Transcript of The MLB First Half Awards & Baseball Blackjack! | The Pitch Clock

So what, I won a bunch in a row and we got to bring Ethan into the studio to mix up the vibes for you?

Yeah.

What are you doing here?

Got to break it up a little bit, you know?

So what, just to help Chris or what's the deal?

Play a little BJ? Whoa. What?

Blackjack.

Let's start the show.

Yeah. 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. BJ Surhoff. Hey, welcome to the Pitch Clock. Yeah. Uh, all right, sir, you have the game that we're going to be playing today. We'll get to our MLB expert momentarily as we continue to roll through this season.

But did you say we're rolling?

We're rolling now, huh?

Hi everybody.

Yeah. All right.

Now, now we're really rolling now.

We're rolling now.

All right. We've got baseball cards in front of us. Um, Ethan, what's this game we're going to be playing?

We're going to play some Pitch Clock Jack today, boys. All right, so the way Pitch Clock Blackjack is going to work is I'm going to deal each of you 3 cards. We'll get your totals first, and then we'll start bouncing back and forth until you guys want to either be hit or tap out. Okay, closest to 150 without going over.

Terrific, love it.

150 is obviously blackjack.

Done. Best 3 out of 5?

I say 3 out of 5. I think we can go, we can go quick.

Okay, yep.

All right, we're going to start with hitters.

I can't Too heavy-handed. Yeah, be soft-handed.

All right, I'm gonna deal Jeremy 3 cards. You guys are gonna show your cards to the camera, please.

Johnny Damon, how many home runs? Johnny Damon, who had 20 home runs.

Yep.

I have Manny Ramirez. Manny Ramirez, who had 43 home runs. And a new favorite of the pitch clock, Corey Patterson. Corey Patterson, he had 24 home runs.

So your starting total is 87.

87.

I have Tino Martinez.

Yep.

Who had, it looks like, 23 home runs. Okay. For, ah, Jim Thome.

Jim what?

I'm kidding. He always says 42 home runs for Jim Thome. And then, ah, Chone. Chone Figgins.

Chone Figgins.

Man, I just want to— because I—

5 home runs.

The amount of tweets that I got after we all just only referred to him as Chone Figgins. It's obviously— so it's Sean Figgins. We all know that. Yeah, we're just doing a thing.

Pitch Clock audience.

Okay, so how many does he have?

He's got 70.

70. Okay.

Jeremy's at 87.

So I'm going to go ahead and say hit me.

Okay. Do it to you first. Moises Alou. He had a big year in '04.

Moises Alou, 39 home runs.

All right. Jeremy's at 126. Man.

Okay.

Hit me.

Hideki Matsui.

Hideki Matsui, 70. He had 31 home runs.

Okay, so Chris is at 101. We're at 126 to 101.

I love where I'm at more than Jeremy.

I'm gonna take the risk. I'm gonna say hit me. Okay.

Yeah, Jim Edmonds. He had a big year in '04.

Oh, did he? I was gonna say, I kind of like that for you.

Oh, he had a giant year, a Cardinal year. He hit 42 home runs. I'm way over.

168.

So I'm at 101.

Now what we'll do is if you also Bust, it'll be closest back to 150.

Yeah, I'll hit. Just don't get me Barry Bonds.

Pat Burrell. Pat Burrell. That's gonna be close, but a perfect one.

24.

Yeah. Okay, you're at 125.

Okay, should we maybe make it like you got to get to at least 100?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that way it's like, it's your incentivized to go.

All right, all right, so Chris wins first. Chris is first.

Also now pitchers. Happy to have Adnan Virk back with us for his monthly appearance. Which will, you know what, I bet become more than monthly as we get closer and closer to the playoff race. But happy to have him back here on the Pitch Clock as we head toward the All-Star Game. This is our last Pitch Clock of the first half, which means I want to give out some first half awards. So Adnan, I'm bringing you in to do it. We'll do some player awards, we'll do some team awards and projections as we move forward. So Adnan, Who do you have as the Cy Young in each league for the first half of this season?

So story time first, Jeremy. My brother's in town, he's from Wisconsin. Him and my nephew are huge Cubs fans. Let's go to a baseball game, go watch Yankees. Like, yeah, last Tuesday, Schlittler versus Schubel pitching match, and it was over in 10 minutes. Your Tigers hit 3 home runs and we can go home now. I'm like, why would we go for a walk? Like, they're not going to score 4 runs off Schubel, 2-hitter over 6 innings. But it was still great to see Cam Schlittler, who is still my pick to win the Cy Young. He's got an ERA barely over 2. He shoved against the Rays, 8 strong innings in the start after that blowup against the Tigers. Hey, you're allowed to have one bad start. He hasn't lost 3 straight starts once in his career. That's my AL Cy Young pick, although I do love Drew Rasmussen. He's been terrific. And in the National League, it's Jacob Mizerowski. That 15-strikeout, you know, one-hit performance, one of the all-time greats. The guy throws 105. He's must-see TV. He's this year's Paul Skeens. That's how much fun he's been to watch. I'll take the Miz.

He's been an absolute monster so far. Both of those guys are a blast to watch. Both of those guys leading their teams to a lot of success. And speaking of success for individual players, who would be your first half MVP in each league?

Jordan Alvarez is taking dead aim at the Triple Crown, and it's remarkable. And Harold Reynolds said to me, because the impressive thing is the average. Before you had a guy hitting .346 or .360, but the American League, no one hits that high. There's only 2 guys hitting above .300. It's crazy. So Jordan Alvarez can hit .324 and potentially win the Triple Crown. Because, you know, he'll get the home runs. 29 home runs right now, leading the American League. You know, he can get the RBIs as he's got 67 right now. So to me, Jordan Álvarez especially wins the Triple Crown. The guy's been awesome for the Astros, one of the best hitters in the game and obviously an all-time great DH. And speaking of DHs, I'll go with Shohei Ohtani. No surprise there. Could win his 4th straight MVP, an ERA sub-2 right now, and still putting up good offensive numbers. Fine, it's not 50-50 like it was a couple of years ago, but still an OPS among the best in baseball. I'll go Shohei and Jordan.

I love it. And, and both of those guys have been ridiculous. Jordan Álvarez, at least at the moment, um, is number 2 in offensive WAR in Major League Baseball behind Juan Otto López. So as we head into this and we continue on, Adnan, I gotta ask you, we look at these teams who have had success, who are your first half managers of the year?

So managers-wise, I gotta give it to the venerable Will Venable. What he's done with the Chicago White Sox, the fact that they're battling for first place right now, I mean, they're game up on the Guardians, 47-42. That's amazing work Will Venable. Like, for years, Ozzie Guillén was the face of the team. Pedro Garfola, you weren't really sure who the manager was. But Venable did a nice job as far as bringing along these young players. Clearly they're playing hard for him, whether it's Colson Montgomery or Burke or others. I mean, clearly he's got the room right now rolling. So I'll give it to Will Venable and the surprising Chicago White Sox. In the National League, there's no other answer than Don Mattingly. Donnie Baseball has turned around this Philadelphia Phillies team. I love Rob Thompson.

He really has.

It's crazy. They're 20 games over .500 with Don Mattingly as the manager. That's crazy to me. They could catch the Braves in the East.

Adnan, shifting back to players then really briefly, let's go to the rookies of the year in each league.

The guy I love is Kevin McGonigle of your Detroit Tigers. One of the coolest things about him, Jeremy, is he doesn't strike out very much. I mean, it's rare to have a patient player like that. Doesn't strike out much, gets tons of walks, is high when it comes to on-base percentage, hasn't shown a ton of power, but he'll get on base and he'll definitely hit. So for the OBP alone, I love what McGonigle is doing. Also playing a premium position defensively. For a very disappointing Tigers team. And again, one of the more surprising teams of the year, the St. Louis Cardinals. J.J. Weatherholt for Rookie of the Year. He and Jordan Walker have been a great one-two punch. Weatherholt, McGonigle, my Rookies of the Year.

Those guys have been spectacular. And McGonigle, first of all, I love that you always say your Detroit Tigers. I appreciate that. You know, I still have my love for my American League team in the Detroit Tigers, but both of those guys have been a blast to watch. And for those of you who haven't been watching the two of them, they're two of the great young players in the game.

All right. Randy Johnson wins, right?

Obviously.

16. Okay. Oh, bring me back. Brad Penny on the Dodgers with the Dodgers.

Wow. 1 win.

Okay.

Tough year.

So Chris Cody's at 17.

That's how he followed up '03, huh?

So now let's see what you got.

I've got Troy Percival.

Yeah.

Of the Tigers.

Is he a reliever?

Yes, he would. Yep. So he has 2 wins.

So you handpicked relievers, huh? That's a good job.

But then how about this? Good old Greg Maddux. In 2004, he had 16 wins with the Cubs.

18 to 17.

All right.

All right.

I'm going first.

Yeah.

Hit me. Okay. Give me a nice 20-something.

How about Kyle Loesch?

Kyle Loesch. 9 wins.

17 plus 9, you're at 26.

Now it's on you.

Hit me.

Okay.

Okay. You're at 18.

And I think we're probably good.

David Wells.

Ooh, David Wells. David Wells coming off a year with the Padres where he had 12 wins.

You're at 30.

Okay, I'm at 26. Yeah, hit me.

Kevin Gregg.

Kevin Gregg, 5 wins though.

31 to 30.

I'm going to, you know what, I'm going to take the risk. I'm going to say hit me.

That's not a risk.

Ted Lilly.

I got to get 20. There's not that many 20-game winners back then.

I don't know.

Ted Lilly had 12 wins, so I'm now at 42.

See, now you're playing.

42 to 30.

What am I at, 31? Oh, of course, hit me. Uh, this is, uh, Kevin Millwood, 9 wins.

Okay, so you're at 40. 40, and you're at 42.

42 to 40. I'm going to stay at 42.

All right, so what am I at?

You're at 40.

Okay, do you want to say it or do you want to hit?

I like to live dangerously.

Or Trevor Hoffman.

Trevor Hoffman comes up.

You gotta be kidding. 3 wins!

Oh, let's go!

Read 'em and weep, baby! Yeah! Trevor Hoffman had 3 wins? Oh man, that was great. 2-nothing. Wow. All right, I need a major comeback or, or Chris is gonna win.

We're gonna go back to hitters. So back to 150.

I've always been a good blackjack player.

Okay, 3 cards, back to 150. All right, Jeremy.

All right.

Give me your number, please.

I have Jermaine Dye. Oh, what a name. But he's coming off a year with the Athletics where he hit 23 home runs.

Okay.

Then I have Carlos Beltrán. It's a split year. So he had—

splir—

15 with the Royals and 23 with the Astros.

So that's 38.

David Eckstein.

3 home runs?

He hit 2 home runs. There you go.

All right. 63 is Jeremy's total.

All right.

I got the bit of an uphill battle.

Was it the commissioner? What's this guy?

The mayor.

The mayor. Sorry.

Sean Casey.

Sean Casey, the mayor, 24 home runs.

Okay.

Jason Burr, 26 home runs. Man. And Mike Cameron.

God, these are some good names.

30 home runs.

Okay.

So Chris Cody's at 80. You're at 63. Jeremy goes first this time. Yeah. Hit me.

Jim Edmonds, 42 home runs.

105 for Jeremy.

So you technically can stay here.

I could.

You've reached the 100 threshold. It's on, it's on. Oh, it's on me.

Yeah, it's on you.

You're at 80. I'm at 80. I mean, that's it.

Okay.

Oh, look who comes back up.

Corey Patterson. These are randomly shuffled. You can tell here. Uh, 24 home runs. I can't believe he had that many.

105 to 104.

So yeah, obviously.

Manny Ramirez. Manny Ramirez hit 43 home runs.

105.

I am sitting at 148.

Oh, guys. Moises Alou.

39. That's actually good for me.

We're mad. 143.

All right.

I mean, let's, let's play the game.

Let's play the game.

So there is a win here.

You're not going to be happy about this. Johnny Damon's come up again.

Johnny Damon.

No, he had a lot of home runs.

He hit 20.

I got so excited because he had 6 triples.

Oh, dude, I'm telling you, that would have been crazy.

20 home runs. Yeah. Dang.

Jeremy is on the board.

It's all about piecing teams together, Adnan. So let's talk about the Executives of the Year. Who would you have as your Executive of the Year?

Well, I got to go Eric Neander for the Rays in the American League. They're the best team right now in the American League, and it's remarkable work. Again, they don't spend money, but eventually they'll have their guys. I like who's on the pitching staff with Rasmussen and McClanahan, Shane Baz, obviously. And offensively, Junior Caminero has been incredible. I mean, he had 11 home runs over a 12-game stretch. He's been one of the best stories in baseball. Caminero is the heartbeat of that offense. But Yandy Diaz right now is battling with Jordan Alvarez for the batting average lead. You know, so Jonathan Aranda is a really good player. I like what Neander has done again for the Rays. He's been a model of consistency. And I have to give your Marlins some love. So Peter Bendix, what he's done with Miami. Miami's been the best team in baseball since June 1st. How do you not credit again the organization and the job that Bendix has done in giving love to guys like Liam Hicks? Otto Lopez was a career .260 hitter prior to the season. Now he's a .346 potential batting champion. Love what he's doing.

It's been awesome to watch that Rays model sort of trickle down here toward Miami. And again, it's about finding diamonds in the rough, whether it's Nick Martinez on the mound for the Rays, a guy who, who really was such a, a reclamation project for them, or like you mentioned, whether it's Otto Lopez handing over the reins at second base to Xavier Edwards and seeing him thrive. You know, obviously now moving guys around positionally, the Marlins are doing a lot of great things as well. And boy, would it be fun to see a Citrus Series World Series, me against Dan Lebatard his raise. But let's talk about teams now at this point, Adnan, because obviously there are teams that overachieve. There are teams that are entertaining to watch. There are teams that underachieve. But what I want to ask you is, who are your favorite teams to watch in each league?

Well, I love watching the Washington Nationals. They score a ton of runs. I mean, last night our great researcher Max Watson said take the over, and the over— the line was 11.5, and it was 6-6 by the third inning. It was amazing. Nationals-Astros. Nationals have literally— they've scored the most runs in all of baseball. CJ Abrams is batting 9th to start the season, and now he's an All-Star. James Woods, an All-Star. The guy's a superstar. Luis Garcia Jr., to me, the biggest All-Star snub. He's like 4th in RBIs right now. So they've got 3 guys with 60+ RBIs at the half, which is amazing. Their pitching's bottom 5, but the Nationals will always make things exciting. I also like the Pittsburgh Pirates because they're hitting a lot more home runs and they weren't doing that a season ago. So I'm— credit to them. And as far as the American League, I do like the A's just because I'm such a huge fan of their young players. Again, it's kind of like the Nationals. Their pitching staff is really worrisome and they need a lot more than just Luis Severino out there. But Nick Kirtz is an absolute stud.

Amazing, right?

He's starting at the All-Star Game. He's a modern-day Jason Giambi. Ton of walks, ton of power. Love Kirtz in the A's.

I love that you brought up both of those teams and in the Nationals and the A's, because I would argue that James Wood and Nick Kirtz have been maybe my two favorite non-Marlins to watch this season. Those two guys at the plate are Unbelievable. And for such young hitters to watch the approach that each of them have is so impressive. I know Kurtz had a stretch there where he had reached base, or maybe it was he had walked in 17 straight games. Like, it's so impressive to see the things that he's been able to do. And I'll tell you, watching the Marlins series in Sacramento, holy cow, do baseballs fly out of that stadium. Any chance you get to watch ballgames in Sacramento, it is crazy. Going back to players real quick here, Adnan, because these are the heartfelt stories. Who are your comeback players of the year in both the American and in the National League?

Well, I think Jordan Alvarez has to be there, Jeremy, because he's had such a phenomenal season. And obviously a year ago he was banged up and hurt. But I do love Royce Lewis. I think he's been a great story for Minnesota. Got off to a slow start, was sent down to the minors, and Derek Shelton, the manager, is raved with the job that Royce Lewis has done since coming back. So Royce is one of the nicest guys in the game, easy to root for. And I'll go Jordan Walker for the St. Louis Cardinals. I remember 2023, me and Harold Reynolds doing the Six together. I was like, oh my God, Walker's supposed to be the stud rookie, disappointing for a few years. Now he's on pace for like a 40-home run season. Like, it's incredible how good Jordan Walker has been for the Cardinals. I'm thrilled for that young man.

You mentioned Harold Reynolds, and it's a note I told you beforehand, but Joe Mack recently told me of the Marlins that he watched the Harold Reynolds Presents Baseball DVDs growing up. And that's just one of my favorite things. Total baseball guy.

Play—

for those of you who watch, he was a big fan of MVP Baseball as well, the video game. So Joe Mack is our guy over here on the pitch clock. And now Let's go ahead and look forward. Who are your now favorites to reach the World Series in each league as we head into the second half of Major League Baseball?

I really hope the Brewers get Tariq Scribble, Jeremy, so I can give them some love. But right now it is the Dodgers. They're on pace for 110 wins. I mean, they've just been unbelievable this season. Again, they're balanced when it comes to starting pitching, in particular the lineup. Kyle Tucker's making $60 million a year, hitting .240, batting 7th. You don't even notice. That's how good the rest of this Dodgers offense has been. Ohtani, Freeman, Betts, especially Betts has been better the last month and a half or so. Freddie Freeman, model of consistency. Max Muncy is a starting All-Star. And the American League, it's a caveat again. It's the Yankees if Aaron Judge is back. Without Judge, they're a problem. They've lost 12 of 15 games. And the offense, particularly the bottom third, is very worrisome. Think of those great Yankee teams. They always had a Scott Brocious, a Luis Sojo. Those guys would step up. This Yankee team doesn't have that. They're very top-heavy. It's got to be Judge, Bellinger, and Rice carrying the mail, so to speak. So I do think that, you know, Gerrit Cole's having a decent comeback season. Max Fried, they're missing right now.

Once he comes back, Schlittler, as I mentioned, a Cy Young pick. Bednar, good in the bullpen. They need some work. But the American League is so weak right now. It's Razor, Yankees. I'll lean Yankees when Judge comes back.

It's part of what makes the upcoming trade deadline so fascinating is the American League being as weak as it is and so many teams probably believing, you know what, we might be a piece or two away from being able to make a run. To let you know on your consistency here, Adnan. Before the season, your MVPs were Shohei Ohtani. That's a match. Vlad Guerrero Jr., not a match with Jordan Álvarez. Your Cy Young Award winners in the American League. If he just pitched at home, Brian Wu would have been an awesome pick. He did just set a record for the Mariners for the most consecutive scoreless innings at T-Mobile Park, breaking the record of Félix Hernández and Jamie Moyer, a name we love over here. Unfortunately, he does pitch on the road and he's been dreadful on the road for most of this season. Logan Webb was your pick with the Giants. That becomes Jacob Mizerowski. And of course, Yankees and Dodgers was your pick for the World Series. Nothing has changed there because that's where we are. We'll see as we get closer to the playoffs if all of these things remain the same.

Adnan, but as always, we look forward to seeing you in about a month from now. We can recap some of the things that happened at the trade deadline. Looking forward to seeing you and thank you as always for being here. Watch him on MLB Network. Buy his book. Adnan is the best.

My pleasure, Jeremy. You're the man. And Logan Webb, by the way, is an All-Star, so I'm slightly vindicated there.

Hey, it's not a bad thing. And Brian Wu is great at home.

I'll reveal first this time.

What do we got?

Yep. 12 wins from Tim Wakefield. Nice.

The knuckleballer.

And then 5 wins from Brandon Backe.

17 back— back! Back, uh, Mark Burley 16 wins also about to be a World Series champion and one Jason Isringhausen how many?

Four wins all right so you've got 20 I got 17 and I will take a hit okay oh Roy Halladay love this nice Holiday it's a big one for ya He must have got hurt.

8.

Wow.

Only 25.

Only started 21 games.

And you're at, you're at 20, right?

I'm at 20. So yeah, please hit me. Scott Kazmir. What a name! Ah, Scott Kazmir. Scott Kazmir had 2 wins. Pretty upsetting.

All right. So 25 to 22.

I'm at 25 right now. Give me a nice 20-game winner. Give me a 22-game winner right here.

Oh, you're not going to like this.

Adriano Rivera.

4.

Okay. 29 for Cody.

I'm at 22.

Yep.

So hit me.

What's our stay with pitchers? 40?

You got to get to 40.

50.

No, I know.

Oh, yeah. 35.

35.

Did we say 25?

But 35? 35 sounds right.

Jon Lieber.

Okay.

Jon Lieber. Wow. Jon Lieber had 14 wins in 2004. 36. So I'm at 36. And so I could stay.

I'll hit.

Okay. Uh oh.

Uh oh.

No, this is good.

Uh oh.

12.

Ooh. All right. All right.

I'm at 36.

Hit me.

Uh-oh. Jake Peavy had 15 wins.

Yes!

You're kidding! We're back, Olivia! We're back! Jake Peavy in the— ah, in this dip in the bottom lip. Hey, congratulations on your victory.

Sino Games, you got no shot against me.

Welcome back into the playoff race. We're headed into the second half of Major League Baseball right here.

All-Star Game.

And it's— look, it's a 9-6 matchup now. So anyone's game.

This stretch run could be fun.

This is a playoff race that's about to really heat up.

That kind of thing.