Transcript of Can Anyone Stop The L.A. Dodgers? | The Pitch Clock (feat. Stephen Nelson & Carson Vitale)

Welcome to The Pitch Clock. Here's the pitch: a two-part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is The Pitch Clock. The Pitch Clock is back.

How about it?

It's time to dive into Major League Baseball. And folks, we are just after the MLB All-Star Game, which means the second half of Major League Baseball is coming up. You're going to get some expertise on what happened in the home Home Run Derby and All-Star Game as we move forward in this baseball season. But as always, yeah, we got some trivia to get to. I believe I hold the 2-game lead. We'll check back in, we'll know those numbers for sure next week. But possibly now, at the moment, what I do know is that I'm feeling good about my chances. And Ethan, we actually have folders in front of us today. So what trivia do we have going on today?

All right, the All-Star Game is going to Wrigley Field next season for the first time in what will be 37 years. So last time the All-Star Game— I would love to go. There's No place better than Wrigley.

All right, so we're going.

Yeah, we're going in the All-Star Game.

Carl, we're going.

Yes.

Approved.

That'll be the first time in 37 years that the All-Star Game was held at Wrigley Field because the last time it was held was 1990. So inside your folders—

oh boy—

you have two baseball diamonds, one with a National League logo and one with an American League logo. These are the starting lineups from the 1990 All-Star Game held at Wrigley Field.

What about my wheelhouse is 05? Do you not understand?

I just want, I want everyone to see it and I hope Gabe leave it in the edit. We just had some, some phone-ception where Olivia's phone just like went into the screen and you could see through that. And I just want, I want to make sure that stays in the edit.

Yeah.

So what we're going to do is we're going to do first to 7. And if neither of you get 7, once we've guessed the entire roster, whoever has the most will be the winner. Not 3 strikes and you're out like we normally do with teams. Let's change it up a little bit.

I'm going to go ahead and take in the American League Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr.

That is correct, Jeremy. You have 1 point.

And just to set this up for the audio audience, while Chris has a moment to think, in the American League, you had Oakland Athletics on the mound at first base in right field and in left field. You had the Cleveland baseball franchise behind the dish, a Red Sox third baseman, Cal Ripken Jr. we just mentioned was at short, and a New York Yankees second baseman as well as a Seattle Mariners center fielder. And in the National League, Reds had a pitcher and third baseman, Dodgers catcher, Giants first baseman, Cubs second baseman, shortstop for the Cardinals, Giants in left field, Phillies in center field, and Cubs in right. This is the year 1990.

Chris?

Shortstop Cardinals, Ozzie Smith.

That is correct, sir.

Oh boy. I'll go ahead and wrap up that middle infield. It's Ryne Sandberg playing second base.

Ryne, oh, rest in peace.

Mariners center field, Griffey. That is correct.

I'm going to go, I'm going to go Giants first baseman. Is that Will Clark?

That is correct. My dad's favorite player of all time.

Wow.

Shout out Ethan's dad.

That was pretty—

Jose Canseco, right field, right field, right field. For the American League.

Yes.

All right.

I'm going to, I'm going to take a risk here.

Yeah.

I'm going to say it is McGuire over at first base.

Of course.

That is correct. Yeah, that is correct, Jeremy.

And this is about where Chris runs out of names.

It's also where Jeremy runs out of names. So very excited to introduce a new guest to the Pitch Clock, but a name and a face that many of you likely know here. Stephen Nelson. He does play-by-play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's also an NBA TV host, and he's here on the Pitch Clock to join us in what's a really exciting week in Major League Baseball because we just had the Derby and the All-Star Game. And we've got baseball picking back up this weekend. So, Stephen, I want to start with the stuff from this week first. We'll do the Derby since it came first. And, and honestly, like, what a joy to watch this one. Barry Bonds actually called it the greatest Home Run Derby he's ever seen. So because of all of the drama and everything coming down to the final second, I ask you, where does this one rank for you when you think about some of the great Home Run Derbies of all time? It was pretty epic.

And like, Jordan Walker, just his story as a guy, you know, first-round pick, supposed to be the guy anointed as such, and then seemingly wasn't going to figure it out, to now kind of bursting onto this scene. He has like gotten out of his own way, out of his own head. Just what he represents and what he embodies, like as a young veteran who has overcome early adversity to kind of to steal a fantasy term, a post-hype guy. I just thrilled for, for Jordan Walker and his family, which obviously that was a beautiful moment too. But in terms of the greatest all-time, the first ones that came to my mind, 1999 at Fenway, the All-Century Team year. Again, that's just kind of like in the wheelhouse of my childhood. See Griffey and McGwire the year after McGwire broke, broke the record. And then Griffey wins again. Um, but more recent history, uh, 2018, another Schwarber heartbreak, right? Bryce Harper, 9 home runs the last 50 seconds to Ty Schwarber, and then he got the winner in bonus time in his home ballpark. That was— this year was reminiscent of that, not just because Schwarber finished second, but because of like the heroics that it took down to the wire for Walker to win, and Harper's case in 2018.

Um, I don't want to forget about 2019 in Cleveland, and not just Vlad Jr. against Pete Alonso, but Vlad Jr. against Jock Peterson, the multiple swing-offs and tiebreakers that it took. And like, that gassed Vlad before the final, and obviously Alonso took advantage of it. But, and you know, he had even had to kind of have a late flurry, Alonso, in the championship round. Uh, here's a, a sleeper that I think people are gonna forget about. 2021 Coors Field. I get people, you're gonna be like, what? They get what? You probably don't remember what happened in that one, but that was another Pete Alonso win. But there, that was a start to finish. I know we focus on like the, the, the individual rounds or the actual finishes, but from start to finish, 2021 was phenomenal. Like Trey Mancini participating in the Derby the year after coming back from colon cancer. We had Ohtani against Juan Soto in the first round, and they had multiple tiebreakers, multiple home runs over 500 feet, which again, like, you know, that added to it. You know, the Derby at Coors Field, you just knew it was going to be stupid.

And Soto hit one like 520, uh, to ultimately beat Ohtani. And in that year, uh, Alonso went on to win it. But that was like just from start to finish, the storylines the moments, the tiebreakers. I thought that was an epic one too.

That's such a good one to shout out because I definitely didn't remember it until you brought it up. And then I remembered instantly the, the extra tiebreakers between those guys. So that's, that's a really good poll. This All-Star Game, obviously not a ton of action within it, but so many really wonderful moments.

Yeah.

I'm going to ask you for your favorite part here amongst a few. Different options. So you had the mic'd up interviews in-game that were, you know, amongst a bunch of different players. You had the Sandlot-inspired celebration of baseball that I will be honest with you, did bring me to tears. I haven't done that on the show already. I did cry. And then I did cry again the next morning when I showed my wife the Miguel Vargas home run, which is cool because it just sort of represents all of the surprise stories. Although I do know that's against Justin Robleski, who was celebrating his birthday and unfortunately didn't get to leave after that perfect inning in the first. And, and then speaking of that, just sort of the outlandish pitching that we saw. So I've given you 4 options. I've kind of gone all over the place. But do you have one of those that stands out the most to you?

So the pageantry of the America the Beautiful, Sandlot-inspired pregame ceremony was like, that was just nostalgia narcotics, like that, like, just right into the veins for, for us and our generation, who now, you know, many of us have young kids and families of our own. And you just— it's like, yeah, they had this one shot, and like, thinking about it now, of like perfect timing. They take the kid riding on his bike, and he's like— you see just like his eyes glistening and the fireworks going. It's like a really brief shot But it's such a powerful one, man. And it's just like, you know, that's the good stuff. That's the good stuff. In terms of the game, you bringing up Vargas is Miguel Vargas, you know, old friend of the Dodger organization. And just like, just a beautiful soul, man. What a kid this is. And, you know, he traded to Chicago in 2024, 3-team trade that netted the Dodgers Tommy Ebbin, Michael Kopech, guys who, you know, were key in their back-to-back World Series runs. And I don't think any Dodger fan, you know, wants to take that trade back, but losing Vargas certainly hurt.

And, but you saw how Vargas struggled afterwards, right? He was basically a meme. There's that shot of him. I think they're playing the A's, the White Sox, end of the dugout. And it's basically like, how did I get here? I was playing for the Dodgers and now I'm on one of the worst teams ever. And Vargas had an OPS after the trade Jeremy, of .387, an OPS. Oh, not an on-base percentage, not a slug. Both of them combined, .387. And he says, like, I lost the joy of playing the game. And this year, for him to recapture that joy, yeah, and become an All-Star on the— perhaps the surprise in baseball is just tremendous. Um, even though, like, taking Robleski deep, you know, working for the Dodgers now on Robo's 26th birthday in his All-Star debut. Like, I'm— this is going to be awkward reference and very Adnan Virk of me, cinephile, but that was— it was Road to Perdition, that scene when Paul Newman says to Tom Hanks, I'm glad it's you. It's like Miguel Vargas. If anybody's going to clip Robo, I'm glad it's you. So that, that, that was— it was just perfect all the way around.

There's some good names on. Yeah, there are definitely good names on here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's some good—

I mean, I'm just going to— I don't know if he played that long, but I know he was there as catcher in '97. Sandy Alomar.

Nice pull by Chris Cody. The other one, Alomar, is—

it's the only other one I had. I was like, did he play there 7 years before the World Series?

I guess so.

Oh boy.

All right.

This is where it starts to get because he was old in that '97 World Series.

Yeah, he was like, ooh, this is, this is where it's gonna start to get complicated. And there's one, there's one sitting here, there's one that's staring in the face. Obvious.

It's the second baseman.

No?

Well, all right then, I'm going with that one.

Chuck Knoblauch. It is not.

Damn, got it.

Perfect.

Executed.

That was not—

you thought it was Chuck Knoblauch too. I know it was.

I know you thought It was Chuck Knoblauch.

First, Cody, you have a very good chance here to take the lead because Jeremy, I would need to know. You both have 4. Okay. But if you get this point here, you're up 5 to 4 with the turn advantage.

Mm-hmm. All right, we'll just do it. I have nothing else. Barry Bonds.

It's not Barry Bonds.

Oh, thank God.

Barry Bonds moved to the Giants in '93 as a free agent.

Of course.

Olivia, you should have given me a little.

Oakland A's. On the mound. Is that Dennis Eckersley?

That is not Dennis Eckersley. Damn it.

Because he went, he went between being a closer and a starter.

But this is '90.

This is too late.

Way too late. He was on those like '79 teams.

That's why I figured maybe late. Yeah, whatever.

It doesn't matter.

This is tough.

This is Cody's.

This is also— there's a lot of guys.

I gotta guess.

Okay. Mike Piazza, catcher.

Mm. Incorrect. Not a bad guess though, because he was a Dodger at one point.

I'm going to go left field Oakland. That's Rickey Henderson.

That is correct.

That's right.

Yeah, that's the one that was sitting out there.

That's the one I wasn't sure early.

I thought of him.

Yeah, that's how I wasn't sure early. But, but knowing because, you know what, I wasn't thinking about the fact that he was at— he legitimately was a corner outfielder.

Yes.

And he wasn't a center.

I always think of Rickey as a center fielder too, because he has so much speed.

Yep.

Chris Cody, the board. Is yours.

And mind you, what's the score right now?

5-4.

We're going to 7.

Yes, we're playing to 7. So Chris Cody got to keep this one.

Staring at this, just hoping something pops into my head. I kind of have a guess for the Red Sox third baseman, but I just know it's not right. Scott Brocious.

No, that's not where I was thinking you were going to go.

Center field, National League Phillies. Kenny Lofton.

No.

Damn it.

A little too early.

Damn it. Lofton. I thought this is a great name. I just—

you guys will be really happy when you hear this That's a great name. You'll be really happy when you hear this name.

That name? I'll be really happy.

I want to talk to you now about, about the Dodgers, because obviously you're intimate with this world-beating team. Back-to-back World Series champions look like they're well on their way to a third. So there's a million different strengths of this team. And so what I'm going to ask you here is what is the strengthiest strength of this team?

The strength is strength.

Okay.

We're just talking on-field or you want organization?

Hey, you tell me.

Okay. So I like, I would say, um, like the, the, the easy broad answers is, is to say just the, the, the relentless depth that they have in the organization. And I know what, and I know what, what, um, haters or detractors or just critics of the Dodgers will say is like, okay, well, that's because of their massive payroll. I would point them to actually this crop of all-stars because that is reflective of team building. Of course, you have the big free agents. Shohei Ohtani, the biggest, did not participate because he just had his knee drained.

I'm that—

like, that's a unicorn, stands alone. Freddie Freeman was available for anybody. The guy, the team that finished runner-up for Freddie when the Braves kicked him to the curb was the Tampa Bay Rays.

Yep.

So anybody could have had Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yes, he was given the biggest free agent contract for a pitcher in baseball history without throwing a single pitch in the States. But that goes back to the Pacific Rim scouting and the relationship building that goes back years and years, years and years. Andy Páez signed as a— in 2017 as a kid out of Cuba for $300,000. Was looked at as a bat-first corner outfielder, could never play center in the big league, did not have the body for it. Tore his labrum in 2023, and you're like, all right, well, he's definitely going to be a corner guy now. Redid his body and has worked his ass off at closing every hole and deficiency in his game for the last 2 years, and now he's starting center fielder for the National League, which is just truly crazy, by the way.

Like, it, it feels like it was all— it was like all unlocked by the catch in the World Series that he made in one of the most incredible moments of that incredible World Series in the worst postseason ever offensively. He was dreadful.

So again, so every facet of the organization, drafting and development, international free agency and scouting, um, they're the, the what they pour into just health and nutrition, medical side, like no stone is unturned organization-wide. So yes, they put a lot of money in their payroll. Yes, they pay an incredibly stupidly high CBT number, but it's because they do all the little things on the margins. You can talk about the money all you want, but this is a, this is a full-scale operation.

When, when you look at this Dodgers team, you may find weaknesses. I don't necessarily see them. Um, and so in turn, is there a team that you look at and say this is the team the Dodgers should fear the most.

Yeah. Another piece of important context before answering this question is that folks have to understand how close they came to not winning any of these World Series, let alone back-to-back. So you could be like, yeah, the back-to-back champions because they, they spent a trillion dollars. Like, that's the easy way out. They were down 2-1 in the Division Series in 2024 to the Padres.

Yeah.

On the road throwing a bullpen game. But how close the Dodgers were, millimeters away multiple times.

Yep.

Losing that series, like they were down 3-2 going back to Rogers Center. There's like, all right, you know, uh, Toronto's gonna get the party. So that like, this is a team that, that was really close to not winning. And that underscores, Jeremy, baseball. Like you just don't know. This team in 2022 won 111 games, bounced in the division series. So you have no idea. Anyway, yes, there are multiple teams that I think have the Dodgers' attention. They beat the Phillies last year. The Phillies did not have Zach Wheeler last year. He was, he was injured in the postseason because of the blood clot issue. Zach Wheeler, obviously very much back this year. Oh, should have been an all-star. The biggest snub., with that rotation, Wheeler, Sanchez, Lozardo, like that's terrifying for anybody. And all the experience that they have on the roster. Yes, they had that dreadful start, but, you know, water does find its level. And also, like, I just, you know, leaving open for the randomness of baseball, like we have seen the Dodgers, they just got swept by the D-backs and the Marlins came into Los Angeles and took a series from them and You know, Jeremy, I'm just curious of a reminder, like, who's been the best team in the majors since June 1st?

Oh, this, this is a man after my own heart. The Miami Marlins have been the best team in baseball since June 1st. That's right, Stephen Nelson.

It's not the Dodgers, it's the Miami Marlins. So led by our dear friend Clayton McCullough. So, look, I just think that I would say that the heavyweights in the National League are probably the the biggest threat, again, assuming health, but the injury bug is the biggest fear for the Dodgers and for any team.

Yeah. And just like you said, it's pitching for anybody, right? Anybody can get hot. It's the reason why I know your guy Clayton McCullough believes in his team. When you can roll out Sandy Alcantara, Max Meyer, and Yuri Perez at the top of your rotation, anything can happen. And that's what makes the postseason so fun. Let's head into that real quick. We'll do these not necessarily rapid fire, but Well, we'll get to them as quick as we can here to wrap up this episode. 3 storylines you're looking at in Major League Baseball heading into the second half.

Okay. I think the first one is a deadline determination. So I'm a sucker for alliteration, Jeremy. The trade deadline is not July 31st this year, everybody. It is August 3rd. And as we sit here right now, I just looked at the standings before hopping on. There are 23 teams within 4 games of a playoff berth league-wide. That's counting the teams in playoff position right now. But 23 teams out of 30 within 4 games.

That's ridiculous.

And another 25 within 8. So how many legitimate sellers are there going to be at the deadline? Well, I mean, we're going to find out. I mean, because right now it's the Angels, it's the Rockies, it's probably the Royals, probably the Giants, and probably the Mets. But, but like even there, you don't know, you know, how much is even available, um, to be sold. Um, Cinderella's and the clock. You look at the Chicago White Sox, again, the surprise in baseball, and it's not just a feel-good story, it's a successful one. They're tied for first in the American League Central. Yes, the AL Central or the American League at large is dog water in 2026. That's bad.

It's bad.

It's objectively bad. But the White Sox won 100— or lost 121 games a year ago, the worst team ever. And now they are tied atop the division. That's despite not having Munetaka Murakami for 35 games, despite being 2 arms short in the rotation, at least an arm short in the bullpen. Like, that offense can hit with anybody. Yeah, yeah, but, but they're all young. They're, they're, they're that right amount of young and dumb enough to believe that they can do this.

Yeah.

So, but like, again, like, do they run into that wall as young guys in the dog days? Do they get over it? That's, that's a big storyline. And, and the Marlins at this point, you like, they are a Cinderella story. Um, do they have the happy ending like Cinderella does, or does clock strike midnight and they turn back into a pumpkin? Now with, with Clayton at the helm, I just, I I don't believe that they are going to lose that edge. And we saw the fight from Miami down the stretch in 2025 as they single-handedly ruined New York season. Right. So that's, that's the kind of moxie that they have in that group, too. So I'm not saying they're saying they're Cinderella because just because they're the Miami Marlins, I, you know, I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. So but can those two teams specifically, you know, get to where they want to go.

To your point, it's the way Clayton McCullough leads. It's also the way their bench coach, Carson Vitale, has been able to rally those guys together. I know Clayton gives him a ton of credit. And if I was a good enough audio editor to clean up the audio that I had recorded in the dugout just a few days ago with Carson Vitale before the end of the first half, our audio listeners will be hearing a, a 10-minute or so interview with Carson on the back end of this. We talked about the priority of mental health within the organization and the way that he really prioritizes that and, and talking about it, mental strength and mental health, two sort of different things that are able to overlap. It's been a huge, huge key to what has made this Marlins team what it is. It's why Kyle Stowers is a great leader for that team and why Carson's been able to help. Help those guys come together. But now your third storyline, sir.

It's, it's, it's a, it's kind of the lowest hanging fruit, um, and it ties back into the first story, but it's Scooba Watch. You just don't, you don't see a pitcher or a player of this caliber, um, very often potentially available. Now the Tigers have gone on a little bit of run and they're in a down division in a down league. The AL is wide open for anybody. You have no idea. Like, I, I know you have, I think, the Rays and the Yankees, the Yankees and the Rays, depending on who you ask, are probably looked at as the favorites in the American League, but you just don't know. And so does Detroit have the stones to actually move Schubel in a year where, you know, it's kind of in front of them still? I know there's reporting out there about how Schubel does not want to be moved. He wants to stay in Detroit. Yeah, but that, like, that's just going to be a fascinating watch., and then what, what does he produce? How much does he produce down the stretch? Being a free agent, pending free agent, everybody knows who his agent is.

And, you know, I think that's a, that's a factor in things as well.

Stephen, thank you so much, man. Really appreciate the maiden voyage. Hopefully we can have you back somewhere down the stretch. Maybe, maybe even if you get in town in time, we can pull something off when you're down here in Miami when the Dodgers come to town.

Well, Jeremy, thanks to you and your crew for taking the time.

I—

if there was a pitch clock, I had many violations with my rambling today.

It's true. Our editors have their work cut out for them.

Yeah. Now, I apologize. I do sincerely apologize. But yeah, we're coming down. We're coming out in September. D-Train Dontrell Willis is going to be honored and we'll have him on the broadcast. So we're— everybody's looking forward to our trip to Miami and hopefully get to run into you there.

It's going to be amazing. Can't wait to see you there, Stephen. Thank you so much, man.

I've come up with a guess.

You got to guess something.

I'd like, I'd like to—

Oakland?

Okay.

Raleigh fingers.

No, it's not Raleigh. Is the, is the right fielder for the Cubs Andre Dawson?

That is correct.

I keep wanting to say Scott Rowland. I know that's not it.

I've been wanting to say Scott Rowland the entire time. I can't even tell you. I know he's a Cardinal in a Philly. He's not a Red, but I I've been wanting to say Scott Roland's name the entire time.

That's right. Why did I— I thought he was a Red for a second. He was never even a Red. The ace, Rob Dibble.

No, not Rob Dibble. He was a reliever.

That's awesome.

Such a great shout. I'm just glad we got Rob Dibble on the show today. Jeremy, for the win.

I'm really frustrated. I am. I'm going to be honest. I'm frustrated that I don't know who the Yankees second baseman was in 1990.

This is a name you're probably not going to know.

You want to know the name? I thought this guy played infield. The name I wanted to say was Lenny Dykstra for the Phillies, but I thought he was an infielder.

Nails was the center fielder on the 1990 All-Star Game.

I mean, I don't even need credit for that, but like that.

No, no, no, you get it. That's fine.

I mean, I was just like a Philly.

I mean, congratulations, Chris.

Cody, back up to 5. 6-5 here. Jeremy, this is for the—

wait, I'm winning?

No, I'm winning.

Jeremy's still winning.

You're like, don't get crazy.

Don't get crazy here. All right, I'm gonna guess Moise Salou in left field. Mm-mm.

Too early. Ooh.

Did this left fielder also play for the Phillies?

No?

I'm gonna lose this game.

The last—

He's gonna somehow find his way.

The last All-Star Game in Philadelphia. Yeah, we should have played 3 strikes.

The left fielder in the Giants, did he ever play for the Phillies?

Hold on.

Pat Burrell.

No. All right, we're done.

We're done.

Jeremy wins.

Okay.

Yeah, Jeremy wins.

Finally.

For the first time ever, we're declaring a game over. This could just be a tie. You guys are winning. I'm very disappointed in your effort right now.

Give us a—

because the third baseman for the Boston Red Sox is Wade Boggs, and you guys did not get Wade Boggs.

I think that's when I did Scott Brocious. I think I was thinking of Wade Boggs.

He's a fucking Hall of Famer.

All right.

He's very relevant. If you watch Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Yeah, Ethan, it's really—

If you want to play the game I associate it, I think of him as a Ray.

Ethan, it's really easy to sit here from your high horse behind the glass.

Seeing all the answers.

With, with the answers in front of you and shame all of us. But you know what? One of these weeks, one of these weeks we're gonna, yeah, we're gonna conspire.

No, that's fair.

We're just gonna quiz you.

And I'm gonna sit there with the phone.

5 years before you were born. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, let's do this. Let's do this.

Still going to be like 2002.

All right, let me do the rest of the lineup, please. Wade Boggs is at third base for the Red Sox. At second base for the Yankees, Steve Sachs.

Never heard of him.

And the pitcher for the A's, like I told you, get off of this one, was Bob Welch.

Jesus.

In the NL, the left fielder for the Giants—

give me his initials.

K-M. Not Kevin Millar. Kevin Mitchell would be the one. Made a very famous one-handed barehand catch.

I know that guy.

On the warning track.

So the Reds is all we need.

Chris Sabo was the Red.

Sabo!

At third base. Jack Armstrong was the Red on the mound. Never got that. And behind the dish.

Wait.

Whatever, go.

Mike Scioscia.

All right.

Former Angels manager. That guy looked like a serious manager.

That guy played in the '90s.

I just want to make something clear.

Mike Scioscia looked like 70 when he pitched.

You gave us a quiz. That included the names Jack Armstrong.

Yep.

Mike Socia.

Correct. Chris Sabo.

Welch.

Bob Welch.

Sabo.

Yes.

And you expected us to do well. And Steve Sacks.

Here he is.

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All right, real quick, don't go anywhere quite yet. The Pitch Clock is not over. We have some special bonus audio content with an interview. So I was covering the Marlins the final series of the first half against the Guardians, and I noticed Marlins bench coach Carson Vitale wearing a shirt that simply read Mental Health Matters. So I saw that on Saturday, and I asked him if he'd sit down with me on Sunday. We talked for, man, close to almost an hour, actually. But I recorded the first 10 minutes or so of our conversation, and I just wanted to ask him, why are you wearing this shirt? What does this have to do with— and how do the Marlins take care of their players? And what's really interesting is the Marlins do have sort of a different mentality when it comes to taking care of players' mental skills, mental health, and everything that goes on in between the ears. Carson is at the center of all of that. You will hear his mentality and the way that the Marlins organization takes care of their players and why it's something that's actually separated them from other teams, other organizations, and helped them to be as successful as they are on the field.

So here is my quick conversation with Carson Vitale, who— Carson, if you're listening, I'm serious. Come into the studio, man.

We're going to—

we're going to chat on these clean, crisp, clear mics one of these days sometime soon. All right, here's Carson Vitale. Why Happiness Project? But then also, you know, what's the reason you would have that messaging here for your players?

Yeah, one, I love the message and the idealism that Happiness Project provides. And we function in this bubble of professional sports where The outside perception is that everything is great and everybody makes a ton of money and everybody is happy. And while like a lot of those things are true, there's also this side of professional sports where it is mentally cruel on both the individual person, on families. And that is not to say like we need sympathy. You know, everybody's going through hard things. Everybody has challenges in life. But I think it's wearing a shirt like this on a daily basis, I think, provides a signal to all of our players that the stigmatization of mental strength and mental health is really just not something that we believe in and not something that we ever want any of our players to feel. We often say that no one, no one does this on their own. And most of the time in baseball, an actor, that's, that's talking about like physical skills, but I view the game through the mental lens and that is performance-based and health-based. And we definitely don't do it on our own from a mental health perspective.

Well, how do you, as a, as a coach, as a leader around here, how do you help players in both sides of that? So it's like, there are, those are two different things, mental skills and strength. And mental health can't really be separated in many ways. So I guess first in the, in the mental skills side of it, how do you guys work on that with these guys?

I think they're very separate, but they also have massive overlap as well. Yeah, they coexist at the same time, right? A player with, with poor mental health is not going to have the mental skills or mental performance. Yeah, of course. So I think one, one, they're definitely not mutually exclusive. The biggest thing we can do for our players is just talk about it. All the time, both in, uh, casual studies like this, but then also in like performance training. Uh, what we're trying to do is always couple the mental performance side with the physical performance side. Uh, you know, why train a swing or a delivery, um, with the absence of mental performance when we ask them to go out there in the field, play by themselves with mental performance? Right, right. So we're trying to train both at the same time. And so what do you—

what are you saying and doing to to train that?

Each player would like— we want and we're trying to achieve for each player to have a mental routine, a mental reset, a mental anchor. It's different for everybody. It could be a word, it could be a focal point, it could be an external point, it could be a breath, it could be a visualization. There's lots of different paths we can go down, but it's got to be unique to that person. And so what we're asking that player to do is basically go through that routine on a pitch-to-pitch basis. Not every rep in training, but It's got to be a part of it. Furthermore, through our player plan process and through these individual check-ins we have with our players daily, we talk about mental skills, we talk about mental health. It's a part of the conversation. We talk about it openly in front of other people, in front of other coaches. It can't be something that we have to go into a private room and talk about. Right. It has to be talked about openly in front of the group. And the more we do that, the more we can get players comfortable Talking about mental performance, just like they throw a fly ball or receive a ground ball.

So how mental health can be trickier and more private, court, again, for a lot of guys. And so how does that become a part of the conversation? Is it a sort of a result of the fact that all of this is open and out there? Is, is that a more difficult thing? Are there, you know, particular resources you, you either use or send these guys for?

So we have a great mental health and performance staff. Led by Dr. Aaron Goodson. Obviously, none of us are clinicians, right? I believe that every coach should be a great mental skills coach. But there is a, there is a line in the sand, of course, that we're, we're not going to cross. And when we feel like a player or staff member needs real professional help, Dr. Goodson and staff are an excellent resource for that. That being said, we want to help our players work through personal issues. Because we care and love for them. Yeah. But we all have to be grown up enough to know when, or be the adult in the room to know when our skill set is not right, when it's beyond that. Yeah. Right. So the Marlins do a fantastic job of having both in-house staff and external resources to help any of our players, staff, families, etc.

And when did this become for you— it's such a huge part of your coaching Right? Like as a bench pusher, everyone that I talked to with Clayton and down to players, like it's always like parts to parts to parts and unites all of us. And clearly like this is such a huge part of that, that sort of mentality. When did this become either like a part of you or something that became a focus?

Yeah.

Yeah. It's a good question. Um, our general manager, Gabe Gatwer, uh, this is very important to him. And he is pushing this initiative very hard for us. Now, he has an incredible support system to have the general manager be so proactive with it.

Amazing.

But where I adopted this mindset, or not even mindset, just like the understanding of how important this is, is actually from a coach across the way in another dugout. Andy Matej is a major coach for Cleveland. Hired me in Seattle. He was the farm director. I was the minor league field coordinator. He became the GM. I became a major league coach in Seattle. He's a close personal friend of mine. Consider him like one of the most influential people in my life. He has a psychology background. He was a, he was a college professor at Sacramento State College, Sac City College in Tampa. And he became the mental skills coach in Colorado and then came over to the Mariners., to be the farm director. Wow. And he really opened my eyes just through the importance of mental performance and mental health. Uh, and really from there, like, I just never viewed the game the same way again. Yeah. I never really viewed anything the same way again. Um, from my relationship with my wife and my son and just like everything, it's like when you can understand that everyone has had real issues and that no one really cares about your issues because they're all going through their own issues.

It becomes pretty clear that we all need help. And today we're going to show up, we're either going to play really good, we're going to play poorly. The players are doing that. We're hopefully going to put them in positions to succeed each day. Yeah. And if we're only putting them in positions to succeed, then it seems like we should be helping them to succeed mentally as much as physically. And so Yeah, just my, my focus, my perspective just shifted tremendously.

Probably a little on the extreme end, but like, oh, but it's clearly a good thing.

If we can't show up to work every day and like enjoy the people we're around and be there for the people around when we spend 90% of our lives in this building, I still want to be a part of that, you know, like, I already give up enough time from my wife and my son, my family. I'm going to spend all, invest all this time here. I want it to be a place that people feel safe and loved and supported.