Team Italy bench coach and SF legend Ron Wotus on WBC and advancing to 2nd round

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30 work on a Thursday afternoon and what a treat to be joined by our next guest.

One of our favorite guys, Ron Wotus, joined us on the human guest line and he's, of course, the bench coach for Team Italy.

Ron, I just want to start by saying, he thanks for the work you did last night for Team USA, man.

As Vinnie said after the game, you're welcome, America.

Good.

What's up?

Well, how you doing, man?

I'm doing good.

Well, it takes a village.

The players got to perform.

We got a great coaching staff.

And honestly, I never knew that you could survive on wine, espresso, and pasta.

I mean, it's got to be, it's got to be the best, like, one of the best.

It's got to be top two or three cuisines for teams to coach for, right?

Oh, yeah.

Look, I mean, every one of our meals, I think, has been Italian meal.

We got, we got fresh prosciutto, not prosciutto.

Excuse me, Parmigiana from Italy.

Oh, man.

It's over.

Yeah, the food is fun, right?

So do I.

Well, the food is fun, but the baseball has been really fun.

Before we get into what's going on this year and your guys run right now, I was thinking

back as I believe I was at the first ever game.

This started in 2006, the World Baseball Classic.

And I think the first ever game that Team USA played was a scrimmage game, like a warm-up

in the Scottsdale, and it was a game against the Giants.

And I believe I was at the game.

Do you remember that, that game in the start of the WBC?

Well, I don't remember if it was the start, you know, the years kind of run together for me,

but I do remember playing USA at our ballpark once or twice.

And maybe it was just that was the only time they played them again this year, as you probably you guys know.

But yeah, that was probably the start of it.

I remember I remember being there.

Yeah.

So what I remember, Clemens pitched for Team USA and Barry was over on Team USA.

What do you remember about or what can you tell us about how this is evolved?

Because really the global game and it's always been global in Major League Baseball.

But now that we're getting to see like a lot of the Japanese players before they come over,

we're getting looks at cool situations like the guy in Chetsu, who's like an electrician and struck out Otoni.

Like I got a standing ovation in Japan.

Like the way this has grown every few years, it's become one of my favorite events.

You're right, Copes.

I mean, look, when the first started, I think everybody was hesitant.

Of course, organizations didn't love the fact that guys were going to compete, you know, this early in the year,

which is still a big problem, you know, not to get into that,

but we're pretty banged up right now.

We've lost several players to injury, but, you know, but you know, it wasn't,

it wasn't as big as it is now.

It has really, really grown the park here in Houston.

You know, this, I mean, they've been packed for USA.

Mexico's got a huge following down here, as you can imagine.

But I think even the players want to be a part of it now.

At the beginning was, you know, do we want to do this?

Yes or no, but it has grown to the point now where a lot of players.

I really want to be involved with this and, of course, the Latin American countries.

I think from the beginning, they were all into it and want to show who has the best team.

There's no doubt about that.

Dr. Ron Wode is on the UMA guest line.

So just talk about last night's victory 9-1 over Mexico and Viny Pasquatinos,

three home run performance last night.

Just what was, what was the vibe like?

And what, what was he meant to your run during this WBC run?

Yeah, Derek. Well, you know, he's been, he's been kind of, he is the team captain,

but he's been a very good leader.

He's been working hard at getting the guys together.

You know, he has meetings here and there.

He passes out a bottle of wine for the player of the game and the pitcher of the game.

You know, last night he gave the bottle of wine to Aaron Nola,

but he did have to say, I'm keeping the wine for myself for the position player.

The game is the hit three home runs.

So, you know, it's, it's been a lot of fun.

It's been a lot of fun and, you know, we're looking forward to it.

You know, the vibe is, look, the USA was a big, big win.

I mean, that club is loaded and we don't necessarily have the weapons to match up with them late in the game.

We have one left hander and, you know, when DRO started unloading his bench,

we didn't have any match up.

So we held on by the skin of our teeth to hold them off the next day after that big emotional win.

You know, if Mexico scored five runs, we were out, right?

If we lost the game and they scored, I mean, if we won the game, they scored five, we were out.

So it was a little unnerving and, you know, I really can't say how well these guys have played.

The pitching has been outstanding and the thing we're doing to win games is we're scoring early, right?

And we're adding on.

And when you do that, it's tough to lose.

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In your win also advances Team USA.

So what do you, how many people from Team USA hit you up last night, thinking you're for the victory?

Logan Webb, hyped to get to another opportunity.

Yeah, I bet.

Yeah, Logan should have called hot, no, no zero.

No, we haven't, we haven't heard from those guys at all, but you know, they're actually staying in another part of town.

They're staying at a different hotel.

Everybody else has been at our hotel.

But now, you know, us, whether you only team here at this hotel in USA is out at the post oak in Houston.

I talking to Rod Voters here on the U McGass line, what's interesting about this is it's a bunch of guys from different teams.

I'll have to come together and like chemistry is a thing and momentum and baseball is a thing.

It's just very delicate that builds in such a different way relative to other sports.

How quickly did this team bond together?

How has that worked? And then tell me about the mindset of having to coach a game or play a game that's, I mean, it's a one off like every time basically right.

I mean, it's not really how baseball is designed.

It's just a much different style that you kind of got to hit the ground running with.

Well, there's a lot, there's a lot different about this tournament.

First of all, the roster, the pitch limits, you know, the pitcher throw 65.

He's got to sit down for four days.

If a guy goes, you know, a 50, you got to lose him for two days.

So there's a lot of other things that you have to manage.

The roster alone, just constant, you know, decisions would be made with that.

You know, you can't replace players unless they're hurt.

You know, you have sometimes you have guys that, you know, aren't playing and they want to go back to their clubs because they're trying to make the big league club.

So there's a lot of different dynamics that you have to deal with in this tournament.

Fortunately for me and Rags, we got a little experience with must-win games.

So, you know, that, that, that hasn't been a big issue.

But, you know, the players have responded.

I mean, we have some major league players, but we have some top prospects that you played, you know, just were drafted last year, double A, triple A guys.

And I can't tell you how well these guys have played.

And I think it was easy for this team to come together, you know, with the, with the food, the espresso, you know, the Italians have a, have a lot of things that people enjoy.

And, and Vinnie being the team leader and, and pushing that he's been here before.

I mean, we were on the plane flying out here and these guys are singing Bocelli on the plane, the Italians, you know, Francisco's got them in suits to the park every game.

They were blew through to the park.

And so I think a lot of those things they've really bought into it.

And of course, winning your first couple games really helps the chemistry as well.

I love that. I mean, I love that they've embraced it.

That they're all in on the culture of it, too, as team Italy advances with their win yesterday.

Ron Votus, the bench coach for team Italy joins us on the Uma guest line.

Okay, so I don't know how familiar people are with what a bench coach does.

My impression is always that it's way more than anybody has any idea that I mean, you're the right hand man, but you're keeping track of everything.

And you just pointed out there's, I mean, he's been a lot of evolution.

I'm sure with that role, but also the rules across baseball at the major league level.

And the biggest adjustment for you as a bench coach in terms of rules and things you've got to keep organized throughout the game, because it is a different style of terms.

Well, I think the biggest thing is, you know, the rule changes constantly every year.

And, you know, hopefully we don't get any tough ones because heck, I'm not as sharp as I was with the rules.

Years ago, I had 24 years in the game and you thought your experience would help you, but they changed the darn rules, you know, every year.

So you have to, you have to stay up on those rules and then the video replay and all this type of stuff.

So the game is constantly evolving. I mean, with the runner at second base and extra innings, you have to rethink a lot of the strategy of different things.

But, you know, the games, the game, it's still the game that, you know, we've always played the, you know, what all I try to do is help the manager, you know, take everything off his plate and help him the best way I can.

Before the game and organization, the workouts, that type of stuff. And then in game, you know, I'm there next to Francisco.

And I just point things out, you know, he hasn't coached one year with San Diego. He hasn't managed.

So I point things out during the game that I think he needs to know and he's been great. He talks a lot. He wants to hear it.

And it's been fun. And of course, you know, I have to say it's not only me look, we have a great coaching staff.

You know, rags this year with Alessandro, the local Italian pitching coach. You got Frank Manichino as a hit and coach George Passato as a good friend of Francisco.

So, Velli, he's got five world series rings. He knows what he's doing. Allard Baird, been a GM in the major league. He's coaching first, Alfasano. There's an Italian name.

He's a former catcher. He's been in the league forever. He's our bullpen, bullpen coach. So, you know, I'm probably leave a not ellipse on novice coaching third for us.

Of course, we've worked together in the giants organization a long time. So a great coaching staff, support staff. And that makes a difference. You know, when you have a number of people taking care of their areas, kind of reminds me of, you know, when we were winning world series.

We had a heck of a staff. And if all your people are taking care of their area, it's a lot easier on the manager.

And of course, net colletti, who I heard the other day when you were on Murphy Marcus is a big reason why you joined the team. And I couldn't think of a better GM for team Italy, then net colletti.

We spoke to him. We spoke to him many times. A great storyteller. Very Italian. You know, how competitive he was with the giants and Dodgers. So how is Ned as the GM of team Italy?

Oh, he's been great. Look, it's so fun to be reunited with Ned. And, you know, he's the reason I'm here last spring. You know, we, we talked about it. And then we had dinner and we consummated the official word that I would be doing it.

You know, he's been fantastic. I call him Coletti's collection. Right. Yeah. Of players is what we have. And he worked hard starting last spring, trying to recruit players, which isn't easy. Right.

And so he's done a fantastic job. It's a lot of fun with him. And you know, look, look at the experience this guy has. I mean, he's one of the best negotiators I ever knew when he was working here for the giants. He's been with the Dodgers. He knows everybody.

You talk about being Italian. He's friends with Joe Pesci for buying out. Come on. How much more Italian can you get than that? Wow. That's pretty incredible. I didn't know how they met. How they became friends? Well, L.A. Yeah.

Yeah. They get all the stars. I mean, he's, he's met a lot of people. Obviously, you know, the sort of when he was down there too and being with the Dodgers, you run into a lot of people.

Just like we did back in the day, you know, with Robin Williams, but we've had all kind, you know, Santana's been out there.

Who's the Danny Glover? I mean, yeah, so when you're having success in your winning world series like L.A. is, you know, he's getting to meet a lot of people.

Plus, you got just Willie May's hanging in plus Willie May's. You're the biggest star of them all. Well, whoa, you know, we love talking here. We love talking baseball with you. And I know we'll do it throughout the season, but it warms my heart to see you and rags out there, man. It's really cool.

You guys have been a part of this and getting to see Dusty in the dark. That was great. That was great.

So this has been a lot of fun, man. And best of luck to you. Go give them a hell, man. Appreciate it. Well, thanks for being with you guys. You got it guys. Take care.