Cody LIVE in Bradenton As He Also Interviews Termarr Johnson, Esmerlyn Valdez, & Konnor Griffin

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Welcome to the North Carolina podcast presented by Fandall.

I'm a host, Anthony Denario, with me.

We got Cody today.

Howdy.

Cody, how you doing, my guy?

Oh, you know, it's been a long week.

You know, starting this week, I was like, I think I'm ready to go home.

But today, my last day, I wish I could stay.

It's been a good time.

We've had a good time.

We've talked to a lot of people.

I just love spring training.

Well, I'll play this way.

I know it's been a long week for you, Cody.

It has.

And I get it.

But if anything, I'm glad you're able to cap it with today.

Yeah, it's amazing.

I mean, today was awesome.

I know this is coming out tomorrow, today for you.

You know, times of flat circle, who cares?

But, yeah.

Big day.

Talk to some of the top prospects in the pirate's organization.

Top prospects in baseball.

In baseball?

Yeah.

For sure.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

I'm not trying to do my own horn.

I'll do it for you.

You can do it for me.

All right.

I'll let you do that.

Yeah.

But yeah.

Had a good time.

I like watching what the prospects are doing during the season.

Actually, Mr. Rosetti.

He came up to me the first night we were here.

He was like, you're the minor league guy, right?

Meanwhile, I'm like still groggy from my flight.

And I'm like, what are you talking about, man?

But no, I thought about it this past week that I've been here.

And I'm like, yeah, I do pay attention to these guys a lot.

So it was nice to be recognized for that.

And yeah, I just love my prospects.

Yeah.

And the reason I'm bringing you on here is, I mean, first off,

there's 300 viewers that we haven't put out yet.

Yeah.

You didn't know when we were going to put them.

You've done them all.

I'll be enough.

They didn't fit with the wrap-ups.

Right.

And I just figured, let's kind of do it here and talk to you

because you pay Cody.

You talked to Tomar Johnson.

You talked as Merlin Valdez, which by the way,

you were less dubbed the magician.

The magician.

That's where it started.

It started out as Merlin the magician because, you know,

you just shortened the name.

I don't think it was like, I don't think he got that the thing was that.

But we'll go with the magician.

I think it's still great.

I will still be calling him Merlin the magician.

But that's my thing.

Everybody else calling the magician.

He's Merlin the magician.

That's Cody's.

You can't take it away from him.

You can't take it from him.

So not only was it tomorrow, not only was it as Merlin,

but then today you cap it off, talking to Connor Griffin,

the number one prospect in all of baseball, not just the parts.

That dude is perfect.

He's literally everything that is put out about him.

I don't know what else to say because he says it all.

He's perfect.

And like, sure, he's a great baseball player and everything,

but he's just a nice southern boy.

He'll come up to be like, hey, how you doing?

Like, how shake your hand?

Very firm, handshake, by the way.

Very firm.

Sources say.

Sources say, very firm handshake.

I wish I could shake hands the way Connor Griffin shakes hands.

But no, this dude is special in all aspects of life.

It's not just professionally and baseball,

but as a person, just talking to him.

I'm like, wow.

This dude's awesome.

So that was a great experience for sure.

Well, I want to, again, we'll show you these videos.

We'll show you a little about before we do that, of course.

Let's go ahead and get the tomorrow.

Yeah.

And we'll talk to King Slime, baby.

Let's see what you got to talk with the tomorrow about.

Absolutely.

All right, guys, we're sitting down here with Tamar Johnson tomorrow.

How was your offseason, man?

Real good, real good.

You know, I got to really focus on my body.

Yeah.

It feels good coming in and, you know, coming in the game

is being ready for every day.

You know, whatever the challenge has today.

Just be ready for that.

Have fun.

So it's been real good.

Child season was real good.

That's awesome.

I saw you're doing a lot of charity work.

It seems like that's not something you really see a lot of minor league guys do.

What's your motivation to be on top of that and just give back?

Yeah.

I know, you know, me coming up through the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia.

Yeah.

Somebody did it for me.

You know, Brian Jordan, Marquis Grissom, Marvin Friedman, you know, a lot of the former players gave back to me.

And I was able to use that information and, you know, kind of carve out my own dream with it.

And, you know, I saw how important it was, you know, for me.

Being able to, you know, I have a platform now.

Even if it's, you know, on the minor league side, you know, I still have a platform.

Yeah.

And it's only going to get bigger, you know, as my career goes on.

And to be able to do the foundational work now.

And for me to, you know, learn how I can help, you know, my city and cities across America.

You know, eventually it's going to get to, you know, the greatest city of Pittsburgh and, you know, everywhere around the world.

So it's really good.

Yeah, it's awesome that you do that, man.

And, you know, you're drafted out of high school.

So you've been in the minors now for four years.

Does it feel like a long grind or you feel like you're right where you're at?

Why you're right where you need to be?

Yeah, I mean, I'm being honest, man.

Like, doesn't feel like four years to be honest with you.

You know, I did come in pretty young.

And, you know, it felt like just yesterday I was playing with the Bradington Marauders.

Right.

You know, I'm grinding it out in Bradington.

But, you know, this process has been, you know, really cool.

You know, it's what you take from it every single day.

You know, every single game.

You can learn something every single day.

You know, you'll be on a really good side of things.

And, you know, getting really, really closer to, you know, finishing the process.

And, you know, I feel like I'm ready for, you know, everything that I need to learn.

You know, I feel like I've learned it to an extent.

And I'm just ready to, you know, win some really important games in Pittsburgh.

I think I'm very excited to do that.

I'm very excited to come in and, you know, win some very important games in Pittsburgh.

You know, that's something that I talked about when I was 18 when I got drafted.

You know, now we're getting so, so much closer to it.

You know, I'm very excited.

I know, you can almost taste it, right?

For sure, for sure.

So, you're kind of like in the middle of what's going on for like a position battle in Pittsburgh right now.

You may be a little bit on the outside looking in because there's a lot of talent they brought in this year.

But, what's that competition looked like up close?

I think it's fun.

Honestly, really just more so learning the guys than anything.

You know, at the end of the day, you kind of got to look at them as teammates.

Because at the end of the day, you know, your plan is to play with these guys as teammates.

So, you know, I would say it's a friendly competition.

Yeah.

Obviously, everybody still ruin each other on.

We're trying to stay positive in clubhouse.

And I think that's really cool, you know, just to stay positive and have positive reinforcement.

You know, even if, you know, it may be, I may be fighting with somebody there.

Everybody still dabbing me up every time.

Right.

You know, some good happens over there.

So, I think it's pretty cool.

The clubhouse is pretty cool.

And at the end of the day, we're going to be teammates.

So, you know, I think it's less about the competition part.

And more about getting to work and learning each other and, you know, becoming one team.

Yeah, no, it's like observing it.

It's kind of awesome to see how you guys are just like, it's for the team.

It's for the team.

It's for the team.

At the end of the day, whoever gets that spot, it's the best for the team.

And you guys are like all for it.

You're rooting for each other.

Sure, for sure.

So, one more question if I could keep my phone open.

Well, that was the last question.

Well, okay.

So, you're a young guy.

We asked a couple of the other early young guys.

Who do you gravitate towards here in the Big League camp?

Like, who are the big leagueers that you're going to for some advice?

Like, how can I do this better?

How can I do that better?

Yeah, of course.

You know, I would say, like, I try to use as much information as I can from all the guys.

But, you know, I'm locker-maced with Hortz.

Oh, nice.

So, being able to, you know, be right next to him every single day.

And, you know, kind of pick his brain on how he goes about his process and everything.

And, even today, you know, I was able to talk to Rhino, Rhino Herring.

And, you know, just talk a little bit about hitting and, you know, about the process and everything.

So, but more importantly, you know, just using all the guys, you know,

I've had skin's questions.

I've asked, you know, total kind of, I'm proud of him, you know.

Just being around the team and, you know, being around everybody just, you know,

using information that, you know, may come to my mind these days and, you know,

kind of ask the question, figure out from there.

Yeah.

So, I'm sorry.

I know we're keeping you a little long, but you just reminded me,

you have some of like the most experienced playing with Conor out of all these guys.

So, what's he like?

Like, what's he like playing with Conor Griffin?

Yeah, he's great.

You know, he deserves everything that's coming to him.

And, you know, he has a really good head on the shoulders.

I've let it.

Strong.

You know, everything that you want out of a baseball player and, you know, he works hard.

I think that's the most important thing.

And, you know, he's very focused on what he's doing.

Absolutely.

And, I think that's very important, you know, with guys.

It's a lot of things that when you do get to the big leagues that can't distract you,

but for a guy like him, I think he's very focused.

I think he's very prepared.

It's going to be really fun, you know, further than on a relationship with him.

Yeah.

You know, like I said, and I'm very proud of this stuff that he's doing, bro.

KG, keep going, bro.

You're doing amazing, bro.

Don't let anybody tell you or not, bro.

You're amazing.

Hey, so hopefully in the near future, we see those two man in the middle infield for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Thank you so much.

Sure, man.

Thank you guys.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.

Let's talk it it tomorrow, which by the way, tomorrow, like, what a dude.

Another great dude.

I tweeted it out the other day.

I was like, you know, this is one of my favorite dudes in the pirate system.

It's been in the system for like four years straight out of high school.

I asked, obviously, you saw, I asked him about that.

Like, it can be a grind.

And it's good to see he's taking it in stride, but also he's easier to get to the big leagues.

Yeah.

So he's just another great dude.

He comes up to us when we're over there in our little corner.

Like, it's not like we have to seek him out.

Who come over to us and be like, how you guys doing?

You guys know, how's the heat like you know?

But yeah, tomorrow, just a great dude.

I love that he's doing the charity work already as a minor leager.

Like, you don't see that a lot.

You really don't.

And for him to, you know, acknowledge that people did that for him.

And he wants to do it as soon as he came with what he's been blessed with.

It's awesome to see.

Yeah, for sure.

And like, so the reason I want to talk to you some more about this also is because

I mean, Cody, you're the creative director of NS9.

Oh, wow.

We're putting that out on the ether, huh?

It's not just behind the scenes.

Wow.

A lot of what happens here behind the scenes is because of you.

And a lot of people don't really get to see what you do.

And then see you.

I know you do you about with some stuff, especially like post game shows, right?

But, you know, a lot of the stuff that happens, you know, like this week, you know,

it was Nate and I just on for the recap last night.

Yeah.

You don't really get to be out there.

And I think you have a different perspective than what we can bring, you know, when we talk about.

So I kind of want to talk about your perspective.

Because obviously, like, and you're the one kind of sitting back.

You're seeing stuff behind the scenes while we might be watching the game and doing stuff.

So in this entire spring, give me some feedback.

Like, what was your perspective of the spring training?

Maybe different this year from the years past that you've been here?

Yeah.

So I mean, right off the bat, like, the vibes are high.

Like, I mean, nothing, not to slight Derek Shelton.

But last year when we were here, it wasn't a, didn't seem like a fun place for the players

or anybody apart of the organization.

It was just like, everybody's here to say, okay, we have a job to do.

But didn't seem like they were sure that they could get it done.

This year, with Don Kelly in charge, vibes are high.

Yeah.

Like, we literally came here day one.

And Don Kelly's sitting by the table we podcast from a fist bumps up, fist bumps us.

And it's just like, welcome.

Like, glad you guys are here.

Mm-hmm.

That's never happened.

Yeah, that's never happened in the past.

And like, he's been like that the whole time we're here.

He comes up, he's another guy comes up to us.

He's like, how you guys doing?

We have a good day, blah, blah.

Just Don Kelly has brought the vibes.

I hope that we get to talk to him at some point.

I don't know if that'll happen.

But the change in the environment has been a 180.

And I think these players are really buying in.

I know it's something we talked a lot about last year.

It was buy-in.

They got a buy-in, got a buy-in, a mat-head.

Got a buy-in to the team.

Got a buy-in to this, buy-in to that.

I think it's already happened.

Yeah.

It could be.

I believe you.

Vibes do seem to be different.

And I'll say this to add some perspective.

And I think the best way, maybe it's more of an internal inside

and perspective of it.

But it's like we did also see Shelton at his...

Yeah, that's what I mean.

It's not like the Derek Shelton.

I think Derek Shelton could do a great job

if he was given the tools that DK was giving this offseason.

But I guess what I put it to is maybe Derek Shelton 2020-2021.

Yes.

It was probably more of that.

We didn't start seeing him until later when it was like,

OK, it's the...

Confirmationally.

I mean, we felt the same way.

I get it.

But this is Don Kelly coming in.

It's brand new.

But you are absolutely correct.

I can attest that.

Every time we've been out there, every time he's walked by,

he's made it a point to say hi to us.

Talk to us.

Give us some pounds.

Like yesterday, he was after the game.

He saw me and was like, you guys in Miramar?

We were like, you were speculating.

You were like, you want to talk to us tomorrow?

I was the pessimist of this situation.

I was like, maybe he wants to take us in the office.

What the hell are you doing?

Yeah, well, the funny thing was,

Don, if you're watching this, this is why I was walking up to him

to say, hey, tomorrow a good day to maybe get you on.

So we do want to get him on.

And before I can even say, he looked at me and was like,

hey, you guys in Miramar.

I was like, yeah.

I don't know what this means.

But yeah.

But again, like he did see us.

He talked to us.

Everything, like, well, you guys from where you're going back.

So I thought whether he had a true interest.

And I think the point you're bringing us is,

it starts at the top.

Yeah.

Right.

And we see, he's doing things differently.

And you see it coming down to the players.

And that leads to a different vibe this spring.

And I mean, speaking of the top, your boy got to talk a little bit

to Ben Cherry, too, as well.

It was off the record.

But, you know, me being the little lap dog golden retriever

that I am, I got the man's attention.

And he came over, talked to us.

And he was like, maybe we talk.

Maybe we get on a pod in the future.

But who knows?

Maybe, you know, he gave us the run around.

He gave us the typical word salad.

So who knows if that actually happens.

But we Ben Cherry didn't even came over to us.

And was like, hey, what's up?

How you doing?

So that's, I think that's the change that we're seeing.

And this organization right now is, like you said,

from the top, it's trickling down.

And we're having good times down here.

Well, first off, it's the winner of Ben.

Yeah, winner of Ben's own is you springing over to now

the spring of Ben.

Right, right, right, right.

But that's, I guess, what I want to say.

People don't get to really experience Cody to his fullest.

You know, when you talk about the lap dog, like that is,

that's what I'm going to say it now.

Because I said it might be more internal understanding.

But like, like Don Kelly to me now is more like the Cody.

Yes.

And maybe, and maybe Derek Shelton was more of that early

on his tenure.

But we got to experience the tie-tie version of Derek Shelton,

right, who didn't want to talk to people,

who was giving away from these, I hate you, right?

Right.

We all know tie-tie.

So, but like, that is Cody at his core.

And of course Cody, he's Ben.

And I wasn't there.

So I'm speaking to that stuff secondhand.

But like, of course Cody, he's Ben.

And he's like, Ben.

What?

That didn't invite to the show any time.

Well, it took, it took two, two yells.

Okay.

But still, he walked by and I go, Ben, nothing.

Then everyone's like, ah.

But I'll say this.

Ben.

And he's like, oh?

And then he came over here.

But like, I'll say this, right?

It's probably that way, because like, it's Ben.

Everyone's, like, that's what was a counter thing.

You know, like I hear, but I'm this, I'm focused.

I'm doing what I need to do.

But then when persistent Cody, right, the Golden Rechiever,

Ben screams out loud again.

Like, oh, oh, maybe I'm really being so much of it.

But anyways.

So again, this is like, this is the Cody S chord.

Behind the scene stuff.

This is why you're awesome and amazing.

And I want to get your perspective.

So again, we talked about all that.

Next, again, let's, let's bring up,

you talked to Esmeralyn Valdez, which we said.

Like, you dubbed him the magician.

He is one of my favorite prospects.

I mean, you obviously have to say counter-graftings your favorite.

But if I had a real favorite, it says Merlin Valdez.

It says Merlin Valdez.

Just because he's a similar attitude as me.

He's that puppy dog.

He loves life.

He loves that he gets to play baseball for a living,

just like how I get, I love how I get to do this in my free time.

He is just a light.

And we were talking about it before we got on here.

Like, he's a guy that we just really hope

gets to come to Pittsburgh and play ball and be successful

because he's such a good dude.

Like genuinely, such a good dude

in Pittsburgh deserves to experience that.

But yeah, got to talk to the magician.

It was everything I hoped it would be.

I feel like that was your highlight.

Even though you got to talk to Connor.

And like, I can flex on that.

But like Esmeralyn was the guy I wanted to talk to.

That's awesome.

So let's go ahead and watch that interview with the magician.

Before we do, let's you hear in a little word from our sponsors.

But then yeah, we'll hear about you from yours truly, by the way.

Yeah.

A lot of stuff that happens here is thanks to Cody.

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We're here with Esmeralyn Valdes,

the magician, Esmeralyn.

How you feeling? How you doing?

I'm happy to be doing this.

Thank you very much for the final interview.

I feel good, I feel ready.

I'm ready to continue working on this project.

I'm feeling good. Thank you guys for the opportunity

for the video. I feel good.

I feel that she's playing and doing best.

We heard that you were playing PlayStation

when you got the call that you were going to be a non-Roster invitee

here to spring training.

We're just curious, do you play any other games outside of MLB to show?

I'm sure I've heard of Esmeralyn,

who has been playing PlayStation

when they gave you the news that Ivalet

had been protected by the 40-year-old

with another game besides the MLB to show.

Now I'm going to go to MLB to show

and say hello to Duri.

Awesome, awesome.

I've been able to watch you here for a week.

On social media, you're a very charismatic guy.

You love to say hi to everybody.

But watching you here for a week, you've been extremely focused.

What is your goal here with this spring?

What are you looking to accomplish?

We say you are going to keep on and on my way.

Alright, so I got to bring up the nickname,

the magician.

You seem to have taken a liking to it.

Just need to know how many baseballs

we're going to make this appear this year.

I'm not continuing to do what I do every time.

Just go day by day and do my best.

Alright, brother.

Well, I appreciate you coming on.

Thank you so much.

Have a good one.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

Stephen, thank you.

So you finally get to talk to the magician live in person.

I know there's a lot of things you want to say to him.

Of course, when I have a little bit of time.

But again, like first off,

he's so accommodating.

Oh, you mentioned about the person.

I'm going to add some perspective on us too,

because I have the same way.

It's like, I'm rooting so much for him as the player

to really do something,

to make an impact and be on the team.

Because I think the person is something that this team,

this city deserves because he's just, he's magnificent.

Absolutely.

Just the sweetest dude,

I don't know if anybody saw it on our Instagram story last week.

But he reached out to us because he lost access to his Twitter account.

Which is Merlin.

What are you doing?

What are we doing?

He said he changed phones,

and that was the reason.

So that sucks.

But hey, everybody's losing a Twitter account nowadays.

That's Jim.

Jim.

Yeah, he's like, hey guys,

could you just share this so I can get my followers back up?

And it's like, of course, dude.

Like he loves talking to everybody on social media.

He loves putting out what he's doing.

I wanted to ask him a question today about a drill that he does.

That just, it was, it's, it's an odd looking drill.

But obviously the situation was set up where that would have been difficult.

But yeah, the dude loves to share his journey and what he's doing.

And just, he puts off great vibes.

And I was going to reiterate it again.

We've said it like twice already.

But Pittsburgh deserves a guy like this because he's such a great person.

Like, I want Pittsburgh to experience

as Merlin Valdez authentically as who he is

because he's so good at life in baseball and just everything.

Because he's like, I love your musk.

Oh my gosh.

But real life.

But since you bring it up, all I can bring it up here.

So yes, as Merlin's new Twitter, if you're interested in following him,

is Valdez ESME27.

So go follow our boy.

So there it is.

Apparently we didn't help too much because he has 18 followers.

Like someone else.

He'll give him up soon enough.

But for sure.

Yeah.

So again, as Merlin, I felt like that.

I mean, that's like your peak.

Again, I understand Connor is, it's Connor Griffin.

Right.

But it's like personally, as Merlin was like the guy that you wanted to connect with.

And it's kind of because like, I feel like I was the first one on the train.

Yeah.

At least as a casual fan.

Like, you know, like, I was the first one to be like, this dude's pretty good.

I'll say this.

Jim, I usually go to Jim when it comes to like making graphics for minor leakers,

because he knows minor leakers as well.

He knows them very well.

And I used to like, in our group chat, be like, hey, this is Merlin guy.

He had a home run today.

Should we make a graphic about it?

And it used to be Jim saying nah.

And guess what?

Guess where we are now?

As Merlin is graphic worthy.

He is worthy of all the praise.

And I was on this before Jim was.

How about that?

That's all I got.

Jim hates numbing joke.

But no, but I'll be honest.

But it's also like credit to him because, you know, we're talking about the person,

but back to the player.

Like, it just seems like when your question's like, we heard.

Like, you just seem laser focused.

Oh, yeah.

It seemed like he gets it.

Like, he talks of people.

He's very charismatic.

He wants to connect to people.

At the same time, he wants to put in the work.

And that was the thing.

Like, coming into last year, like, sure, you did it at the low minors.

You had the power, but the contact rate wasn't great.

You know, the swing and miss was there.

Like, is he going to actually be a real prospect?

Or is this guy who is like, yeah, he's hitting a home runs at a low level.

But once he hits the high minors, he's going to get exposed.

And you saw he put in the work.

And that was something he perfected.

He got better at.

He goes to Arizona fall league.

And he's the story of the Arizona fall.

Hey, man's going to be a block of junior.

Yeah.

The story of the Arizona fall league.

So, you know, again, it's come back to the personality of the guy.

He put in the work.

He's now like a legit prospect.

And he's knocking on the door for making the major league team.

Yeah.

And like, like you said, like a switch flipped with this guy.

He is laser focused this spring.

So like, I, I hope that that translates into the regular season.

But like, from the experience you guys had with him at the Arizona fall league.

I was expecting this to like, you know, bubbly dude all the time.

Bubbly dude.

Right.

Me.

But he's been like, it's like almost like a maturity thing that like,

I don't know if he got more mature or if it was just like,

he has that ability to lock in.

And it's really fascinating to see that he can do that.

But it's time.

When it's time to do it.

Yeah.

Because he has a job to do.

When that job is done, then you get, I think we need another nickname.

Is the magician the, at the plate persona of Esmeralyn?

Or is the magician off the field?

Okay.

Yeah.

And if it's, and if, whatever version of that is, I think we need another nickname for the other one.

The cerebral assassin.

No.

Oh, that's triple H.

So.

I wouldn't know.

Nate knows.

But it's okay.

So again, you talked about those two.

Yes.

You got some perspective on you for spring training.

And again, obviously, Cody, the real MVP.

And again, we're talking about the goner cheerer.

That's how it is, right?

Conor's there.

And, you know, we want to be respectful of these players.

Absolutely.

They have family here.

You know, they are people as well.

You know, if they're available for interviews, we'll get down.

If, you know, they got family coming to you like, hey, man, do your thing.

Right.

And that's kind of in Conor.

Of course, he's won it by everybody.

Right.

So we get that.

His, I was going to say girlfriend.

His wife was here at the game today.

And he came out there.

And of course, you talk about someone getting it also.

Yeah.

And when we talk about getting it, Conor seems to get it laser focused.

But when he's not in the field, he is sending autographs for days.

He's connecting with people.

Like, I feel like Conor also gets in.

We're talking about a 19 year old.

Yeah.

I keep saying it.

The joke is a child.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

He's a child.

He's certainly a man child.

Because when you see him on the field, let's go back to Nathan and I as recap.

Like, that's one takeaway.

I saw it too.

I wanted to.

I looked at the infill.

Like, there's Jared Schulho.

And that's a build dude.

Yeah.

You know, they're Spencer Horowitz.

They're like, and there's Conor Griffin.

And like, he just has his presence.

I mean, that's, we talked about last year.

Like, when he was the first, he didn't have anything as close as probable.

He got drafted.

He's there spring.

And the only takeaway was, he looks like a man.

Yeah.

He's a kid.

And he looks like, he's built.

He doesn't look out of place at all.

From just from talking to him.

Like, he's like, he's 19.

I'm 29.

I'm a decade older than this kid.

We're such a failure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I feel like a failure.

B, it felt like Conor.

It felt like I was talking to someone my own age.

And I was like, this is really like intriguing because you don't see that a lot.

And the guy that's that young, that he's going to be that mature to have those conversations

and like, be very aware.

He's very aware of what he is and who he is.

And he also doesn't let that get to his head.

And it's just amazing how he's able to juggle it all.

Yeah.

And like, that's kind of, if I had to offer you a talk to him, like, I wanted to ask him,

like, how do you block all this out, especially right now?

Because it's very important to be that locked in everybody.

And I'm talking everybody.

This isn't just a Pittsburgh thing.

Yeah.

Anyone who makes content, anyone who's within baseball as an analysis, anyone who's anything

in baseball, they're talking about you.

Yep.

And a big talk is like, are you going to start opening day?

Are you going to be an MVP type collar bug?

Is this Ted Williams, you know, like, it's just amazing, right?

Like, the comps Bobby would junior, but maybe even better.

You know, like, it's just, it's crazy.

And how do you block all that out to go in there and take it at bat by at bat?

Right.

Ground ball by ground ball.

Right.

And like you mentioned, like, he just seems so mature.

You hear Paul skiing, talking about his maturity and Paul skiing.

That's what he's known for.

Yes.

Right.

So like, you hear all this stuff.

Well, we'll bring that on there.

But again, I want to bring this up because it was like Connor was focused.

He was talking to the people.

He was signing on a grass.

His wife was there.

And it's like, that's family.

Like, go, go, go do your thing, man.

Yep.

And he did.

And he was talking her for a while.

And then suddenly the puppy dog was around.

And what happened, Cody?

Well, I didn't do anything.

You know, Dendi Griffin came over to me with a camera.

Because when you see a golden retriever, you'll walk up to the golden retriever and you pet it.

That's what you go to.

That's the go to terrible.

When you see a golden retriever, you go to it.

Nobody else, right?

She got it.

She couldn't want to anyone else.

Right.

Right.

So what happened?

Dendi comes over and she's just like, hey, you guys do podcasts or something.

You take a picture for us.

I said, sure.

So I took two really good photos for Dendi and Connor.

And then, you know, I just swooped in and I was like, hey, Connor, mind giving us two minutes.

And he's like, sure, absolutely.

And that's how it went down.

Yeah.

So, let's go and cat this off.

The Cody, talking to Connor interview.

All right.

We're here with the number one prospect in baseball, Connor Griffin, Connor.

So big off season for you.

You got married.

Right.

Congratulations, man.

I appreciate it.

What's that experience been like?

I know it hasn't been for too long, but what's it been like?

Yeah, it's been, uh, it's been awesome.

You know, she's been here the whole spring training.

Yeah.

Getting to go home to her every day has been a great joy.

It's kind of helped me, you know, leave baseball at the field.

Yeah.

Go home and be it trying to be the best husband I could be.

So it's been, it's been an awesome experience.

Yeah, that's awesome.

You know, you have this big spotlight on you.

But you're able to keep your head down and just keep chugging.

How do you do that?

How is that possible?

Yeah, it's just working hard on my mental game.

You know, trying to learn how to be president every moment.

My main goal is just, you know, win pitches.

I want to win pitches where I want defense.

Where I'm in the box, like just taking a pitch about pitch and letting everything happen on its own

and trying to control back and control.

You know, I try to have that same mentality every day.

Well, I gotta say, you're really good at that.

No, you know, this is kind of your second major league camp.

Obviously last year you were here.

You had a great camp last year as well.

But who are you starting to gravitate towards on the Major League LaRoster?

Like, who's the guy that, when you need advice, you go to?

Yeah, I mean, I could go to everybody in the locker room.

Everybody's been super great.

He's a man, guys, Henry Davis, Jake Mangum, Nick York.

There's a lot of guys that, you know, have been intentional about finding me checking in on me.

And it's been really nice.

Yeah, so I know you, you kind of know Mangum.

You guys played on the same high school team.

Not at the same time though, right?

Right.

Right.

Right.

Now we're there stories about Mangum about how, you know, he's the mayor.

You know, they call him the mayor and Starkville and all that.

But you got any stories about Jake?

I mean, he's just a Mississippi legend.

It's been a great career.

I've been in the States.

You know, we want to stay tame and chill every year when he was in high school.

So he left his mark in Mississippi and it's been cool to kind of link up and be on the same team and go compete together.

Absolutely.

Well, Connor, thank you so much for giving us your time.

We really appreciate it.

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Thank you guys.

And there it is. Cap off your trip. Again, we know as Merlin personally.

That's the dude you were going to talk to.

Tomorrow is awesome as well. I mean, again, like you mentioned, tomorrow is always approaching us.

Oh, yes. So I mean, maybe a little gold retriever at him.

Yeah, he's always he's always always talking to someone tomorrow.

He's interested in you. I feel like you know, like he wants to say hi.

But I was like, what are you guys up to?

Yeah.

But then the right again, you're going back tomorrow to cap it off with Connor Griffin talking to him.

Every you mentioned. So I mean, like, how do you talk that?

I mean, I don't I don't know. But with Connor, like, I'm an I'm an empath.

Okay. So I look at Connor and I see the situation he's in.

Sure. From the outside looking in, you're like, this dude's got the world by the, you know,

but I just think like, man, this kid has a lot of pressure on him.

Yeah. I feel for him a lot, but he handles it with so much grace.

And he handles it in a way that's like, I'm going to let whatever happens happens.

I'm going to like, if if he ends up not being as good as everybody says,

I don't think that it would bother him that much because he knows that he handled himself with grace.

And it's just he's the type of dude that you want on your franchise.

You want as your franchise cornerstone because even if things don't go right,

he has that ability to just like, I don't even know, just like whatever lies it internalize it.

And like, whatever happens happens at the end of the day, we're still just playing baseball.

And really it seems like that's how he approaches this. We're just playing baseball.

Yeah. I'm just really good at it. I don't let it get to my head.

I just want to be the best that I can be for the people around me.

And it's like, I feel for him. I know there's probably some conversations he may be having behind the scenes that are like,

man, this is really hard. Oh, no, yeah, going the wrong way.

I told you, an empath. I'm thinking of all the emotional.

There's other conversations happening, but I'm sure he had his conversations with his wife.

It's like, this is getting hard. And just the bond that they have,

like, they're going to last a long time. I can tell.

Like, they're there for each other. They're always talking to each other. They're very cute.

And I really do. I hope this kid is everything that he's being made out to be.

Obviously it's a number one prospect in baseball. We've seen what he can do.

He is an incredible athlete. Hell, he was on GetMost.

Like, dude, replace football if you wanted to.

GetMost in ninth grade.

It wasn't senior. Like, it's ninth grade.

But, yeah, this is a dude, another one similar to as Marlin.

That's like, I just want Pittsburgh to experience him and take him in.

And he's going to be a yinzer like the rest of us very soon.

Like, he's going to be the dude in Pittsburgh.

And I can't wait to see it. And I can't wait to see the city embrace him.

And I just know that he's, there's got to be a lot of nerves,

but he handles it so damn well. It's insane.

But, yeah, just talking to Connor was incredible.

Like, you don't get to talk to that much talent.

A lot.

I was halfway through that interview.

Well, I mean, he's talking to me in the eyes. He's got those blue eyes.

He's talking to me.

He's talking to me.

Like, you're, you're something else.

He is a great dude.

And I can't wait to see what he does in Pittsburgh.

There it is. There it is.

Well, love it.

So, before we go away, I just, just give us our overall perspective.

You know, again, you were here and I want to thank you also.

Thank you.

Everyone's here for like about a week.

We stayed for almost a week and a half, which again is why.

Tenses were going to high somewhere.

We kept it up pretty well.

But give us your take from this spring.

No, so yeah, the spring's been great.

I know you guys have been touching on it a lot.

This battle for the fifth starter.

It's, it's heating up and it's a lot.

There's a lot more competition that I think we were expecting.

It's fun to watch.

I like Jose your kitty.

I was a fan of Jose your kitty.

Back in the day before he was here when he was, you know, with the Astros.

I was happy when we made the signing.

So I can't wait to see what happens there.

You have Clevenger who's kind of like trying to get a redemption arc here.

If it happens, good for him.

Put the past in the past.

But at the end of the day, there still may be another signing there.

They got to figure out who's going to be in this rotation.

I know Doug and I were big fans of Mike Boros and Johan Oviato.

We were pounding the table for those guys last year.

To see them go was upsetting, but I really like what we got in return.

I really like the password.

Now I've been, I've been password-pilled.

I will admit it.

I, at first, I was like, this student needs to start AAA.

He's got to get to get bats because I know he can do it.

It's just the fact that I know he would be on the bench.

I want him to get reps.

But now watching him play.

I'm like, wow, his bats are great.

Defensively, he's great.

He could be an everyday starter for the Pittsburgh pirates right now.

Obviously, there's a lot of talent there.

But he's a guy that could help this team in the very near future.

So that's fun to watch.

And then on the other side of that, with the Boros trade,

bringing in a guy like Jake Mangum.

Mangum, Mangum the mayor.

Our guy.

He's so cool.

Like, he's another guy.

He's got that energy.

He'll talk to everybody.

But what he's doing on the field is amazing.

They have Brandon Lau.

He's going to pay dividends.

And then you have Mason Mangumry, who I'll be honest.

I haven't paid too much attention to.

But I do know that he's been helping O'Neal Cruz.

He helped him during camp.

O'Neal Cruz is saying, I want to go up against the last days.

That's a good point.

I want to go up against the left days.

And he went up against Mangumry.

And that's another point that I'd like to make,

is O'Neal Cruz.

I'm going to say some stupid.

O'Neal Cruz, I think, this is the year he breaks out

because he has the lineup protection around him.

He's not the guy that people are going to be worried about

because now you have an ohern.

Now you have a Lau.

Now you have Marcelo Zuna.

You have these other big bats in the lineup

that a picture is going to be like, I need a break.

I can't be throwing all my best stuff.

And every guy, a picture is going to slip.

And O'Neal Cruz is going to take it into the alligator.

Like, O'Neal Cruz, I don't want to hype it up too much

because we've seen what we've seen.

You see the fall off like a couple months in this season.

But he worked with Kevin Kiermeyer.

This off season.

True.

True.

It worked a lot on focus.

Also former Ray.

You mentioned that.

Maybe the Ray's are paying dividends though.

Exactly.

I mean, we fleeced him in that trade.

We absolutely fleeced him.

Love Mike Burrows, but we got three really good guys back.

But yeah, he worked with Kevin Kiermeyer.

And it's like, yeah.

Kiermeyer was the dude that was the defense of Guru.

He was going to teach crews how to play center field.

I think we all kind of knew that he could play center field.

It's just a matter of the mentality.

And I think that was really what, it seems like Kiermeyer was focusing on with him was,

dude, you got to focus.

And that we've been pounding the table on that is if he focuses, if he's focused,

and he's, you know, playing the game right every day,

he's going to be a problem.

And I think this is the year O'Neal Cruz becomes a problem.

And with that said, you're hearing a lot of stuff in camp that people like Marcelo Zuno.

Right, gravitate.

Maybe he, he lends the Carlos Santana type, right?

Like you saw crews connect with him.

When he looked at his career, his best season was essentially that year.

Yep. Right.

I mean, give April, I mean, he's coming back to the injury, but like,

may on really good season.

Yep.

So maybe there's something to that.

Plus you have the better.

A lot of protection.

He's coming into the prime of his career.

Yeah.

So yeah, I like that.

Yeah, I mean, O'Neal Cruz, another guy, when he was a prospect,

I was really, I was really in on, you know, he was amazing, magical even.

But yeah, to see him come up and to see where his career has kind of,

not fallen, that's a bad word he is, but where his career has taken him so far.

He's slightly underperformed.

He's underperformed.

Yeah, slightly, slightly disappointing, but you still see everything that was always there.

He has the power, he has the skill set.

He is a damn good ball player.

And I think we're going to get the best of O'Neal Cruz's season.

All right.

Well, there it is.

There it is.

Well, Cody once again is good too.

I don't know.

He gave up an run.

He did give up an run today though.

I'm just saying.

I don't know about that.

I mean, it's my clementors season.

He's a bust.

Glad you said it, not me.

But now for real Cody, I do want to thank you on this.

Everything you've done.

Everything you're about to do this is upcoming season.

Yeah.

So yeah, I appreciate all that.

And then again, to give our little plug, I know you're not going to be there.

I'm sad to see you go.

I know you're sad.

Also happy to go.

But we'll be at the cut tonight, eight o'clock.

If you're in the Braydenton area, come to out.

Come out.

Come join us.

It's really good food.

I hear.

I'm going to test it today.

I was there.

Oh yeah, you were there.

Give us that perspective.

How was the food?

What did you get?

I honestly don't remember what I had because we had a few beers.

We had a good time.

But we had a great time.

Great vibes.

There's two golf simulators.

So if you don't want to listen to these guys, go play some golf.

There's also an outdoor patio.

I think when we were there, they were doing like a cornhole tournament.

But yeah, this place is great.

Like that?

Cornhole's on my tail?

I think they have a cornhole.

Oh, it's the on that.

You may be a league, actually.

I don't know.

Oh, I don't know.

But anyway, come out to the cut if you're in the area.

If not, of course, we'll be there 8 o'clock tonight.

You can watch us on YouTube.

And outside of that, Cody, again, I appreciate everything.

We'll see you soon.

I appreciate you.

I appreciate everybody here at NS9.

Even our young guns with Nathan behind the camera.

I appreciate him a lot.

I got to give Nathan's flowers.

I know he's been here for two days, but he's impressed the hell out of me.

Okay.

He's doing a great job.

Don't let him get to your head, kid.

No, the headphones already broke.

We got to buy new headphones now.

They said broke them.

But hey, we'll see you guys later.

We love you all.

Like, subscribe.

Bye-bye.

Nice.

Yep.

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