ll get to some Lamar. We’ll get to some press conference and liars luncheon and whatnot. The movement of opening day. I just want to say this from a civic perspective. How many bus trips plans babysitter’s tickets day off from where somebody’s covered by job. Whatever it is, in my case, it was a sore throat scratchy throat at school and Halliburton and middle school. I don’t mean to. But you know, this is unfortunate. You know that Yeah. And it’s gonna be a great day for the city on Friday. I’m afraid these I’m going to begin today with crabcakes I’m gonna drink beer, I’m gonna have a good time. I’m gonna go to the game I’m gonna go see Springsteen. It’s gonna be a day to remember it’s going to be a Kordell Stewart Steelers Orioles, mariners kind of twofer for me in the annals of Baltimore. Rock and roll. And in baseball history. Kiss by the way, play the off day, one year, I went to the show with Jeff Montgomery and Mark Guba zone a bunch of the Kansas City Royals went we all got kiss face painting. But but for the same day, and literally for the thing to let out. This has, you know, it has some special sauce. I think for Baltimore, in general, the Yankees fans wherever it is, win or lose. However it goes the weather avoiding thunderstorms on Thursday. And that being said, time will tell us to how lousy the weather really is between one and seven o’clock on Thursday. But they bang this thing and got proactive with it. The old man would have said let them park the cars and pay for the concessions. So it does feel like it’s a little bit of Well, they didn’t they didn’t screw up your opening day they screwed up your plants. Yeah, and that’s
Luke Jones 16:25
the thing. And look, there’s never going to be a perfect solution when something like that happens. I mean, there are people who plan to go on Thursday, who won’t be able to go on Friday. In fact, I’ve talked to a couple people and just in my circle, that there’s disappointment there. But to your point, the last thing you want is an opening opening day where you’re sitting in multiple rain delays, or game doesn’t get played till eight o’clock at night. And people you know, you’ve got a half empty stadium and all those different things at work. So I do. Again, there’s nothing perfect, but I do like the idea of luck. You’ve had this for years and years and years you have this building off day after opening day, right? That’s what it’s for. So if you’ve got a lousy forecast, then be proactive to your point and make the make the call. Again. It’s not going to accommodate everyone but I did see in the press release people who can’t go on opening day they can get up dollar for dollar refunds. So you know so you at least have that but yeah, there’s I think there’s it’s been strange because for so many years at least in my lifetime opening day was always a Monday if the season was opening up at home and for years it Did you know years before the nationals of Baltimore always had opening day at home it felt like so. So you had that so you’ve had these Thursday’s where it’s a little strange. So having it on a Friday and people knowing that people don’t have many people don’t have to work the next day. You mentioned the concert. I mean, it’s it’s excitement and oh yeah, this ballclub has some expectations for the first time. In a really long time. This will be Adly Richmond’s first home opener this will be Gunnar Henderson’s first home opener. Grayson Rodriguez is going to get the rundown the carpet
Nestor Aparicio 18:06
names you’ve been talking about for years. Yeah, opening day yet. It’s crazy. Yeah, right. Right. And
Luke Jones 18:11
then that’s not to mention the Cedric Mullins and Ryan mountcastle. And Austin Hayes who felt like those guys are grizzled veterans. I mean, they’ve been around a few years. So so there is excitement in that way. So I think I think ultimately, they made the right call. And to your point, who knows, maybe it’ll, it’ll be 80 degrees and sunny, from three to six o’clock on Thursday. And then then you just kind of say, Oh, well, but I think based on the information they had at the time, they gave people enough time to try to alter their plans as best they can. And I think it’ll be a fun, fun afternoon. The Yankees been in town, it certainly adds a little bit of juice. I’m sure there’ll be a few Yankees fans there because that they’re everywhere. But I think there’s a lot of excitement. And again, on the heels of a perfectly acceptable fine three and three road trip trip should have been foreign to we know that but I think there’s plenty of juice coming home. And you know, we’ve talked about it, especially considering the state of the ravens and we’ll get to that, of course, with the predraft luncheon and Lamar Jackson and not talking about Lamar. This is an opportunity for the Orioles to really carve out some enthusiasm for themselves to carve out and generate some buzz for themselves that let’s face it has not been there and a little bit towards the end of last year but really hasn’t been there this time of year for a long time. You’re talking five or six years at this point at a minimum so looking forward to it and should be a really cool day for Baltimore on Friday.
Nestor Aparicio 19:39
No question. New one new sponsor alert your wn St. Baltimore positive pest czar so I was going to use your like, Yankees fans are everywhere. I used to say they’re like cockroaches. Everybody’s got them. So termite wildlife and pest control. I met Erica at a Hunt Valley business networking event. Her and her co apne pest czar that’s SZ a are like, like, like a king czar pest Azhar, I go to pet star.com They took care of us. Spiders and just does crazy spring critters and little flying things today. There’s mosquito all of that that they do, including a man I saw a real mouse about three months ago only one but you know, we scared him. He’s afraid of me probably the cat. But but but pets czar, good folks, this time of year 80 degrees stuff spawning pest czar.com. Or you can reach to me and I’ll make sure you get in touch with Eric and Tim and the crew there. All right, anything else on the baseball side other than line drives off fee kicking the ball around losing games by a little winning games by a little just, you know, well pitched game on Tuesday. It’s been a box of chocolates first week. I mean, there’s been no two games alike. And it’s baseball. There is no vibe to it in that way. Every game has its own little chess match.
Luke Jones 20:59
It really is an early in the season and looked at it doesn’t make for good radio to all the time to say this. But early in the season, you kind of just need to let it breathe a little bit. I mean, let’s face it, the defense and the pitching was ugly as sin at Fenway Park. Even even in the game that they won on opening day the defense was horrid, but it was pitching and defense was much better in Arlington, especially the pitching. I mean, what Tyler wells did on Monday night was spectacular, given the circumstances Kyle Gibson. It’s why the Orioles signed them when they did to kind of be that maybe a modest upgrade over what Jordan miles did for them last year. And we already mentioned Grayson Rodri Yeah, so for the most part, they’re swinging the bat. Well, you know, not not as much on Wednesday, of course, but again, Jacob deGrom does that to most teams when he goes out there. So again, I think it’s mostly positive three and three, it has nothing to do cartwheels over, but also nothing to be overly concerned about come home now and you want to start well at home and hey, got a good opportunity here to win a series against the Yankees and then you’ve got Oakland after that who is the one team that has the lower payroll than the Orioles so that so there you go so kind of shows you where they are at this point in time although the Orioles certainly have higher expectations, so it’s fun. It’s a acceptable opening road trip. I think that’s the best way to put it. But certainly, that added excitement to see Grayson Rodriguez on Wednesday to close it out.
Nestor Aparicio 22:29
All right, so Safaga rights and stuff will go wrong. Bruce is gonna play ball and run. The Eagles are gonna play Hotel California. I’m gonna be later in the wallet but heavier in the heart. And we will see you at fade Lee’s on Friday morning coming downtown for the Orioles game. I’ll be there in the morning till about noon then I’m gonna go walk about as I usually do, maybe leave a little bit before then. But if you’re in the family’s neighborhood I will be giving away it’s a lottery scratch offs. We had a crab cake tour plan there decided to not do like a real show. We’re just going to kind of hang out so come on down say hello before the game you get downtown early. Best crap kicked downtown by a lot stopped by the old Lexington market maybe the last time a lot of folks can stop by there and make it a point to stop by before everyone else game that you’re going down to see our friends and families. best seafood going get the mac and cheese I might even get some fried oysters to start the season the right way. And we’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cakes represented by the Maryland lottery in conjunction with goodwill window nation and our friends. Rascon global that’s on Tuesday fate Lee’s Thursday word Pappus in Bel Air from two of the five in the afternoon in the main bar. And then on the 27th downtown at Captain Larry’s be telling you more about that and our 25th anniversary. Hey, it’s opening day the bosses in town. Don Henley’s coming to town Joe Walsh is coming to town. I’m Nestor. It’s Baltimore positive and we really mean it.
