Giants vs. Padres Preview: Mike Krukow on Young Pitchers, Robbie Ray & the Giants’ Future

0:00This is Jorva! Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason, and Silverado keeps its rhythm. You feel it in the Turbo Max engine with Best in Class Standard torque, and available Z71 off-road packets that keeps you rolling when the road turns rough. And the most functional truck bed with Best in Class Cargo space, they're trucks that work as hard as you do, so you can do more of what you love without missing a beat. See your Bay Area Chevy dealer today. Based on latest competitive information, it excludes other GM vehicles. There's no question we've got the best in the prove. That's why Murph and Marcus catch up with Krueck right now. On KNVR 104 BiBabab and 680 AM. All right, 49ers podger 49ers. Giant's podger, this weekend. We'll get into it. But Mike, there you go 49ers. That's all we're talking about this morning. I know you're a 49er fan going back to the 80s when you used to hang out with Dwight and Joe and they would come to Candlesticks. So what do you think of those 49ers last night, Mike?

1:02God, that was so much fun. I mean, it was something the whole thing was a spectacle. It was over 100,000 people there and they were having a time. You know, Kuipp and I got a chance to go to Australia in 1996. One of the giant investors, Phil and Ili Marias. They bought a team over the Gold Coast Coogers. So they asked us to come down and we went down it's been eight days here. And it was awesome. We, they make better beer than we do in most instances. The attitude of life is so refreshing down there. They're not afraid to have fun. And the baseball that we saw was pretty good. It was like high A. We saw some, just some gamers guys. It just, you know, weren't great players, but just to tell it. They were baseball players and so we had a great time. So we kind of had a feel for what the Niners fans were going through. And there were, I mean, that's the ultimate testimony to how well the Niners fans travel.

2:06There was a lot of red gold there. It was fantastic. So congratulations to them. We're happy that they're often running and I think it was a big win. I mean, you didn't hear much about the Niners. All you heard about was the Rams. But hey, in the end, they go home and they shorten that trip up by about seven hours. I already saw some footage from the plane. They look pretty happy. Yeah. All right, Mike. You mentioned high A. There's a few things to talk about with you here as the Giants get ready to welcome the Padres tonight. And you mentioned high A and that San Jose. There was an incident last night or I shouldn't say an incident. There was a happening last night. Jackson, Flora, the number four pick in the draft at a Pleasanton's, Foothill High School. You see Santa Barbara. Pitch two innings last night. Mike, he pitched well. He hit a hundred on the gun. He struck out how many markets? Five. Four strikeouts. Four strikeouts. And Mike, most importantly, he struck out the beer batter to close out the second inning, hitting a hundred. Crowdwind crazy. And he doffed his cap to the crowd. So a little showman in him. I don't know if you got to see any of the highlights or at least read the box score and any thoughts on the slow emergence of this prospect.

3:12Well, I mean, just the second time that you know, we're reading articles about him. And I thought it was hysterically struck out the beer frame at the hitter, which you know, you want to you want to do yourself to the friends. Well, that's how you do it. And you know, you do it 100 miles an hour fast while. So he's pretty much as advertised. And I love the fact that he's a Bay Area kid because you know, he's not afraid to he's not afraid to have fun, which is kind of what happens around this decade of woods. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason. And Silverado keeps its rhythm. You feel it in the Turbo Max engine with best in class standard torque. And available Z71 off roadpack is the keeps you rolling when the road turns rough. And the most functional truck bed with best in class cargo space. They're trucks that work as hard as you do. So you can do more of what you love without missing a beat. See your Bay Area Chevy dealer today based on latest competitive information. Excludes other GM vehicles.

4:12Yeah, and you can definitely win over some fans by striking out that beer batter. Now for anybody who's not been down to San Jose, if you strike out the beer batter, beer prices are half price for the entire inning. Mike, it's one of my favorite promotions in baseball. But you've been around baseball a lot longer than I have. Is there any promotion in baseball minor leagues major league that is actually better than the beer batter? Well, I don't know if you guys ever heard of strike. But strike. Oh, was a deal that you would have a board kind of I'd say that it was probably about four feet by six feet. And they would bring it out and they had a hole in it. And they would bring a fan out or six or seven fans out. They'd stand up at home. And the strike board was on the mount. And then they get a shot through a baseball through the hole in the in the placard. And you know, if you want it, I mean, you could win anything from, you know, Turkey to, you know, they pay your rent from month or whatever. Or just a running total cash.

5:14And so they were everywhere. You went, they had a different version of strike out. And some of them were pretty easy. God that the hole was not big enough for the baseball to go through. Well, we were in St. Petersburg one night. I was with the country. West and the St. Petersburg. There were there's an extremely large amount of retirees that live in that area. Well, they brought this woman out and I bet she wasn't four foot eight. And she had to be, if she wasn't a hundred years old plus, I mean, she had to be when she came out and she was taking like two inch steps and whatnot. And they had the strike bill board and they moved it about a half way. And she steps up there and the strike a hole on a cigar. It was the smallest one we'd ever seen. And she gets back there and they had a running total of like $10,000 on it. And when you, when you see the hole, you realize, well, this is a joke.

6:14I was going to throw that thing through the hole. She steps up there and she threw a one hopper. They had a turf, which was kind of bouncing. She threw a one hopper and went right through the strike and go hole and it didn't rub aside. Each sheep heard it. And she was so happy. She started clapping and she did about three circles with the clap and the place went wild and she went to grand. Greatest thing I've ever seen. There is your answer. There was something better than the beer batter right there. That's so good. Last couple of things, Mike is Bruce Bochi said, Andy Bagley came in our show this week and said, Bruce Bochi hated the word spoiler because it meant you were out of it. But other people like the word spoiler because the Padres are in town and they're arrival. They're not the Dodgers, but they're arrival and they're, you can hurt the Padres this weekend. So Mike, where do you come down to? Are you on the Bruce Bochi line? Were you hate the word spoiler or no? Let's embrace spoiler. Well, I mean, nobody likes the role of the spoiler.

7:16You just don't because you're out of it. You know, period. So here you are. What do you have left? Well, you have professionalism. That's what's left and you have to go out there and you have to represent. You have to play that game hard because you don't know it to the play you're playing or the team you're playing. But you are through every team that's in contention. You need to play it as if it's a playoff game and and that's how you have to go about doing it. And you know, I mean, it's. It's a double it's short because you want to win. You want to you want to ruin their party. But when you do win games like that, they're kind of hollow. I mean, there is it's yeah, when you know, we we just have to hurt them on that team. And but we're not going anywhere. I mean, this is kind of reminder. When you're at this point of the year and you're on a salary drive. I mean, it's showing you have left, but it's it's it's a real hot off feeling. I agree with would both you mean what a role sucks. Mike, it's going to be Robbie Ray tone the rubber tonight for the San Diego Padres and look, Robbie Ray is not like a lifelong giant who's only here for two and a half years, but was an all star picture for the Giants.

8:17And I really think it was one of barhons. I he's best moves bringing him over in the Mitch Hanover trade. So what type of reception do you think will be tonight for Robbie Ray at Oracle Park? I think it'll be a good one. I think it'll get a nice applause. Fans like them. I mean, you took the ball and you know, he took a lot of pride going out there, one that uniform, you know, he was very quiet, very professional. And but on game day, you know, he came out there and bring his game face and he wanted to do nothing more than win. And and I love that, you know, I mentioned professionalism earlier. And and he I think is a great example of it and always has himself ready to go. It's a great work, I mean, so you really, you know, you, you really, you know, you dare yourself to guys like that, just the way they go about their business. Now, we'll be rooting against them tonight, of course, but it's, I think you'll get a nice round of applause. He deserves it. This is Joe the H. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason and Silverado keeps its rhythm.

9:17You feel it in the Turbo Max engine with best in class standard torque and available Z71 off roadpack is to keep you rolling when the road turns rough. And the most functional truck bed with best in class cargo space, they're trucks that work as hard as you do. So you can do more of what you love without missing a beat. See your Bay Area Chevy dealer today based on latest competitive information excludes other GM vehicles. Yeah, and Mike tonight or this weekend, this kid says our Prado almost going to pitch. I mean, listen, I know it's not the same as the 49ers beating the Rams talking Prado almost 24 year, but he had a nice outing. He's another one of these guys who, you know, they're seeing what they got. Did you have any opinion on he spent he's from ten innings, I believe. So far and as a 0.90 ERA, I don't know. I see in anything with this kid. Well, it's a small sampling, but I think this guy knows how to pitch. I think he is all about studying the timing of the hitter and, you know, I love the way that he uses the fastball on both sides of plate. I love the fact that he can do that change up at any time and finish it.

10:19I mean, a lot of guys, you know, who have change ups, they they'll throw it in and they say they can throw it in an account. But can you finish it in every count? I mean, it's one thing about throwing a pitch, but the other one is throwing a quality pitch, which is what he can do with that change up his change up. He's got movement and he's got good command of it. He doesn't make mistakes up with it. So I just short period of time that I've seen him. You know, he he looks like he knows what he's doing. He's he's very calm on the mound. He has a pretty good idea how to control the running game. He has a pretty good idea how to. His rhythm's up when he's on the mound facing to a hitter and when he's trying to hold a runner on me, those are really big keys is to whether or not you think a guy is ready to compete at the big league level. Not every guy we've seen the last couple of years has come up in my legs as showing me that they know how to control the running game. That's a big deal. You know, you it's it's it's something that has been kind of a source plot with me watching runners get leads without the pictures checking runners back and having

11:23a base either steel basis standing up without a throw that takes me off. But I don't see that with her. I don't see with Molina. Yeah, I agree. And that's not my last one. You led right into it is Molina. So you know this weekend you get to two starting pictures who you know have a chance to make a name with the organization. I think the Giants kind of like the Molina kid. He throws hard. We were talking to some of the Giants guys who make these decisions and they said, you know, his Velo is is better than you think and he's been a little bit effective. So what do you think of this guy Molina throwing the gas? Well, he knows how to use it and that's the key. I think he totally understands two, two grips of the fastball. When to use a two seamer how to elevate a board seamer once you establish the knee high location in the in the eye of a hitter. These are significant things. They tell me that you know, here's a guy that isn't just a thrower. You know, he he has ways of utilizing this stuff and maximizing their their ability to get a hitter out. I think that's important. I think it's especially impressive when you see young pictures that can do it.

12:25So I mean, everything that I've seen from them, I'm impressed with and and I really, you know, they kind of went my appetite to see the more. I think Molina's got three wins, right? Two. Oh, no, three. You're right. Three of them. Three of them. So I mean, that's a great start. I mean, you know, we're so eating up velocity in the in the in the papers that you know, every wants to see a high number of velocity. When in fact, what's more important? I'm setting the timing of a hitter. That's that's what pitching is. I mean, it's great if you could if you have a hundred mile an hour fastball, it'll get me wrong. I mean, most guys know how to use that. But how do you enhance it? How do you make it even better? Will you do that with your other stuff? You do it and understanding the grips of that fastball. And so when you see a young picture who has those capabilities, you get pretty excited. So some things do. Yeah, well, we do for sure. Niners already got to win in the books. You need to worry about the 49ers. So focus your attention on Anthony Molina tonight. Focus your attention on say is our predominant tomorrow. And I know it's a bad word, but spoil the podries.

13:27Why not? All right, Mike. Enjoy three games of NLS baseball and we'll talk to you on Monday. Got a bit Mike Kruecker Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All right, 49ers fans. Big hit. Line it up 808 KMBR as the phone number 27 to seven over the Rams. Take that Sean McVeigh respect planet earth next time, buddy. There's a curvature Marcus the jet lag ball goes to the Niners or was it more than a jet lag ball? Was it about Rahim Morris? Was it about Brock Purdy? Was it about Matt Staffer getting older overnight? All these things to discuss 808 KBR's fundamental number. That's the big hit or wide open for the next 40 minutes guys on these sports leaders. Sports leader. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason and Silverado keeps its rhythm. You feel it in the turbo max engine with best in class standard torque and available Z71 off road package that keeps you rolling when the road turns rough and the most functional truck bed with best in class cargo space.

14:27Their trucks that work as hard as you do so you can do more of what you love without missing a beat. See your Bay Area Chevy dealer today based on latest competitive information excludes other GM vehicles.