Locked On Rangers Podcast: Marcus Semien picks up where he left off in Arizona, Jon Smoltz denies anti-Rangers bias, and Corey Seager's stardom is real.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Corey Seager is coming off the best season of his life.
00:02 But on today's show, I'm breaking down why
00:03 it wasn't just a flash in the pan.
00:05 It's the new standard for Seager.
00:07 That, and Marcus Simeon finishing what he started
00:09 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series.
00:11 All that and more on this episode of Locked on Rangers.
00:13 Let's get into it.
00:15 You are Locked on Rangers.
00:19 Your daily Texas Rangers podcast.
00:22 Part of the Locked on Podcast Network.
00:26 Your team, every day.
00:28 [theme music]
00:30 You are Locked on to the World Series champion, Texas Rangers.
00:42 I'm Bryce Patrick, a cripplingly addicted Texas Rangers fan
00:44 covering this team for 10 seasons,
00:46 including all five as the founder and host of this podcast.
00:49 Thank y'all so much for making Locked on Rangers
00:51 your first listen every single day.
00:52 If you're not already, you can follow me on Twitter @BrycePatrick.
00:55 You can follow the show @LockedOnRangers.
00:58 Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform
01:00 and on YouTube, where the best way you can help grow the show
01:02 is to comment nearly any single thing below.
01:05 Before we get into Marcus Simeon
01:07 picking up where he left off against the Diamondbacks,
01:09 John Smoltz saying that he wasn't biased against the Rangers,
01:13 and Corey Seager's new level of expectations,
01:16 today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.
01:18 Make every moment more.
01:20 New customers join today and you'll get $150 in bonus bets
01:23 if your first bet of $5 or more wins.
01:26 Just visit FanDuel.com/LockedOn to get started.
01:30 Now the Rangers played the Arizona Diamondbacks
01:33 on Tuesday in Arizona.
01:36 And well, last time that happened,
01:38 you might remember the game.
01:40 It was November 1st, 2023.
01:43 It ended with a Josh Spores glove spike
01:46 and was really actually ended by a Marcus Simeon
01:50 capping home run to make it a five-nothing lead
01:53 for the Rangers to win their first ever
01:56 World Series championship.
01:59 A delightful moment, but almost equally delightful,
02:04 was this 10-3 drubbing in the Cactus League.
02:07 I'm sure just as important as the World Series game five
02:11 that won this franchise its first ever championship,
02:14 won most of those players their first ever championship.
02:18 But no, this Cactus League game, I'm sure,
02:20 had equal stakes for the young men
02:23 wearing those Texas Rangers uniforms.
02:26 And the last at-bat Marcus Simeon had in the postseason
02:30 was a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
02:32 And his first home run in spring training,
02:34 the Rangers' first home run in spring training,
02:37 of course came in his first game
02:39 against those Arizona Diamondbacks.
02:41 Of course it was on the road.
02:42 Of course it was Marcus Simeon against the new,
02:46 one of the new best pitchers on this Arizona Diamondbacks staff
02:50 Eduardo Rodriguez, who had just a really rough day
02:53 at the ballpark.
02:55 I mean, one inning, four hits, four earned runs,
02:57 couple walks, couple home runs,
02:59 just not the outing that they were hoping for.
03:02 It is spring training for everybody,
03:04 and his first outing for the Diamondbacks.
03:06 Not the best one, but it doesn't particularly matter.
03:09 A big offensive day for the Rangers in general.
03:12 A hit and a walk for Marcus Simeon.
03:15 And also we got to see the first base knock
03:17 of Wyatt Langford's spring training,
03:19 which of course came off the bat at 103 miles an hour
03:23 because nothing that dude hits is soft.
03:26 Some hard contact from all around from Davis Wenzel,
03:29 107 miles an hour off the bat.
03:31 Not the hardest hit ball of the day.
03:32 Josh Smith and Nathaniel Loeb both hit one
03:35 108.6 miles an hour off the bat.
03:38 I mean, Josh Smith, when he gets into one,
03:41 he really has got a lot more power than plays up in games.
03:46 I mean, I remember him hitting a ball 110 plus miles an hour
03:49 a massive, massive shot.
03:50 I believe that was against the Astros in the regular season.
03:54 But Smith has got some pop in there.
03:56 He's got some good plate discipline,
03:59 and he's a good defender at shortstop.
04:01 I mean, people kind of forget how good this guy can be.
04:05 And the fact that he is maybe your second backup shortstop
04:11 shows how good a place this Rangers roster is in
04:13 when you've got guys like Josh Smith
04:15 as your third string shortstop,
04:18 your second string utility player.
04:21 The guy can hit, the guy can field.
04:23 He is a good overall player.
04:25 And just seeing these Rangers play up against the Diamondbacks,
04:28 I mean, the jokes, the tweets, the broadcast comments,
04:33 they write themselves.
04:34 I mean, just saying, "Oh, yep, here we go.
04:36 Here's the Rangers against the Diamondbacks,
04:37 and here they go.
04:38 They have a four game winning streak
04:39 against the Diamondbacks."
04:41 And just, I mean, I feel like every single moment
04:43 of the spring training, every moment of this off season,
04:47 it's just been, at least on this podcast,
04:50 it's been me saying, "Hey, remember when the Rangers
04:51 won the World Series?"
04:53 And playing against the Diamondbacks
04:55 made that all the more easy.
04:57 Just saying, "Hey, look at these two teams
04:59 facing off against each other."
05:01 I wonder if Diamondbacks fans absolutely hated that.
05:03 I'm sure my fellow Locked On podcast network host,
05:07 Miller Thomas, host of Locked On Diamondbacks,
05:09 he did not appreciate me tagging him
05:11 in Marcus Simeon's home run from the World Series.
05:16 He did not like that.
05:17 And I apologize to Millard, who was not feeling it.
05:21 I wonder if Diamondbacks fans in general
05:23 feel vitriol towards Rangers fans.
05:27 I remember when the Rangers lost the World Series in 2010
05:29 to the Giants, they just got beat.
05:31 They won one game.
05:33 And I didn't feel a whole lot of vitriol
05:35 towards Giants fans, or Bruce Bochy at the time,
05:38 or Tim Lincecum, or Buster Posey.
05:40 Just like, "Yep, they beat the Rangers.
05:43 Good on them.
05:44 Hat tip.
05:46 Mad respect."
05:47 But 2011 was clearly a different story.
05:49 I still-- I'm gonna have a hard time
05:52 not harboring resentment for the St. Louis Cardinals
05:55 for the rest of my life,
05:56 even though the Rangers got their championship,
05:58 even though that monkey is off their back,
06:00 even though that drought is gone,
06:02 that curse is done, that Game 6,
06:05 David Fries home run can't hurt us anymore.
06:10 The triple can't hurt us anymore.
06:13 None of it can hurt us anymore.
06:14 But I still have a little bit of resentment.
06:16 And I'm curious if Dimebacks feel that
06:19 against the Rangers, which is funny because,
06:21 you know, how every team, every American League team
06:23 has a National League team that Major League Baseball decides,
06:26 "This is your interleague rival.
06:28 This is the team you're gonna play home and home with
06:30 two games at home, two games on the road
06:32 every single year."
06:34 For some teams, it makes more sense.
06:36 When the Rangers had the Astros in the National League,
06:40 it was the interleague rivalry,
06:44 international rivalry, not international.
06:46 The interleague rivalry was the Astros.
06:48 Now that has changed to the Dimebacks,
06:49 which there wasn't a whole lot tying these two teams together.
06:52 And so one good part of this World Series
06:55 that I think we're overlooking is that
06:57 every year, the Rangers are gonna get to go to Chase Field.
07:01 And every year when that happens,
07:04 we're all gonna say, "Huh,
07:06 I have some pretty nice memories at Chase Field."
07:08 I mean, maybe you weren't there.
07:10 I wasn't there.
07:11 But I remember watching some games
07:12 that happened at Chase Field.
07:14 And I remember the Rangers not losing at all
07:17 in Chase Field and winning a championship.
07:19 And that Josh Bores called strike three.
07:21 And that Josh Bores glove spike.
07:23 And everything about this World Series
07:26 that comes with those memories.
07:27 But this was a nice little fond memory
07:31 playing off against Arizona in the desert,
07:34 in Arizona, winning against Arizona,
07:36 and just having those memories come flooding back.
07:38 I mean, any opportunity to remember
07:41 any part of that World Series run,
07:42 I'm gonna be so annoying about it all year
07:44 and probably for the rest of my life about saying,
07:46 "Oh, hey, the Rangers are playing against the Orioles."
07:50 Remember when the Rangers swept the Orioles in the ALDS?
07:52 Oh, hey, the Rangers are playing against the Rays today.
07:56 Remember when the Rangers swept the Rays
07:58 in the wild card round?
08:00 Remember how every time the Rangers have played the Rays
08:02 in the playoffs in the first round,
08:04 they have gone to the World Series?
08:06 That still holds true.
08:08 That still very much holds true.
08:11 And you better believe, you better believe every time,
08:15 every time the Rangers and Astros square off,
08:19 especially in Minute Maid Park,
08:23 I'm gonna be really annoying
08:24 and remind every Astros fan on the planet,
08:26 "Hey, do you remember what happened
08:28 "the last time the Rangers and Astros
08:30 "faced off in the playoffs?
08:32 "The last time that the Rangers played there at Minute Maid?"
08:36 The Texas Rangers have an active five-game winning streak
08:38 at Minute Maid Park,
08:40 and I was delighted to see the Astros
08:42 promoting the series against the Rangers in Houston
08:47 as a rematch of the ALCS,
08:50 like the Rangers don't have a five-game
08:52 active winning streak at Minute Maid Park.
08:56 Now, don't ask me what the active winning streak
08:57 for the Astros is at Global High Field.
08:59 That doesn't matter. The Rangers won the series.
09:01 You get to be annoying about that forever
09:03 to every Astros fan for the rest of time
09:05 until there is a time if the Rangers ever lose
09:09 to the Astros in the playoffs, which they haven't.
09:11 So be annoying about it.
09:13 Be super annoying about it to Astros fans
09:16 'cause you better believe they would turn those tables
09:18 and do the exact same thing to you.
09:20 Coming up, we're talking about an important outing
09:22 from Jack Leiter, why I'm still a big believer in him,
09:27 and John Smoltz saying he wasn't biased
09:30 against the Rangers in the playoffs
09:31 right after this break from our sponsors.
09:33 (silence)
09:36 This episode is brought to you by FanDuel.
09:38 Get buckets with your first bet on FanDuel,
09:40 America's number one sports book,
09:42 because right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets
09:45 with any winning $5 bet.
09:47 That's $150 if your bet wins.
09:50 You can place all kinds of different bets later on.
09:52 I'm talking about why Corey Seager's second finish--
09:55 second place finish in the MVP
09:56 is just the new standard for right now.
09:58 And, you know, he's plus 850 in the odds
10:01 to win the American League MVP in 2024
10:04 behind just Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.
10:07 Or if you wanted to bet on someone else,
10:08 the Rangers to win AL MVP, next best odds are Marcus Simeon,
10:12 who I believe has the 12th best odds,
10:14 if my math here is correct.
10:16 Or if you want to go way off the board,
10:18 Josh Young, plus 12,000 to win AL MVP.
10:22 That would be a huge breakout season for my boy, Josh Young.
10:26 But check it out.
10:27 Go to fanduel.com/lockedon and shoot your shot.
10:30 Fanduel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA.
10:33 Shout out to the everydayers for making Lockdown Rangers
10:39 your first listen every single day.
10:40 On tomorrow, we'll be back and talking about
10:42 what to expect from Josh Young
10:44 in his second full season in the big leagues.
10:47 Now, yesterday's game, we saw a massive offensive outburst
10:51 for the Rangers' hitters.
10:53 Pitchers were fine.
10:55 Dane Dunning had a solid outing,
10:57 had a couple of strikeouts, finally.
10:58 Got to see the strikeout ball for Dane Dunning.
11:01 I'm not entirely sure if he was throwing his new pitch.
11:04 He only threw it once in his first outing
11:06 and spiked it very badly.
11:07 I'm still convinced that pitch is a splitter,
11:10 but he is not giving any actual updates
11:13 on what that pitch is.
11:15 He's trying to be very secretive about it.
11:16 But one of the only other pitchers
11:18 that pitched multiple innings in that game for the Rangers
11:20 was Jack Leiter.
11:22 A couple innings, four hits,
11:23 some very hard contact for him, even in the fly outs.
11:26 Did get a strikeout, one earned run,
11:28 but the important thing,
11:31 no walks for Mr. Jack Leiter.
11:36 Now, the problem with Leiter,
11:37 there's been a few different problems,
11:39 mainly the lack of ability to make adjustments,
11:42 the missing glove side pretty much every time
11:45 with his fastball,
11:47 and just the very high walk rate.
11:51 That has been a big problem for Mr. Jack Leiter.
11:54 But one of the things I found very interesting,
11:57 I wanted to see a little bit more of his off-speed stuff,
11:59 of his, not off-speed stuff, his breaking pitches.
12:03 I'd like to see him use that a little bit more effectively
12:05 for some called strikes,
12:06 because if he can get some called strikes
12:08 with that curveball, with that slider,
12:10 and then get hitters to respect it
12:12 and then chase out of the zone,
12:15 that will be very, very effective.
12:17 He has been relying quite a bit on his fastball.
12:21 He also got a strikeout with his cutter.
12:23 Those are the two pitches that he threw the most.
12:24 The four-seam fastball,
12:26 which was sitting in the mid-90s,
12:29 which was very nice.
12:30 The max velocity was 98 miles an hour on that pitch,
12:35 which was really nice to see.
12:38 And getting a swing and miss from the cutter,
12:40 a new pitch he kind of incorporated
12:42 in the back end of last year.
12:44 His dad had a very, very nice cutter.
12:46 As a lefty, it worked very well for him.
12:48 I think the cutter will add a lot to his repertoire
12:50 if he can keep that curveball and that slider
12:53 as both very good pitches.
12:55 Also threw a sinker,
12:56 which I don't think I've ever seen him
12:58 throw a sinker before.
12:59 So that's a nice addition to his repertoire
13:01 to get people off the four-seam fastball,
13:03 which he has been absolutely living and dying with.
13:07 And even though he has struggled with those walks
13:10 when he's been in the zone,
13:12 a lot of times he has given up a lot of hard contact.
13:14 He has not thrown quality strikes.
13:16 And because hitters don't have to respect
13:19 his curveball and his slider,
13:20 being able to get those called strikes with those pitches,
13:23 it makes him be able to just sit on the fastball.
13:26 And even though the fastball has a lot of velocity
13:28 and it has a good shape to it as well,
13:31 if big league hitters or, heck,
13:33 even if advanced minor league hitters
13:36 know that they can just basically sit on your fastball,
13:39 they're gonna tee that thing up.
13:41 And so getting the control,
13:43 the command of that curveball, of that slider
13:45 is going to do huge things for him,
13:47 just trusting his stuff
13:48 and not trying to be too perfect.
13:51 That was one of the things that he talked about
13:52 in, after the game, he talked with Sean McFarland
13:55 of the Dallas Morning News
13:57 about how a lot of times he's putting
13:58 too high of expectations on himself
14:00 to try and go out there and be too perfect.
14:02 And Bruce Bochy also said out of the game,
14:04 he said, "Hey, just trust your stuff.
14:06 "Just go out there and do your thing.
14:09 "Try not to overanalyze everything."
14:12 I think he's definitely a very heady,
14:14 very analytical pitcher, a guy who wants all the data.
14:18 I mean, Vanderbilt is a place where you can get all the data.
14:20 I think that's definitely a big reason
14:22 why he chose to go there, chose to pitch there.
14:25 He is not one of those guys who's just a feel guy
14:28 and throw the numbers out.
14:30 He is very particular, very analytical,
14:33 very detail-oriented about every single bit of his arsenal.
14:38 And so I think kind of simplifying things
14:39 might be helpful for him.
14:40 I'm still a big believer in lighter
14:42 and him just going out there and trusting his stuff
14:44 and just pitching.
14:46 Just go out there and pitch and go at guys.
14:50 I think when he's done that,
14:51 he has had his most success in the minor leagues,
14:54 and I would really like to see him go out there
14:57 and just do that this year.
14:59 I'm still not entirely sure
15:00 what the Rangers should expect for him in this year.
15:04 I mean, he was averaging 96 miles an hour with the fastball.
15:06 That was very good.
15:08 The cutter was averaging about 88 and a half miles an hour.
15:11 That was solid.
15:13 But I think getting those breaking pitches
15:16 a little bit more under control,
15:18 because one of the things that made him such a high draft pick
15:20 and made him so intriguing as a prospect
15:23 when the Rangers were drafting him
15:24 was because both those breaking pitches
15:27 profiled as pitches that could be plus to double plus even
15:32 at the big league level.
15:33 The fastball was obvious.
15:34 The fastball profile, the velocity, all of that,
15:37 all those characteristics were very obvious.
15:40 But again, like I've said,
15:43 if big league hitters know what's coming,
15:46 it doesn't matter how good or how fast that fastball is.
15:48 It doesn't matter if you're throwing Jacob deGrom's fastball
15:51 and it's averaging like 100 miles an hour
15:53 with crazy spin on it,
15:55 and you can throw it on a dime exactly where you want.
16:00 Big league hitters are too good
16:02 for you to just have one pitch
16:04 and not have a wide arsenal,
16:06 especially as a starting pitcher
16:08 when you're trying to go through the order
16:09 of one, two, three, maybe even four times.
16:12 I'm still a believer in Jack Leiter.
16:13 He's still very young, and despite the expectations
16:16 that he would just breeze through the minor league system,
16:19 that hasn't happened, and that's fine.
16:21 There's no such thing as a pitching prospect,
16:23 but I'm still a believer in Jack Leiter
16:25 as a pitching prospect,
16:26 and I am still a believer in this team's ability
16:30 to hopefully develop one number three caliber
16:33 starting pitcher at some point maybe in my lifetime.
16:37 The other piece of news that came out the other day
16:39 was from John Smoltz, who went on 105.3 The Fan,
16:44 who had some things to say on his own behalf
16:47 about his call of the Rangers' run
16:50 through the World Series.
16:52 He had three different series covering the Rangers
16:55 in the ALDS against the Orioles,
16:57 in the ALCS against the Astros,
17:00 and of course in the World Series,
17:02 and despite my own Rangers bias,
17:06 I like to think that I have a pretty good head
17:08 on my shoulders, a pretty good awareness
17:10 for what constitutes a broadcaster bias.
17:14 It's been a while since the Rangers have had
17:16 a lot of nationally televised games,
17:18 and so a lot of other fan bases were saying,
17:19 "Oh no, you Rangers fans, you're totally overreacting.
17:22 "You don't even know what it's like
17:23 "to be on a national broadcast.
17:25 "You don't know what it's like to not have
17:26 "just homers on your broadcast."
17:28 And I absolutely push back on that.
17:30 Rangers fans have had national broadcasts before.
17:33 It doesn't take a completely unbiased fan to see,
17:38 "Oh, some of the things that John Smoltz
17:40 "was talking about, some of the rants that he was going on,
17:43 "and some of the things that he was saying
17:44 "were just very clearly anti-Rangers."
17:47 And some of the quotes that he had to defend himself
17:50 just kind of made me laugh.
17:53 When asked about him having any bias against the Rangers
17:58 on 105 Free the Fan, John Smoltz said,
18:01 "It's the most ridiculous claim
18:04 "in the history of baseball."
18:06 The most ridiculous claim in the history of baseball.
18:12 Really, John Smoltz?
18:14 Really?
18:15 There have been a lot more ridiculous claims
18:18 in the history of baseball, my guy.
18:21 There have been too many to count.
18:24 There were some claims that the Rangers
18:26 would finish fourth in their own division.
18:29 I feel like that was a little bit more ridiculous
18:30 than saying John Smoltz had some anti-Rangers bias in him.
18:35 There were some claims that Yadier Molina
18:39 was the most valuable player in baseball
18:41 for the duration of his career.
18:43 I feel like that's a little bit of an overreaction.
18:47 There were some people saying that paying for Corey Seager
18:49 was a ridiculous overpay, and paying for Marcus Simeon
18:52 was insane for the Rangers' stage of rebuild
18:56 when they signed those two guys.
18:59 And I feel like that was a little bit more
19:00 of a ridiculous claim in the history of baseball
19:03 than saying that John Smoltz was a little biased
19:05 against the Rangers.
19:07 Now, he did have some nice things to say.
19:09 He did have some occasionally,
19:12 actually very complimentary things to say
19:14 about the Rangers in this interview.
19:16 Now, was it just because he was on the flagship station
19:19 of the Texas Rangers giving this interview?
19:22 Maybe.
19:23 Maybe that influences his saying.
19:25 But it wasn't like--
19:27 It was insufferable, especially as Rangers fans
19:29 who have been so tortured, and just playoff baseball
19:32 in general is so torturous for any fan base
19:35 that any little comment, any little snide aside, whatever,
19:39 it can definitely get blown up a little bit out of proportion.
19:41 But I don't feel like any of those things
19:43 that I was saying about John Smoltz
19:44 that you were probably saying about John Smoltz
19:46 or the Rangers fans writ large were saying
19:49 about Mr. Smoltz during that playoff run
19:52 were unfair or unreasonable.
19:55 But I do want to give Smoltz credit in the compliments
19:57 that he did give the Rangers about this World Series run,
20:00 which has been given a lot of flack by outsiders.
20:03 "Oh, nobody watched. Oh, it doesn't matter."
20:04 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
20:06 Which, again, doesn't matter
20:07 because the World Series still counts the same.
20:08 So, shut up, haters. You mad.
20:11 Anyway, this is what John Smoltz had to say
20:13 complimentary about the Rangers in this World Series.
20:16 Quote, "This World Series and this playoffs was unbelievable.
20:19 "Nothing made sense, and that's why it was so unique
20:22 "and so great.
20:23 "And it's why it's one of the best championships
20:25 "I've seen in a long time.
20:27 "From the route the Rangers took,
20:28 "they have something special."
20:30 And I said it throughout the entire broadcast,
20:31 even though it seems like none of your fans listened,
20:34 I said that they had the special sauce in their locker room.
20:36 The analytics didn't explain it,
20:38 and it's because the manager
20:40 and the management were so connected.
20:42 They were doing the did things in ways,
20:44 made moves and just hung in there,
20:45 and it's a credit to them.
20:47 No way ever will a team go undefeated on the road again
20:51 and in the postseason, ever.
20:53 I still shake my head.
20:55 Having gone through this and done it my whole life,
20:57 that is not what you're supposed to do,
20:58 be able to do, and they did it.
21:00 End quote.
21:01 That was a very nice thing for John Smoltz to say.
21:03 And I agree that even though it wasn't
21:06 the most watched World Series ever,
21:09 one of the nice things is that anytime some playoff team
21:12 goes on a heat or on the road,
21:14 they're going to bring up that 11-0 road record
21:17 for your Texas Rangers
21:19 as something that I don't think we will ever see
21:21 in the history of baseball yet again.
21:24 And the thing that makes me love it even more
21:26 is that when asked to explain it,
21:29 Mitch Garver said, "It's because we're all fat guys
21:31 "and we eat hot dogs on the road."
21:33 What an absolutely delightful team and run that was.
21:36 You know who else was absolutely delightful
21:38 in that World Series run?
21:39 It's Corey Seager.
21:40 Coming up next, we're going to talk about
21:41 why Corey Seager's MVP level season last year
21:45 is just the new standard for what the Rangers are getting
21:47 out of their Superstar Shortstop.
21:49 Right after this word from our sponsors.
21:52 This episode is brought to you by Game Time.
21:57 You shouldn't have to worry about buying tickets
21:58 to your next big event.
21:59 Game Time is the fast and easy way
22:01 to buy all the tickets for all the sports,
22:03 music, comedy, and theater events near you.
22:05 With killer last-minute deals, all-in prices,
22:08 views from your seat, and their best price guarantee,
22:10 Game Time takes all the guesswork out of tickets.
22:13 I promise you this is the best way
22:14 you can find to buy tickets.
22:16 I mean, they make it so easy for you.
22:18 It is so user-friendly.
22:19 It is such a great way to buy tickets.
22:21 You know, a lot of these other apps,
22:23 you have all these hidden fees,
22:25 and you don't know exactly what it's going to look like
22:27 when you get there, and it's kind of hard
22:28 to get a hold of the tickets and get them to your phone,
22:31 and that is a whole mess.
22:32 But with Game Time, it is so easy.
22:34 You know exactly what you're getting,
22:35 what you're paying up front, with all the fees included,
22:38 which is, in my opinion, one of the best things
22:40 you can do as an app, and Game Time does it.
22:43 You also get to see what it looks like
22:44 exactly from your seats, and you get those tickets
22:47 sent right to your phone.
22:48 It is so easy, so convenient.
22:50 You have got to go check it out.
22:51 Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time.
22:54 Download the Game Time app, create an account,
22:55 and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.
22:59 Terms apply.
23:00 Again, create an account and redeem code LOCKEDON for $20 off.
23:05 Download Game Time today.
23:06 Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed.
23:09 Shout out to the everydayers for making Lockdown Rangers
23:15 your first listen every single day.
23:17 On Friday, I shall be back and talking a little bit
23:18 about Evan Carter, the expectations for him this season,
23:21 and how good he can be after that insane run
23:24 through the playoffs last year.
23:27 Now, the Rangers have a superstar, not Evan Carter.
23:31 I mean, he might end up being a superstar.
23:32 But the real superstar throughout that playoff run
23:35 was, of course, Corey freaking Seager, the $325 million man,
23:41 the best shortstop in all of baseball,
23:44 one of the best players in all of baseball.
23:46 He finally ascended to the level of proper respect
23:50 that I felt like he had been due for a long, long time.
23:55 Even before the Rangers signed this guy
23:57 to a massive 10-year deal, this was
24:00 a guy who was thought of as one of the best players in baseball.
24:04 But it was about his consistency,
24:06 about his injury issues, about is he really a shortstop?
24:10 All of those questions kept coming
24:12 and kept coming for Corey Seager.
24:14 And he was kind of an afterthought
24:17 when it came to who is one of the better hitters in this game.
24:20 He was just not a guy who was that highly thought of.
24:23 And after 2022, his first year with the Rangers,
24:27 even though he did set a career high in home runs,
24:29 the batting average, the on base, the second percentage,
24:32 all of those numbers were way, way down across the board
24:36 from what he had expected, what he had
24:39 done previously in his career.
24:42 Yes, he did make the All-Star team,
24:43 just kind of by the skin of his teeth
24:45 and by an absolutely insane last week
24:48 heading up into that All-Star break
24:49 to make him an injury replacement.
24:51 But hey, he's still an All-Star, still the third time
24:53 he was an All-Star in his career, now a four-time All-Star,
24:56 now a three-time Silver Slugger, now a two-time World Series
25:03 MVP.
25:05 And last year, some of those injury concerns did come up.
25:08 He had had some struggles with his thigh,
25:11 keeping that fully healthy, the hamstring injury.
25:13 That was what set him back the most last season.
25:17 Also did suffer a thumb injury that left him out
25:19 for a couple of weeks in late July, early August.
25:24 And he came back, and immediately,
25:27 whenever he came back off the aisle,
25:29 he was just the exact same insane level of player,
25:33 one of the best hitters in all of baseball,
25:35 and one of the most complete hitters in all of baseball.
25:39 One of the things that I love about Corey Seager
25:42 is not only his approach, but a lot of it is his approach.
25:46 There's the way that he attacks pitchers,
25:48 the way that he attacks pitches, the way
25:50 that he game plans on how to attack the strike zone,
25:53 how to be aggressive without being overaggressive,
25:57 and how to get the absolute most out
26:00 of every single bit of his talent.
26:03 The fun thing when you look at Corey Seager's stats,
26:06 I mean, from last year, there's a lot of fun things.
26:09 Just the fact that they're all very good,
26:11 the fact that he set career highs in batting average,
26:15 soggy percentage, OPS, homers, RBIs, baseball reference war,
26:20 fangrass war, all of it.
26:22 All of those are career highs, a career best season,
26:26 despite missing 43 games.
26:29 He was still putting up counting stats,
26:32 and catch-all metrics like war that very highly factor in.
26:39 The amount of games played.
26:41 That's one of the reasons why Marcus Simeon
26:42 had a 7.4 baseball reference war season last year,
26:46 because he played every stinking day, every stinking at bat,
26:49 every single moment of every game,
26:52 because that's what Marcus Simeon does.
26:54 And the Raiders did get 150 games out of Corey Seager
26:56 in 2022.
26:57 That was a very positive development.
26:59 If the Raiders got 151 games out of Corey Seager this year,
27:04 I feel like they probably would have won the AOS by maybe three,
27:08 four games, but that's not what happened.
27:11 But it didn't matter, because Corey Seager
27:13 was absolutely on fire.
27:15 You look at his split stats from last year.
27:17 You want to look at the road versus home splits.
27:20 They were very dramatic in year one with the Rangers,
27:23 much less dramatic this year.
27:24 Lefties versus righties, crushes,
27:27 both-handed types of pitchers, early on, late, close,
27:31 all kinds of different situations.
27:32 Corey Seager is fantastic in all of them.
27:36 But if you look at his baseball savant page,
27:40 the thing that sticks out to me, besides all
27:42 the insane amount of red, meaning very, very good,
27:46 on his page, is you scroll down, and you
27:49 see the different types of pitches.
27:50 You can see how well he did against every single different
27:54 type of pitch.
27:56 And the thing that boggles my mind--
27:58 there are, let's see, I think 10 different categories of pitch
28:01 that they have here.
28:02 Four-seam fastball, slider, change-up, sinker, curveball,
28:05 cutter, splitter, sweeper, slurve, knuckleball.
28:09 Of all the pitches that he faced more than seven times
28:14 throughout the season, he saw one knuckleball.
28:16 He swung and missed it that one.
28:17 That was on the last day of the season.
28:19 I believe it was Logan Gilbert that threw that insane
28:21 knuckleball.
28:23 And he faced seven slurves throughout the year.
28:26 But all those other types of pitches, which
28:29 he saw a minimum of 86 times, he hit 300 against all of them.
28:36 Every type of pitch, he hit 300.
28:40 Fastballs, curveballs, sliders, sweepers, splitters, cutters,
28:45 sinkers, change-ups, all of them.
28:49 There is no weak spot.
28:51 There is no cold spot in Corey Seeger's hot map.
28:56 It is just a picture of a raging wildfire.
29:00 Maybe a picture of a exploding star, a supernova,
29:04 would be more accurate for a heat map of Corey Seeger's
29:07 strike zone.
29:09 The guy just hits everything.
29:13 And he especially, especially kills fastballs.
29:17 Because you look at his hard hit percentage
29:19 against four-seam fastballs this year, it was 67%.
29:25 2/3 of the time he made contact with fastball,
29:28 it was over 95 miles an hour.
29:31 Do you understand how insane that is?
29:34 That is absolutely bananas.
29:38 No type of fastball can get by him.
29:40 Paul Seewald is a very knowledgeable guy, knowing,
29:45 oh, yep, that high fastball that works against most people,
29:47 that's not going to work against Corey Seeger.
29:49 Oh, you think you can just throw some heat at the top of the zone
29:52 and get by with it?
29:53 No.
29:54 He's been doing that for about a year,
29:55 tried to do the same thing, game seven of the ALCS.
29:57 And Corey Seeger absolutely tomahawked that thing
30:01 a billion feet away into the right field bleachers.
30:05 This guy is insanely good.
30:08 And this is not something that's a deviation
30:12 that far from the norm.
30:14 His career slash line is 292, 361, 512.
30:18 That is an 873 OPS.
30:20 Last year, he was significantly higher
30:22 in all those categories, especially the slugging.
30:25 At 623, a 390 on base, a 1,013 OPS,
30:29 which was by far the highest of his career,
30:32 even including that 2020 shortened season
30:34 where he had a 943 OPS in a COVID shortened 52 games
30:40 that year.
30:42 The guy is insane.
30:43 He is one of the best hitters in baseball.
30:45 He did it on the biggest stage, and then he
30:47 did it again this year.
30:48 And he's probably going to do it again
30:50 if the Rangers get to the playoffs this year.
30:52 The guy is an unmatched level of hard worker, meticulous,
30:57 obsessed with his craft.
30:59 And he gets the absolute most out of his talent
31:02 at every single phase of the game.
31:05 He is one of, if not the best hitters in baseball.
31:08 He has no weakness.
31:09 And oh, by the way, he plays shortstop.
31:13 And he's going to be here for eight more seasons.
31:18 He plays a half decent shortstop, too.
31:20 Not that that particularly matters when
31:22 you're absolutely crushing high drives to tie games in game
31:26 one of the World Series to set up a walk-off home run
31:29 by your teammate Adolphe Garcia in the 11th inning.
31:32 This guy is absolutely insanely talented.
31:35 I am so mind boggled that no other team thought,
31:40 yeah, 10 years of Corey Seager, I want that on my team.
31:43 After the insane numbers that he had put up with the Dodgers
31:46 for seven years, they thought, I don't know.
31:51 I don't know about this kid.
31:53 I mean, the guy finished third in MVP voting
31:55 as a 22-year-old rookie.
31:57 That's insane.
31:59 And then he has a higher finish, finally, in his age 29 season.
32:03 He hasn't turned 30 yet.
32:05 He still does not turn 30 until April 27 of this year.
32:12 And we get eight more years of Corey Seager,
32:15 of reliving that moment, of all the moments this postseason,
32:19 of all the home runs he hit against the Arizona Diamondbacks
32:21 in the World Series, and the home runs
32:24 that he got to hit against the Astros,
32:26 and the homers that he hit against the Baltimore--
32:29 I guess, homer that he hit against the Baltimore Orioles.
32:31 I mean, this guy is a postseason legend.
32:34 He is an absolute star.
32:36 And he is one of the best players in the game.
32:38 I can't believe he was only voted sixth in MLB's top 100.
32:41 But hey, the guy is finally getting the respect
32:43 he deserves as one of the best players in baseball.
32:45 He is a massive contract.
32:47 He lives up to every single bit of it
32:48 after that World Series championship.
32:50 And everything he does from this point on is gravy.
32:53 But not for him.
32:54 For him.
32:55 Last year just set the new standard of what this Corey
32:58 Seager is going to be--
32:59 an absolute superstar for your Texas Rangers.
33:02 That's going to do it for today's show.
33:04 Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing.
33:06 And until next time, don't forget
33:08 to enjoy World Series champion Texas Rangers baseball.
33:12 [ Silence ]