#18 Speedway Classic, Eli, Waldrep, Trade Deadline, Brewers

[00:00:01] Go ahead and start with the Speedway Classic. Actually, let's start with. I feel like I haven't done a game in a month. I know it's only been a week or eight days, but my goodness, it feels like it's been a long time. So looking forward to getting back in the booth tonight with BG and Birdie. We'll have a good time for sure. Let's go ahead and click on Bristol. First of all, I think it looked really, really good on television. It sounded like it was pretty awesome in person as far as the fans and how high those low bleachers went out in the outfields. A really cool event. [00:00:31] Unfortunately, obviously you know about the rain and ends up turning into a really long road trip for the guys. Remember that was the back end of that road trip that started in Texas, Kansas City, Cincinnati. They thought they were going to be home Saturday night. Instead they get home Sunday night. Right back at it today against the Milwaukee Brewers. But some really good things came out of it, right. We're all of course wanted to see Ronald. There he goes on the il. Eli's gotten this opportunity and he hits two home runs in the game. What a cool moment for Eli White. He talked about it, his wife was there, got the share in it. It's just one of those things he's going to remember for the rest of his life. So good for him. For a good guy who was helped at times, certainly has been a big part of helping the Braves out when they have needed some help earlier in the season, we saw it. And then that big moment that he has yesterday. So good for Eli. Really good to see. What I got really excited about is what we saw from Hurston, Waltrip and first of all, he's not even there if they don't have the rain out essentially or suspended game on Saturday, he gets the call, five hour drive for him to get up there and essentially not start but take over where the game was in the first inning for Austin Cox who by the way was put in a tough spot with that weather. I felt bad for him. But Waldrick comes in and my goodness, he was really good. Like his split looked really good. We of course saw him last year and he looked like a different guy and it wasn't anticipated. It was emergency situation. I mentioned this on X last night. He really, in my opinion got himself a lot of points with the guys, with the organization. He stepped up in a huge way. [00:02:02] A great job at a close game, picked up his first big league win. [00:02:05] Every guy whoever's gotten their first big league win has a story to tell. He's got a really cool story to tell about his first big league win. So good for him. He did go right back down, but because he was the 27th man, there's a pretty good chance we'll see him this weekend. Remember, the Braves have a double header on Saturday against the Marlins. They have eight games in seven days. The weather is not looking great these first couple of days against the brewers, so who knows what this week will end up looking like. Either way, he put himself in a really good position because good for him. And it got me thinking about, I think sometimes even I forget a little bit and I've experienced it, we certainly forget it as fans is that we have got to be patient with young players. We saw Waldrick last year, we saw Nacho Alvarez last year and I think based on what we saw, maybe, hey, these guys aren't quite ready. They're going to need some more time. And so far both of them when they've gotten opportunities here in 25 have looked really good. Now it's only one start for Waldrift. It was a little bit of a run for Nacho. He's going to be back because unfortunately Austin Riley had to go on the il. But again, just a good reminder how patient we have got to be with young players. And it also reminded me of a guy when I was covering the Texas Rangers back in 22 when Cole Reagan first came to the big leagues and we saw him, had the same kind of thought. I was like, I don't know if this guy could hang in the big leagues. It didn't look like there was enough there didn't look like he had enough stuff to be able to get good big league hitters out. And then the next year he comes back, he puts on some weight, he's throwing harder. He ends up getting traded to Kansas City in the Raw Chapman trade and his has been awesome since. I know he's on the IL right now, but he is a legitimate top of the rotation, big time starter. So just a good reminder that not everybody's going to be Spencer Schwalenbach when they first get to the big leagues. And Spencer Strider impactful right away for the most part from day one. I mean even Schwalinbach had a couple of okay starts before he really took off. But just again, good reminder of patience that you want to have with young players. And good news for the Braves with Waldrip and Alvarez in particular. [00:03:58] Hopefully Waldroup's going to get a Longer. Look, Nacho is going to get another one, and we start kind of looking forward to next season. And who can help? Nothing but good things happening there. We got the brewers coming into town now, and the brewers are a tough team. I mean, there's no getting around it. They're on an unbelievable run, 18 and 4 over the last 22 games. They are a really scrappy team, too. [00:04:21] They score runs, third in baseball, five runs per game for them. [00:04:24] But they don't do it via the long ball, like, bottom 10 in total home runs this year. So it's not necessarily going to be about the fact that the brewers hit a lot of home runs. They put the ball in play. They don't strike out a lot. And for Eric Fetty, what does that mean for him, starting tonight? It means trying to keep the baseball off the barrel. He's not a big strikeout guy anyway. It's Fetty. I know we only got one look at him so far, but for him, it is going to be about, where can I get the baseball off the barrel, whether I'm jamming guys, catching it off the end of the bat, trusting my defense to work behind me. That is what's going to have to happen for Eric Fetty to be successful against this lineup that's coming in with a lot of momentum right now. They've also been really good on the road. I think they're hitting. I forgot the numbers, but it's like the highest batting average on the road, highest differential between home and road. They've actually been much better. They're like 42 points higher on the road than they are at home. I don't know what to make of that. Milwaukee seems like a decent enough place to hit, and again, they're not home run reliant. But the point there is that they've been really good on the road. They've been really good with runners in scoring position, one of the best in baseball. [00:05:27] So they're going to be somewhat of a challenge. And it's kind of the same theme that we've had even at the beginning of the year, which is you have got to. [00:05:37] I don't say play mistake free baseball. That's not fair. [00:05:40] But what they've done, they played excellent defense. They're turning batted balls into outs. They're not beating themselves. That is going to be important tonight for Eric Fetty, going up against this Milwaukee brewers offense. And it's a little bit of a different look, right? Andrew Vaughn in that lineup right now, who was not very good with the white Sox has been crushing it and hitting right in the middle of their lineup. So even a different kind of looking team than what we saw from the Milwaukee brewers when we were there in Milwaukee, which is, of course you remember, was also the first game that Wiley Ballard got to do play by play. No Wiley tonight. It'll be me, BG and Birdie on the broadcast for these three. And as you can see, it's raining now. It's one o'. Clock. I'm headed to the ballpark early to do some radio. Hopefully this is not an indication of things to come, but the forecast does not look all that great, unfortunately coming up over these next couple days. I haven't had a chance to talk since the trade deadline and I know there were some fans that seemed frustrated by what happened. I listened to what Alex said and I take him at his word. And as much as I think a lot of us thought perhaps Marcelo Zuna, Marcel Iglesias would end up in different uniforms, it didn't happen and I don't blame Alex. You're not looking to give guys away, you're not looking to save that little bit of money and quite honestly I don't think you're necessarily even looking to clear up that roster spot either one of those rosters response. It's not as if you know your guys are pushing and there's opportunities for others. I did think we got some good news regarding Drake Baldwin and how it ties in with Marcelo Zuna and that is that Drake is going to hit almost every day, which is great and also gives him a shot, legitimate shot. He should be the front runner. Still for the National League Rookie of the Year, I was a little bit concerned about Jacob Misarowski, the right handed pitcher who ended up being an All Star kind of had all the momentum behind him. He's on the IL right now, so I think that should help Drake Baldwin. We still got two months to go, so there's still a lot of time here. [00:07:29] But as far as Marcel and Drake Baldwin, how it affects his playing time, it doesn't sound like it's going to affect his playing time at all. And listening to Alex, it sounds like the offers just weren't there and you're not looking to give guys away, right? You don't want to give guys away for nothing. You have to have some level of standard. I think when it comes to these kinds of things. I do think there will be a team or two, a contender that will regret not making a better offer to bring Ricell Iglesias in. I know, it hasn't been his best year, but he's been really good lately, outside of a, you know, one or two in there. Looks like he has gotten it turned around and figured out. I thought for sure he would go help a contender, but again, I'm not just giving him away to somebody. And it's not like you got a bunch of relievers in the minor leagues and roster spots where he's getting in the way of anybody you want to see this year. And it goes back to what we were talking about earlier, kind of regarding young players, right? Just because the team's struggling, they're likely not going to the postseason, doesn't just mean you bring up a bunch of young guys that aren't ready. It's the worst thing you could do in player development, right? There is kind of a, you know, there's a system in place. There's things you're looking for when you believe guys would be ready for opportunities. Now, there's been way more opportunities in this organization than anticipated this season because of the injuries, especially on the starting side. But I think in this case that it means you don't force guys into spots because the worst thing that can happen, it can be tough. I can tell you, I lived it, is that when you get to the big leagues and you struggle really badly, if you're not ready, that can weigh on you. That could slow a guy down. So I think in the sense of, oh, should you have cleared a couple roster spots to give other guys opportunities? And even with a couple of older guys they brought into the rotation, like Carrasco and Fetty, if you don't believe guys are ready, you don't make the move. And I think that is the case here. I would believe with the Braves and to bring some veterans in. Carrasco was pretty sharp in his first one. You still want to be playing legitimate games, right? It's not fun watching your team, especially when, you know, you struggled and you maybe bring guys that aren't ready and then it gets worse. I get it. I get that part of it. So I'm okay with what's going on here. And again, I'm okay with as much as I thought, both of those guys are very likely to be somewhere else. It didn't happen. [00:09:34] And so they're here and I'm glad they're here because they're both great guys and it's fun to have them around. And we'll have some fun the rest of the way with both Marcel and Rice. Ella Glacier, so keep your fingers crossed on rain. [00:09:46] The drizzling has slowed down a little bit, so maybe that has helped. But it'll be a lot of fun this week. I made sure I brought two pounds of coffee beans in. That's the kind of week we're expecting with this weather. But looking forward to being back with you all tonight. FanDuel Sports Network, me, BG and of course, Paul Burr. Guaranteed fun tonight. Talk to y' all later.