Erwin Higueros discusses the biggest surprises of Spring Training

Hey sports fans, it's Murf here for my friends at Bigelow T. Every season is Bigelow T season.

And that's why Bigelow is the number one T in the Bay Area. One of the first things I do

each day is reach for a mug full of English breakfast to get me going. I'll have all the Bigelow's

different flavor options is perfect for someone who makes his living behind a microphone.

You want to know what keeps me going? Look, no further than my cup of Bigelow T next to me

in the studio. So grab a mug full of your favorite Bigelow T and T proudly. Welcome back to

SportsFulling KNBR on a Tuesday night with Bill Lasky. I'm honored to have my guest time.

Of course, he's been with San Francisco Giants over 25 years as a Spanish language broadcaster

played by play with Tito Fuentes. A three time Emmy Award winner. Let's bring in Irwin Hagaras. How

are you today, Irwin? Bill, I'm doing great. How about yourself? I'm doing great. Well,

spring training is pretty much half over. You've been down there the whole time. What has been

the most surprising to you so far? Wow. I mean, we can, I got to tell you that one of the big

surprises has got to be Victor Berry Cotto. One of the outfielders, younger guys that has been,

you know, he's enjoying camp for the first time. The other surprises, one Sanchez,

on the pitching side, you know, I think those are the two big surprises for me.

Well, Juan Sanchez is a left handed pitcher. Of course, I've interviewed him. And he seems to get

to I have Tony Vatelo earlier this week. A nice article was written. And Tony talked about his

perseverance. He works hard. He throws good. And he says he's got a great attitude. Tell me a little

bit more about Juan. He was very close and making the team. I guess that was my observation in 2023.

He was opening eyes. He was doing really good in camp until the injury. And obviously,

we know that he had the season end being Tommy John. He came back last year for a little bit

than this year. He's back and his optimism is unique. He's obviously valuing this opportunity

that he has in being in camp. He's storing very well. There is no more pain in his left arm.

So, you know, he's just enjoying the moment and taking every opportunity that the coaching staff

is giving him to come in and pitch. That voice you hear on sports phone came.

The arm, a good friend, Erwin Harris. Of course, last year, Erwin, 162 games on Spanish radio.

Of course, you did 81 on the road and 81 at home. You are a busy guy. Tell me a little bit about

what's going to happen in 2026. 2026. We're going to have the same thing. 162 games at home. I will

continue working with Tito Fuentes on the road. I will have Carlos or Iyana with me. Obviously,

Carlos or Iyana also, that's played by play at home. But that's how the games are going to be divided.

I'm sure I will find some energy somewhere to do the play by play. From the broadcast booth,

run down to the clubhouse to translate for any land players that need my assistance.

Erwin, you're a busy man. No doubt about it. Let's talk about it. You're definitely the translator

for Latin players. This year, I've counted about 14, 15 players in big league camp.

Some of them don't need you. They speak very good English, but most of them have different ways

of speaking Spanish. You had talked about this in an earlier interview. Tell us a little bit about

that. Well, basically what it is, is like I get telling a lot of people, Spanish is Spanish.

You will understand. It's just that certain idios, idios, some that they use. Some different slang,

the mannequins, Venezuelans, when we have players from Mexico, etc. For me,

is just spending time with them to understand what they're talking about, what they're trying to say,

because sometimes people may say, my God, he just almost answered the question the same way.

But I spent time with the guys and that's one of the things that I love about my job,

which is I'm here for six weeks in spring training. It gives me an opportunity not only to

continue building a relationship with the regular players like Devers, like Arraez,

was new to the team, but also with the potential younger players that I will see sometime during

the regular season, like very good, for example, San Martín, maybe Juan Sanchez, if he doesn't make

the opening day roster. Well, Erwin, you talked about relationships. And relationships mean trust.

And a lot of these players, you just mentioned a couple players like Devers coming over from Boston,

a rise coming from San Diego. They have to learn about you. They got to understand a little bit more

about you. And you really bring up that word trust. Tell me a little bit about how you do that.

I am, who I am. What you see is what you get. You know, and you can speak to these, I'm not

different. I don't change my personality. I'm friendly with them. Maybe it helps that I'm older

than they are. Maybe I'm older than their dance. So that adds a little bit that trust. But

you know, I just, I just talk to them like Devers, for example, I spend time talking to him,

getting to know him. But at the same time, if I see that he's not one that loves to talk,

I just give him his space. You know, when they need something, I'm there. There's other players

like, for example, Juan Sanchez, Randy Rodriguez. They love to talk. I talk to them. And, you know,

just a matter of respecting who they are and giving them their space. I share with them who I am.

If I want to know about their background, if I want to know about their families, they're up

bringing, well, then I got to be ready to also be able to reciprocate and share with them

about me because I think that it's not fair that I want to know everything about them. And then

what they want to know about me, I climb up and don't share anything. That is not how I do things.

And I think that's the part of, that's part of the way to, to gain their trust.

Erwin, two players of the past that you grew to really, really love and became family with,

was Pablo Santaval and Johnny Cuato. Both players played here a few years. Of course, Pablo came

up through the minor leagues with the Giants. You got to know him when he first came to the big leagues

and had a nice relationship with him. Those are two players that really, really trusted you and

everything they did. How did you do that in the length? How did you do longevity of a friendship,

let longevity of working with both these guys? And they were both fabulous players for the Giants.

I'll answer that Pablo Santaval question first because it's easy. So, you know, I've been with

the Giants in 1998. I met Pablo when he was in the minor leagues. I would go and talk to the minor

leaders at our complex in Indian school. And I was shared with them what they needed to do when they

came up to the majors and talk to the media and translate. So, I'm sure that Pablo Santaval

to mention one that sat with the land players during that presentation while the English guys were

getting their presentation on the other room. So, me here, he comes up to the big leagues and then

obviously you come, you're new to the team. This is all what I'm thinking, right? You come to the team

and all the faces are new. But then you see somebody that you remember that you saw before. And then

you know, a friendly face that I've been here. He, I translated for him at the beginning and then

all of the sudden he just took off on his own. So, I think that that's one of the reasons that

we built the friendship. We built that trust. Johnny Quetta was different, meaning that

I was here. He came here in 2016. He got to know me. And I really don't know what I did

to gain his trust to be honest with you. I just know a story that I tell people when he went to

the old start game in 2016, I'm translating for our travel secretary about, you know, what they're

going to do, you know, going to San Diego. And then Johnny says, no, I don't need for them to buy

my, my plane ticket because I'm going to charter my own flight to take my entire family on the plane.

So then yeah, I'm translating all that. And you know, as we're walking, Porsche is like where I said,

okay, so I'll see you in San Diego, you know, and then he looks at me. He goes, we have room in

my plane. But before I told him, yes, my question was because I was surprised that had never happened

to me. I said, I'll let you know after the game. Right? I mean, it's like really early. That was your

answer. I'll let you know after the plane. So then I get up there to the booth and I tell Tito what

happened. And Tito starts laughing. And then he says to me, you have to say yes, because if you don't

go, she has already accepted you into his family by inviting you to the plane. If you say no,

he will never invite you for a cup of coffee. You know, well, that's a special friendship. No

question there. And I think it goes back to family and trust in relationships. I'm glad you went

on his plane, because I'm sure you did. I did. I did. I did. And that was the beginning of a long

friendship. I still text them and I send them messages just checking on him how he's doing. And,

you know, it's something that is hard to explain, but yeah, you make me remember reminisce on those

times with Johnny, which was great time with him. Everyone at Garros joining me on Sportsphone

KMBR, you talk about going over to Indian school or even Papa Go where the minor leagues were,

where they are now. A couple young players. And one is Lewis Hernandez, who signed recently,

17 years old, he's coming over to the United States. And it's going to be one of these great,

great opportunities for a young kid and not being able to play in the DR in kind of a rookie ball.

Are you going to go and meet him? Are you going to talk to him about what's next?

We did already. We did Megan Brown, Megan Brown, who's in our department, we went to go do a little

media presentation with some of our big prospects. We did them together. She did her presentation in

English. I got to meet him and also Joseph, Joseph Gonzalez, just to name a couple. We just

talked on a little bit what they are going to expect in regards to the media, how to conduct

themselves, how to talk to the media. Obviously, we are going to continue doing that with all of our

players to go talk to them. Obviously, the giants themselves, they do a great job with all of our

land players to help them adapt to the new culture, to teach them English so they can be ready for

this. However, talking to the media is a little bit different. But like I tell all the guys,

you want to do it on your own, I will not discourage you to try and do interviews in English.

Yeah, I really believe they're going to have to because it's so important for them to speak

what they want to speak and how they feel and I just think he's going to be an exciting player

down the road. Let's jump back into this giants clubhouse for a little bit longer. Let's talk about

Rafael Devers and of course Luis Arise. Two players that are now going to be playing on the right

side. Of course, Devers was a fantastic third baseman. Arise was a good second baseman. It kind of

moved him to first base. Of course, he's playing first base in a WBC. Tell me how both these guys

are adapting to Ron Washington and what he brings to the defense.

Ron Washington is working them really hard. I have yet to beat Ron Washington to the building and

make it here early. Sometimes I'm here at 6.30 in the morning and Ron Washington is already on the

field waiting for those guys to work with. I think what's going to happen here is that

Arise is going to get better a second base. Devers has the athletic ability. We saw it last

year when he was playing first. Obviously, a lot of people say, well, if you can play the

end feel, you can play in the position, but I tend to say not really because they're different.

You're sitting at third base. The ball is coming to you in a different angle as supposed to be

on first base. Your footwork is very important at first base. There's a lot of things going on

when you're at first base. So I think they're both adapting really hard. I think that Ron Washington

is working them really hard and the end result is going to be them being better at their positions

this year. Two players that are out of options. Jarr and Kunar Sion and Luis Matos.

Matos, the younger player got hit and head in that game that was on television here in BC Bay

area against Seattle. Hopefully he's doing well and looked really bad when he first got hit.

But he is having a fantastic spring. He hasn't struck out yet up to this day. What do you think

giants are thinking about for both these players? Oh my goodness. I wish I was executive and I could

tell you it's going to be a very hard decision for our executives and I'm talking about

Buster, Tony Batello, old, you know, Sack Manassian. It's going to be a very difficult decision for

them because as you just mentioned, he's having a great spring. So it's in Cardinal Sion.

They have to make the team. They don't have options. They have to make the team

and if they make the team, that means that somebody else that also play well and their

search to be on the team is going to be probably starting to give a triple A.

It's going to be a tough decision. Outfills are stacked and both of them could either be an

outfielder or a D.H. And you got to look at the infield. A couple players are fantastic playing.

You got Kristen Koss. You have Schmidt. You have Fitzgerald. There's so many different areas on

this team, especially even at the catcher's position. But that's what Buster Posey wanted. He

wanted competition and camp. And I think you and I are both thinking the same way. It's going to

come down as we get closer to the end of March. Your thoughts on that as we continue.

It's a good problem to have. Isn't it Bill? I mean, right? I mean, you have assuming that

the starting lineup or starting outfills would be Ramos in left, Bader is center, Gianni

Hoon in right. And then you think, okay, should we hold? Can we have on the bench? Mottos

and Carnation? And let's not forget the McCray in that group. And then in the infield, you just

mentioned three that could play different positions in the infield and catching. We also have a

lot of options. So we're sitting pretty good. I would say to the fans, you know, get ready for

exciting season because we have good players and we have good options. A couple more questions

with Erwin and Harris on Sportsphone K&B. Let's jump to the WBC. I got to ask you, who's your

saver team? I'm sure it's either Dominican, Venezuela, Mexico or USA. A lot of good teams and

you can't count out Japan, the reigning WBC champion. Who you got Erwin? I got the USA.

I'm sorry. I got to go, I got to go with USA. However. And you're laughing because I threw

you a curve there. You did. I thought for sure you were going to go to Dominican Republic. They

got one of the best lineups that I've ever seen going out there. And, you know, every one of these

Latin countries is pretty good. And USA, of course, I'm right there with you. But you definitely

threw me a curve ball. I wasn't expected now. No, I mean, you know, I'm pulling for the United

States, of course. But then I wouldn't be surprised if the final would be again Japan and the United

States. I would love to see the VR do good. But then, you know, Venezuela is a good team. Right?

I mean, you can't go wrong with any team that you pick. But I'm picking the United States.

It's a pleasure always catching up with you. You have a good rest of the spring training. Can't

wait to see you when you come back to the Bay Area. And I'm sure there's a lot of fans waiting

for that 162 games this season. You're going to put together behind the mic.

Thank you, Bill. Anytime. Always great talking to you. Excellent. That was Erwin.

Harris on sports phone KBR more coming up right here on KBR. He sports fans. It's

Merf here for my friends at Bigelow T. Every season is Bigelow T season. And that's why Bigelow

is the number one T in the Bay Area. One of the first things I do each day is reach for a

mug full of English breakfast to get me going. I'll have all the Bigelow's different flavor options

is perfect for someone who makes his living behind a microphone. You want to know what keeps me

going? Look no further than my cup of Bigelow T next to me in the studio. So grab a mug full of

your favorite Bigelow T and T proudly.