The Chatter’s Box: Daniel Descalso | February 2024 | St. Louis Cardinals

The new Cardinals bench coach discusses his new role, playing career, and path through baseball coaching with former teammate Kyle McClellan.

And welcome back to the Chatters box my name is Kyle mclen I am your host and today I am joined by former teammate of mine and great guy new hire to the organization and the coaching staff we have Daniel dascalo Danny how you doing man I’m good uh you know rolling into

Town a little cold for me right now but uh excited to be here for the winter warmup and uh kind of get this get the season going yeah so this is going to air probably in February right as spring training’s kicking off we’re recording this on a winter warm-up weekend which

Every everybody knows is it’s Z degrees outside you’re uh you’re not used to the cold where you come from but uh I’m sure you’re ready to get get out of here and get down to spring training yeah I had to dig deep into my closet to try to

Find anything that would keep me warm luckily it was a a just a short walk across the street uh didn’t have to Brave the elements too much but yeah I’m I would much rather be in the Florida weather uh than this cold right now no

Doubt so what’s it been like man you uh you get named bench coach uh not too long ago so what’s it been like for you back in the family uh back here with with Cardinal fans hearing from them I’m sure uh you know we know Cardinal fans are going to going

To voice their opinion going to let you know obviously not the season that the organization was looking for last year but a lot of changes uh being made to address those and so as you’re getting ready here for spring training coming up I what what’s the last few months been

Like for you yeah it’s been a little bit of a whirlwind um still getting used to bench coach as my title and you know being associated with my name so um but it’s been fun just uh talking with olly and and his staff and getting to know uh

The coaching staff kind of getting brought back into the family like you said um it was fun to get down to the winter meetings and meet a lot of the guys upstairs and and um try to just you know learn how we do stuff on on the

Coaching side and and with our analytics um and it’s been a lot of positive feedback from the fan base um you know obviously last year did not go um according to plan and what Cardinals nation is is used to so you you’ve seen us go out and sign some pitching uh

Pitchers which is you know obviously it was a point of emphasis um one of them being being Lance Lynn and I think that was announced the same day that I was announced so we had a we had some good back and forth um it’s going to be fun

To to be be in the same Dugout with him as well as some some my other former teammates and just uh to be back at Bush um wear the Cardinal uniform it it was a great opportunity and one that I’m really excited about so walk me through

How that opportunity happens um you know obviously you and Mar mool are are close uh I mean has there was there any discussions beforehand of hey i’ want to get back involved in this or you know I mean how does that happen to they reach

Out you reach out to them how how did all that come about yeah so I’ve I’ve done a couple of things uh some Alum Cardinal alumni things here over the last few years and I always you know check in with Olli and and we kind of

Talk and he always gives me like hey you know you are going to get back in the game what do you want to do and at at that time you know I I had just stopped playing I was back at school finishing my degree um and then last year I came

Back as a member of the the Diamondbacks uh Player Development like baseball op staff and so that was my first foray back into uh back into baseball but on the on the other side of the game and um after after the Dbacks uh got eliminated by the Rangers in the World Series um

The dbck GM called me and said hey you know I got a call from Mo they they want to talk to you about uh a position on their on their big league staff I think I think it’s a Dugout position he didn’t really know um and obviously I didn’t

Know what what the role is going to be so I’m like you know sure he he asked do you want do you want to talk to him I’m like yeah of course I love to hear what they have to say like I’ll be stupid to

Say no so um we set up a zoom with uh myself Mo and Ollie and it kind of laid out um what they had in mind and and eventually it kind of got to the point where they said yeah you would like you to be uh you know the bench coach and I

Was like wow you know that’s that’s a big big step um but a great opportunity um to get in the Dugout at at a high level um and have a real impact on what these guys are trying to do so uh obviously it it was a tough decision because it’s

It’s it’s going to be a lot but it’s I’m I’m excited about the challenge um I’m excited about the opportunity and so that’s kind of how how it came about um and and it just uh it worked out for everybody so a lot of people Matt holiday obviously named bench coach last

Year and then ended up didn’t working out and a lot of people asked me about that I said man it’s hard you got to understand you know one his his son and just take a number one overall he wants to be there for that he’s got another

Son that when I talked to Matt in spring training he kind of Chuckles he’s like you know Jackson gets all this attention he’s like people don’t know about Ethan yet you know so Ethan’s coming he’s going to be the number one overall pick most likely as number one Prospect as of

Right now I believe is a junior um you know and I think there was that that pull that family Dynamic pull so like you talked about it is a tough decision like I I hope people understand people ask me all the time you ever want to get

Back into coaching and man it’s so it’s such a time commitment so players get here let’s just say let’s say 1:00 okay coaches get here here at what time you think I mean before that yeah I mean you’re talking 11:00 11 you know 11:30 they’re getting here getting prepped

They’re here afterwards you know they’re after the players leave you know so it’s such a time of spring training you know it’s not show up do your thing leave after five innings like the veterans do I mean those coaches those are long days down there for the coaches so you know

Talk about that that decision with your wife and you know talk about your family Dynamic I know you got young kids and you know that’s a that’s a tough decision yeah you know I had a pretty cush gig in Arizona like I set my own schedule I flew in when it worked around

Like I could still coach my kids and stuff and um I I think if I would have stayed there I I would have taken on some more responsibility and maybe not have that flexibility but I I had a good like you know uh a good gig over there

With in terms of like schedule and stuff but um when the Cardinals called and when it’s people you’re familiar with and organization that you have history with and and olly who we go back to 2007 we got drafted together and roommates in the minor leagues like I don’t think I

Would have left uh for just any organization and any opportunity it had to be the right one and so just talking to my wife and and figuring out how it was going to work with our kids and and what the season looks like um there probably going to be a lot of traveling

On my end on some off days and stuff and they’re they’re probably not going to be out here the whole time but you know she was very supportive and she she understood the opportunity that was in front of me and and if I want to get

Back into the game and get in at a high level and have an impact that this was you know this was something that we had to sit down and talk about and figure out if it could work and um you know like I said she was very supportive

About it it’s it’s a lot you know it’s a lot of work for during spring training I I run this I schedule all spring training so I’ve talked to a couple people uh skip about that a couple other guys that I know around the league that

That have done the bench coach stuff and scheduling they like be ready to you know have to be able to Pivot with weather and you know checking in with with medical and you know guys that who’s throwing what what working groups all that stuff so um we’re starting to

Put that schedule together now and then you know during the season the coaches are here longer than the players um but like I said the the chance to come back to the Cardinals and and help get this thing back going to where we’re used to being was was just a great opportunity

Too good to pass up yeah no doubt and and I I sympathize with I have two kids I coach them you know and it’s like man that’s that’s hard like if something were to come up and to walk away from that but still want to be there for your

Kids and their development process and things like that it’s like you know okay you can come in here and hit and work with the guys down here and you know go around put the uniform on and go out there would is is an awesome experience too so there’s a trade-off right I mean

There’s the there’s the give and take on it so let’s talk about the responsibilities of a bench coach you know it ain’t uh just sitting sitting there you know eating sunflower seeds and kind of just answering a couple questions for Ali as it goes let’s start

In spring training as as when this this is about to air spring training is just getting ready to kick off and I know for a bench coach I mean that is your time to show shine that is everybody’s looking at you for everything so talk about responsibilities there and then

Also what those responsibilities and relationship with a marmo is going to be uh during the season and now you know marmo is also the bench coach as well so he understands these roles and I’m sure he’s helping you along with that and telling you exactly what he wants from

You uh your job is to assist him and do whatever he needs essentially so uh talk about that a little bit and what how you see those roles playing out yeah you know we’ll start with with spring training obviously there’s a lot of guys in Camp um the whole roster plus the

Non-roster invite so we got to make sure that all those guys get their work in that um and and are ready to go for the season but more importantly the those guys those 26 guys that are going to you know be here opening day we got to get

Those guys ready so um just balancing work groups do we want to you know put some younger guys with some veteran guys teach those guys how how we do things around here make sure we cover all the fundamentals um make sure guys are getting their work in but not

Overworking themselves we you know want guys ready to go when they show up to spring training but we don’t want to push too too fast um you know but a lot of it’s going to be scheduling stuff um like from admin standpoint basically like uh but pogy the the bullpen catcher

Has has a lot of experience with the scheduling he’s kind of be my my right-hand man through all that process he has all the templates ready to go we’ve already been talking about um you know what it looks like when just pitchers and catchers are there and then

How we transition to a full Squad and obviously uh we have some split Squad games so I’ll be I’ll be the skipper on on I’m sure on on the road trip I will I will have my gray pants ready to go um so yeah but it’ll it’ll be fun um I’m

Excited to get down there and just get to know a lot of the players um I’ve I’ve got a chance to speak with a lot of them over the phone I’ve seen a couple of them in person um but that’s that’s going to be an important job for me in

Spring training too is to build those relationships um so that during the season when we do need to have you know maybe a tough conversation or um we need to talk about the game and what’s going on that these guys know that that they can trust me and that i’ I’ve got their

Best interest um there and then during the season I mean my my job is going be to cover all these blind spots right like the manager’s got so many responsibilities uh from media he’s got to deal with the medical strength conditioning pitchers hitters so wherever I can pick up the slack for him

Um that’s going to be my job and then during the game um just kind of keeping him aware of all all scenarios coming up trying to trying to be a couple Innings ahead like um I remember as a player you know playing for larusa like one of the

Things that I thought he was the best at was just being being two moves ahead of the other manager um I think for him his fear was he was always never wanted to be underprepared right he was always overprepared he he had covered every scenario in his head so that when that

Popped up during the game he wasn’t surprised um and and so that’s going to be my job for Allie is just to lay everything out there for him he’s the manager it’s it’s going to be his decision but it’s going to be my job to present him with with all of our options

Uh you know who we have available what they might do and um so yeah he Alli told me told me to give him everything so I’m G to I’m going to give him everything and I remember when when Oli got hired I was actually at Brian Jordan’s golf tournament Atlanta and we

Were watching the press conference as we were uh playing and a reporter asked him a question about how often did you and shield agree onov moves or things and he said my job is not to agree with him my job is to present him all the possibilities

And for him to select the one he think is he thinks is the best so in this situation I might present him three different options so it looks like I’m disagreeing with him but really I’m saying hey here’s your options and then make the best one that that that you

Think is is fit and so you know that relationship I mean I can only imagine when when they say hey the Cardinals are interested in talking to you you’re like oh okay I wonder what this is going to be you know could be a lot of things

First base coach could be B running guy could be infield coordinator I mean all these different things and all of a sudden when they’re like bench coach I mean you’re like who okay one that shows a deep relationship with Ali like you talked about you guys go way back but

Man there’s so much trust in that that you know you are you know right there with him you can disagree with him you can present him different options of what he’s seeing and making sure that that he’s able to make the the right one in that time yeah and I’m sure we will

Disagree but that that’s okay I I think you don’t want somebody that’s right next to you just say no yeah yeah you should do that or just you know agree with you all the time I think it’s going to be we’re going to have some good healthy discussions about what you know

Even before the game you know how how do we want to how do we want to line this up for tonight who do we have available in the pen Who’s down uh who needs a day on on the offensive side like we’re going to we’re going to go through

Everything before the game and then you know it never goes according to plan out there once the first pitch is thrown and you know we’re going to have a lot of good discussions and and I think it helps that we go back to you know you

Know a lot of years and we kind of came up together in the same system we know what winning looks like we we know what like good fundamental baseball looks like we kind of see it through the same lens um but through different perspective so it’s going to be it’s

Going to be fun to be right next to him and and being like you know right in the in the in the heat of the battle and deciding those things um together is there a uh is there like a main focus in spring training um something that hey we

Really need to you know because I I think fans need to understand like this is the opportunity that you really Hammer fundamentals okay so in the minor leagues just so fans understand in minor leagues you know once every home stand you know the pitchers go out and do

Their thing maybe you’ll get the team together and work off work on like a team fun but really it’s done at the big league level it’s done in those six to eight weeks in spring training every single day there’s there’s a focus on a team fundamental position fundamental

And then throughout the season these guys have been through it enough they kind of know it it’s maybe reminding them of it but you’re not out there every day doing these drills and stuff you know it’s such a long season so you only have really that six weeks to

Really make sure that those things are put in place of the things you want to do the bunt plays the pickoffs the covering the bases making sure all those things that we see throughout the season are really the the the groundwork is laid for that in spring training yeah I

I think you’ve seen it change a little bit the last couple years where nobody really bunts a whole lot anymore we used to hammer those bun plays home because you have the pitcher in the National League and you’re getting at least one or two bunts a game and how can you

Steal out on on a lead Runner so you know we we still have to cover that but you don’t see that as much um I think for us this year last year with the new rules uh with the no shift uh we saw a lot of a lot of ground balls get through

And and I think we’re going to you know kind of clean up our our positioning and if we have to make any adjustments with uh with our model on the computer and and where we put guys um or just trying to put guys in better spots so that that

Our pitchers can go out there and know that they can pitch to contact and and our guys are going to be there um but yeah base running um you know being aggressive on the bases not giving away outs on the bases that that’s something we’re going to talk about a lot um but

Yeah you have to cover all the fundamentals because you can’t get you can’t get the pitchers out there every day and do pfps you know you got to you got to find a way to get him to lock in in spring training and not just uh mess

Around out there but kind of you know no don’t do eyewash but like just lock in because at some point during the season you’re going to have to you know throw a ball to second base up up the mound and like we can’t throw it in the center

Field um so yeah that that’s our time to really just get back to the basics um start a square one don’t take anything for granted and just make sure we cover everything so that during the season when some play happens and you know that hey at least we’ve touched on it in

Spring training at least we talked about it so these guys should have you know some some frame of reference for for when they see it when it counts and the guys that have come up in the system one of the great things I always appreciated

Is how prepared I was when I got to the big leagues cuz from day won in Rickie ball we were doing all these drills and skills so that when you got to the big leagues it it was a refresher you know it’s not something that you have to have

Hammered into but you have guys from new organizations so you got to make sure all the language is right and you know that they understand what what direction you’re trying to go yeah and you see it around the league now guys are getting to the big leagues a lot faster um and

So they they I don’t think they always get uh those fundamentals like really hammered home um and a lot of guys are still learning when they get to the big leagues which makes it a little harder because it’s hard to learn at the big league level like they will find a

Weakness and they will Hammer they will expose you like especially as a hitter now they have so much information in the minor leagues like you get to the big leagues they have a book on you and they’re going to go right after you until you prove you can make an

Adjustment um and you guys just get to the big leagues faster now and and they’re still developing they’re still learning whereas maybe when we were coming up you were expected to be like not a finished product but you you had to be know how to play if you wanted to

Play for Tony you you had to be prepared and you had to know your fundamentals and be fundamentally sound otherwise you’d find yourself back in Memphis pretty quick yeah if you didn’t know a bunt play you weren’t you weren’t sticking around I mean there’s no doubt

They weren’t going to teach it to you there um so fans if that are listening if you’re heading to spring training one of my favorite things to to to have people go do is go early go over and you get access to to watching these things

Happen on the field and how these guys go about their business and you can hear it you’re so close you can hear you who’s going to be running this given the instruction on it and if you’re a coach or you have a kid that plays gosh it is

Just doesn’t get any better the access that these fans can get to watch those those types of things and see how these guys go about it how quickly they go through it I mean it might be a 20-minute station but man they get a lot

Of work done and I think it’s a really cool insight for fans to get to see that behind the-scenes stuff that you can’t come here in Bush Stadium and see that cuz it’s all being done whether if if you are on the field doing it it’s

Before fans are able to come in here so it’s a great opportunity for F to see that yeah you go back on on the back fields and and you’ll see you’ll see okendo working with the infielders you’ll see him literally rolling ground balls to Major League players like

Rolling them from 10 15 feet away very slow like talking about Basics and fundamentals I remember as a player like you know ch’s out there and he’s rolling us balls we’re turning double plays we’re going like very slow but making sure that we have the fundamentals down

Before we progress into you know full speed and off a Fungo and then off off a live off a live bat but you’ll you’ll see very basic stuff very fundamental you know aspects of baseball stuff that you could do with your with your kids and your youth team that that we have to

That’s how we have to start every year you got to start from the beginning and and we and make sure that you know guys are have their legs under them and that we’re we’re feeling the ground ball properly and and we’re we’re doing our bun plays properly and and we’ve we’re

Lining up correctly on on cut offs and relays and we have our first and third plate that like we got to start at the basics every year and and you’ll you’ll see some stuff that that’s very basic but it’s it’s cool to see big Leaguers practice those those basic fundamentals

You can go to a 9u or 10U baseball practice and and the things that you should be working on if you’re not they should be working on that you’ll also see these Major Leaguers working on in spring training and so if you’re a fan go back and see that if you’re heading

To spring training because it’s it’s a great time so let’s talk about the roster a little bit who who you excited to see and and work with um I mean obviously all of them you have to say but like let’s let’s pull mean it’s

Going to be it’s going to be fun to to be with some former teammates of mine um a couple guys that are like my all-time favorites uh Nolan arado uh who we played together in Colorado for a couple years I mean Cardinals fans have got to

See him up close every day now uh for the last couple years and he’s he’s special out there um on on both sides of the baseball I I used to joke that um he would turn you know doubles into double plays at third like you hit a shot down

The hot corner and he’ll you know dive back in throw to throw a second now you got a double play he’s saving his pitchers runs you know left and right um it’s a luxury to have have him out there and and just the way that he works I

I’ve seen him come into into the first day of spring training and he’s like locked in July like July form um I think it was my my second year in Colorado so 2016 we signed Mark Reynolds uh as a free agent you know Mark played a lot of

Third as a as a younger player but he had played mostly first the last couple years leading up to that so we go out there uh position players haven’t even reported yet we’re just out there early taking ground balls with the with the infield guy um and Mark goes over to third with

Nolan and couple of us are like hey don’t don’t go take ground balls with the last person you want to take ground balls with in February is Nolan cuz he’s like locked in ready to go mid season form him so and Mark jokes he’s like I

Don’t I don’t think I’ve taken a ground ball since the last day of the Season I’m not sure I was like all right this should be good uh so sure enough like he’s over there Nolan’s backhand jump throw spinning the hole Mark’s literally like knocking balls down off his picking

Him up and throw to first I think he took like three or four grounders over there and then he’s like I’m going to first B guys I’m like yeah good good idea Mark so that’s just an idea of like the work that Nolan puts in in the off

Season too that he’s like he’s ready to go he wants to play like nine innings that first day of spring training um so he’s he’s gonna it’s going to be fun to to be in The Dugout with him again this year and then Goldie um from our time in

Arizona together just like what a superstar that no one talks about yeah um I mean finally want MVP over here uh but the way that he sets the tone um by doing every all the little things you know he runs the base as well he he gets

Down the line on routine ground balls like if Goldie can do that that everyone else on the team can do that and so he really sets the tone and and the way he prepares and his knowledge in the box like how he knows a pitcher is going to

Try to get him out and the bats that he takes are are just they’re amazing so excited to be back with him and then you know excited to to see Wilson um contras you know I know it was a it was a tough year last year but the second half he he

Really played well and it’s it’s hard I mean replacing yachty right like that’s one thing and then be being on a new team like just new people new place like it’s a big adjustment and then you have those expectations those shoes to fill um you know it’s a daunting task for

Anybody but I think you saw in the second half he made some he either settled in or made some adjustments and and had a really good second half um so th those three former teammates it’s going to be fun to to be around them again and then I I just ran into Mason

Wi for the first time and just watching some of his um his athleticism on video like he’s a special athlete um you know I followed Jordan Walker a little bit after he made the team last year and and just uh he he’s so young and he’s he’s

Got like all the talent in the world so I’m excited to to see him every day um but the roster is full of great athletes I’ve gotten to talk to a lot of these guys I I I saw I caught up with um Dylan Carlson and Nolan Gorman when I was in

Arizona over over over the holidays and and just hearing them talk and and how excited they are to get to Florida um get to spring training they’re both healthy ready to go and and so just it’s it’s going to be fun there’s a lot of good athletes I think there’s a lot of

Guys that are eager to prove that last year was just a one-off and not something that we’re going to have to worry about going forward I I was on the Caravan with Mason wi and you know part of the the things I enjoy most about

Caravan is you get get a chance to you know you watch them on on TV and I see it differently um now you know when you’re done playing you kind of watch sparingly here and there you know uh you don’t you don’t hang on if they win or

Lose every every game like you did as a player and uh and then for me it’s my kids so my kids as I watch them become fans then you re-engage as a fan you know and so you get to to watch it every day through their eyes and and and

Seeing how cool they think it is is and and it gets you back into it you know and so you get to see these players and then you’re on the Caravan you get to be around them a little bit and um you know I mean call it what it is sometimes

You’re around him you’re like okay I don’t know and then man I tell you what I was so impressed with Mason win here’s a 21y old kid a top prospect always been you know a Phenom and I mean he just gets it you know and and and and like you said

You’re you’re depending on younger players more than ever you look at this roster right now you have a great mix of guys that have been there done that and big names and man there is a ton of young Talent here and Mason wi’s going to be in the middle of that you talk

About the potential he has with his arm with his speed as his Bat starts to develop I mean you’re looking at at the Cornerstone of this infield and potentially this organization for a long time now there’s there’s a lot of development still to go but man it just

Seems like being around him it’s like this guy’s got it figured out at a very very young age man he could be very very dangerous and a huge huge huge part for this team yeah and and one great thing that he got to experience last year was

Getting to come up in September and kind of get his feet wet and see what it’s like in the big leagues and and I know he struggled at the plate you know um and so then you go you go into the offseason all right this is what I have

To work on I I can’t maybe do the same things I did in double A and triaa I might have to make some adjustments but it’s it’s good it’s okay to struggle and to learn how to how to I battle out of a slump or what adjustments do I have to

Make as a young player in order to maximize my potential and um but I think his athleticism uh his arm obviously like that that’s stuff that you can’t teach and that doesn’t come along very often um and and These Guys these younger players they get to the big

Leagues and and they’ve they have a chance to you know work on some some things through this offseason that they didn’t might not have done so successfully um I I know that you know Jordan Walker had a great a a great rookie season for a 21y old people talk

About like you know he got he got sent down but if you look at his numbers like what what other 21y old can do that like there’s not very many so there there’s some special talent out there um you’re looking for these guys to like take that

Next step um going into into 24 um and so we’re excited to to see those young guys out there well and they don’t the the great thing about them they got that exposure last year um to to to kind of get hungry going in the offseason of

What we got to work on but you’re not asking them to come in and carry the load no you know I mean you have those guys it’s hey come up and and like you said it’s hard to learn at the big leagues but come learn what it’s like to

Be a big leager and how to go about it every day and you know kind of Shadow these guys a little bit and that the stuff’s going to come I mean that the bats going to come but it you are going to struggle a little bit at first I mean

It’s just a different level um you know on the Caravan I was talking about how um George Kissle I was throwing a bullpen uh next to Chris Carpenter and he was rehabbing uh he had just had shoulder surgery I was a rookie ball guy and he said you know the difference

Between you and him isn’t stuff it’s consistency and the consistency of that every level whether it’s rookie ball the a ball AB ball to high a high a to double a double A to Triple A that consistency jumps a very large amount you know at each level it’s not a small

Jump every and now you got less teams so I would imagine those jumps are even bigger at you know in the minor leagues they they got rid of some of the teams so um guys are having to make more adjustments at each level and uh and they’re going to make those adjustments

At the big league it’s going to take time they’re not going to come out and hit you know 320 right out of the gate I remember yachty when he came up you know yachty really struggled at the plate um and uh and all of a sudden you know it

Clicked in it’s going to take a little bit but knowing that those guys hey just play your role go out and play defense figure out what it is and make adjustments every day as you go through here uh is going to be better and better

But you have a great mix of of your young your old if you will your veteran guys and and those guys in between and um you know when you look at this team when I look at this team you know offense and defense is is really a strength of this team the pitching

Obviously has been addressed in the offseason we’ll see how it plays out but uh I mean that these guys are coming into a really good situation to go out there and be successful uh right out of the gate I I want to transition as we

Came up in a in a similar time and the game now is different you know and I I don’t like the well back when I played but the game’s changed I talked to Mike Shannon about this in spring training uh a couple years ago and he said Ma how

Much uh how much has the game changed in your opinion and I said man I said my I think it’s changed more in the last 10 years than probably the previous hundred and he was like he start he gave his chuckle and his laugh and he was like

Boy you you know you could say that again I mean it is there has been so many CH so how do you and I know you’ve been in it so you were kind of in that transition a little bit but how how does that is it hard for you because you came

Up one way seeing it one way and things are different with the analytics with you know no buting and you know I mean you grew up in that game and and kind of mastering that game so now sitting there how hard is it it to you for you to make

Those adjustments to to today’s game and today’s style well I I think for me I got to experience some of that transition as I was playing um towards the SEC latter half of my career started using more of those analytics um into like my my everyday work and and how can

I get better by by using this information that we have like you know when I first came up you’re like you talking about a pitcher this guy has you know a fastball slider change up here’s what he here’s what his out pitch is now you’re talking about this guy has carry

Extension like vertical rise whatever you want to call it and there’s just a lot more information out there so how do we how do we as a staff like sift through some of that information and give it to the players into something that can be useful like you you can put

A stack of papers on somebody’s chair in their locker and it might not do any good if they don’t know how to use that information so that’s where we can work with the guys upstairs and and kind of translate this stuff into stuff that’s useful and some guys some players want

More information some guys want less how do we tailor it to individuals um to maximize I mean the last thing you want to do in in the Batters box is like all right be thinking about X Y and Z and and my my swing and this and that it’s

Hard enough to hit at the bigly level you you compound it with a bunch of thoughts going through your head and and good luck you know I’ve been there before like what are my hands doing and then it’s O O2 I’m like how did I even get here um and then

You know from from a pitching standpoint I I think you know we’re we’re going to be in a better spot this year to to game plan for um for the opposing opposing hitters and and how we want to attack those guys and um but yeah the the game

Has has evolved um you know obviously a lot more strikeouts more walks less balls in play um we’ve got you know rules about how many times you can pick over uh pitch clock and I I was honestly I was skeptical about about the pitch clock um

But I thought it was I thought it was pretty positive last year I mean I think there were some adjustments early on um but after a while you don’t even really notice it right and a lot of these guys coming up from the minor leagues are used to it because it’s implemented at

The minor league level and the game just the game seemed to flow a little bit better and I just didn’t want to see that affect the outcome of any game like I understand at some point like there’s a point in the game where the pitcher like he might need to regroup and like

Focus and I’m I was all for that um but I think guys got to a point where they were used to the pitch clock and you know by the end of by the end of the season I thought it was you know really smooth so the game’s changed it’s still

The same like basic game but the nuances have changed the um some some details have changed but you still got to pitch and you still got to catch the ball and and those are the teams that that that win so um that’s what we’re going to

Focus on well I’m going to let you get out of here cuz I know you got a busy day ahead with the fans and and media and autographs and all that but really appreciate you uh coming by spending the time with us giving some insight into uh

What those conversations are like in The Dugout what the preparations like uh so really appreciate and I’m excited to have you back I I I think you know there’s the Cardinals do such a great job of keeping uh tradition and keeping kind of the history alive and the more

You know I saw it on this Caravan with the guys you could tell you know we’re kind of losing that gap of guys that were around when you know the we won the World Series in 11 and these guys I was with it was like it was like man that’s

A you know that’s really cool you guys they want to know about the World Series kind of uh Mason wi pointed out to me that he was born the year I graduated high school um that makes you feel good yeah it makes me feel great so you know

It just I you can see um that there’s a lot from the younger guys of like man we want to get back to I want to be a part of that you know and um and so I think it’s great to have you in the mix and

And uh you’re going to do a great job at it so thanks again for stopping by not that I’m going to be out on on the field by any means but like with weno being gone now yeah you know there’s there’s not really Lance is

Back and Lance was on that 11 team but before signing Lance there was no connection to those um those World Series teams those those pennant teams so it’s it’s been I mean there there’s been some good Seasons here the last few years but there hasn’t been that deep

October run that that we’re looking for and we’re hoping that we can we can get back to that in the norm then that experience is is a lot I don’t I don’t know if people understand that no matter what your role was on that team if

You’re on that team it’s people look at you differently I remember when I left here and and uh talked to John Daniels with the Rangers and he was like we we want people that have won yeah I mean that the first like we know what you can

Do on the field but man you’ve been a part of that and we want as much as that is in our organization as we possibly can because it’s different you know it’s just different once you get labeled as a winner or a winning player and you come

From winning organiz a like that opens up a lot of doors for you on the field later on people want people want to know what did you guys do over there to to be successful and and they want they want to grab a hold of that yeah well I’m

Excited I’m glad the young guys get an opportunity to be around you and learn from you because uh you’re going to do a great job at it so thanks again for being here and you can uh listen to any of our podcast or watch any of our

Podcast that we’ve done over the last couple years you can check it out anywhere you get your podcast or go to the Cardinals St Louis Cardinal YouTube page and uh you can watch video of Albert Pool uh Adam way W yier Molina all the guys

We have done over the last two years and get caught up so thanks for joining we’ll see you guys next month