Analyst Tommy Hutton on Miami Marlins Run

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

The Legend and Miami Marlins Analyst Tommy Hutton joins the show to talk Fish! The Miami Marlins fall to the San Diego Padres 2 to 1. Kyle Stowers hit his 22nd home run of the season for the Fish.

Transcript

00:00Tommy Hutton joining us there.

00:01Tommy, thanks for the time.

00:02Really appreciate you.

00:03Hey, Brandon and Leroy.

00:05How are you guys doing?

00:06I feel bad about your parlay stuff, but I don't get involved.

00:10I don't get involved in that at all.

00:12You're smart.

00:13You're smart to do that because you want to know, Tommy, the smart thing is,

00:18Yuri, bring him along slowly.

00:20But he's been, I mean, after like a couple of starts, Tommy,

00:22you have to be pleased with how he's looked.

00:25He looks like it's starting to round into form for him off the surgery.

00:30Well, unbelievably, he came into the game last night

00:33and his previous three starts, he was 3-0 and had an ERA at 0-50.

00:39And to kind of show you how he's pitching and how he has progressed,

00:46he really didn't have his best stuff last night.

00:48And he still got through five innings and gave up just two runs

00:52to a really good ball club.

00:54How much of that is the growing process for a young player?

00:58Like just not maybe feeling all the way right, but just having to get through it.

01:03Like even if you're dealing with something either as a hitter or a pitcher.

01:07That's tremendous.

01:08That's a huge part of the growing process because a lot of young pitchers,

01:12you know, get there because they have great stuff,

01:15but then they don't know how to adjust and they don't know how to make changes.

01:18And he's been able to do that.

01:21And even Clayton McCullough talked about it before the game about Iori,

01:26that he's really been using his secondary stuff.

01:30And I thought it was interesting.

01:31Early in the game, the Padres saw that if you look at the numbers,

01:36he was throwing about 60% fastballs.

01:39So the Padres knew that and they were jumping on him early.

01:42They actually just missed a couple of balls early in the game.

01:45And he got a visit from his pitching coach, Daniel Moskis,

01:48and I think they needed to change things a little.

01:50And all of a sudden, he started using his curveball and slider really well.

01:54That's, you know, it's pretty impressive.

01:56Like to have that year off, you think him watching

02:00or being brought along really slow helped him

02:03with learning how to adjust with all that stuff?

02:08Well, yes.

02:09And the other thing about that, he saddled up next to Sandy Alcantara.

02:15And they went through workouts together.

02:17They sat next to each other on the bench.

02:20And I think that has been a tremendous help for Iori as well.

02:24Tommy, about Sandy.

02:27So, like I watch the games and everybody says,

02:29well, his speed is up.

02:33But his ball looks very straight.

02:37Like I'm used to seeing him when he throws 95, 96 miles an hour with movement

02:42and it doesn't quite have that movement.

02:45Is that just because he's a little hesitant and just letting it rip

02:49or it's just not there yet?

02:52You know, I think it's just there's really no guidebook on guys that come back

02:59from Tommy John.

03:01And you're right.

03:02I don't think his sinker has the same bite.

03:05And he's been making some mistakes out over the plate with his slider.

03:09And that seems – and it's one of those things, a lot of times you make a mistake

03:14and the guy pops it up.

03:16But it seems like when he's made a mistake this year,

03:19the guy will hit it hard.

03:20There'll be some men on base.

03:22And all of a sudden they score three runs in an inning.

03:24He's had some innings like that.

03:26So, hopefully, he can turn it around.

03:30And he's pitching tomorrow, tomorrow afternoon.

03:32And, again, as I mentioned, it's a good offensive ball club, the Padres.

03:36So, it'll be a good test for him.

03:39So, we got to get into this Kyle Stowers, Tommy.

03:41Like this is an incredible run that he's been on.

03:43Yeah.

03:44Like what's impressed you the most about this season from him?

03:47Because this has been incredible.

03:48I think the thing that has impressed me the most is the way he worked at making adjustments.

03:58Last year when he came over in the trade from Baltimore, I mean, he was getting blown away

04:04with fastballs up.

04:05And it was like, wow, who did the Marlins get from Baltimore?

04:09This guy can't hit a fastball.

04:10And he made the adjustment in the offseason and spring training, working with the hitting

04:16staff.

04:17And it has been incredible to watch how he's done that.

04:21I mean, we were talking about it last night.

04:24He hit an opposite field grand slam against Mason Moore, a guy throwing 100 miles an hour

04:30with Oakland on a pitch that he wouldn't even have touched last year.

04:35So, he's humble.

04:37He's a great kid.

04:39And he's handled it really well.

04:40And it's really fun to see what he's been able to do.

04:43Yeah.

04:43I think the thing that I love, Tommy, during the All-Star game, you know, he gets the couple

04:47at-bats and then Dave Roberts goes to him for the swing off.

04:51And he's like, they go to him, they're like, they're doing like a pre-at-bat interview.

04:55And he's just like, yeah, I'm kind of nervous about this in this situation.

04:59I just thought it was so cool to see just the honesty from him.

05:02And then he ends up, you know, getting them a home run to start off.

05:05But I think that's just such a cool thing to see this guy kind of burst onto the scene,

05:10but so, you know, genuinely, like it's all seems like this is all very new to him.

05:17I'm sure he looked at Dave Roberts when Dave Roberts looked at him and he probably wanted

05:21to say, you're talking to me, you're talking to me.

05:26And all of a sudden, yeah, I think he's gotten the recognition across the league.

05:31Managers, players know.

05:33Talked about it last night, a little surprise in other teams and other broadcasters have

05:38mentioned this to us.

05:39We're surprised that he doesn't hit higher up in the lineup.

05:44He has on occasion hit second or hit third.

05:47But most of the time he's hitting like in the five spot and, you know, you'd like to

05:52see him up there as soon as possible, maybe more time.

05:55So we'll see how that plays out the rest of the year.

05:58Well, don't they move it?

05:59Because you want to have your best hitter to get an extra at bat, right?

06:03And when you look, yeah, you look around baseball, Otani, Aaron Judge, they all hit first or

06:08second up in the lineup.

06:09And that sometimes gets them an extra, extra A-B.

06:14So, Tommy, this team in particular, like, it's pretty cool to see that they have turned

06:19it around like these last six weeks or so, you know, after a little bit of a rut.

06:24And, you know, there's a lot of teams to climb in that wild card.

06:27But, man, you do see some guys rounding to form.

06:30What do you think is, I guess, realistic over these next few weeks to maybe, do you think

06:35that they can actually make a run at this thing and maybe make a run at this wild card?

06:40Or is it dependent on what they're going to do with the trade deadline?

06:44Like, your analysis of them, you know, this many months into the season, what do you think

06:49that they got in them?

06:50Well, I don't think they're going to be buyers.

06:54When you're seven and a half, eight games out of the wild card with numerous teams to

07:00jump over, it's really hard.

07:02It's hard to do.

07:03And this is a great test.

07:05It's just a series against the Padres.

07:07And then they go to play Milwaukee.

07:10Milwaukee right now is the hottest team in baseball.

07:13They have been unbelievable.

07:14So another big test.

07:16Then they go to St. Louis.

07:17St. Louis is over 500.

07:19So realistically, is it there?

07:21Probably not.

07:22But it's been fun.

07:24And I think one of the things that turned things around was the switch of Xavier Edwards

07:30over to second and Otto Lopez to short.

07:33And both of those guys have really blossomed, not only defensively, but offensively, since

07:40they've made that change.

07:41That's been fun to watch.

07:42It's been fun to watch Augustine Ramirez.

07:45This guy's got some power.

07:47He's getting the opportunity to learn defensively, to become a better catcher defensively.

07:54So you think about those guys.

07:57You think about Stowers.

07:58There are some real bright spots.

08:00And that's one of the reasons they've been playing better.

08:03How tough is that, Tommy, as far as a young catcher coming up?

08:06Because, yeah, there's been some moments where he's allowed pass balls and things like that.

08:10I mean, the kid's power for days.

08:12It's incredible.

08:13He's so fun to watch.

08:14But we talk about young guys.

08:16What's that balance like of, hey, you've got to carry a staff and get through a game,

08:20but also you need to get out of slumps and you need to figure these things out for Ramirez?

08:25That's not easy.

08:26I can't imagine.

08:27I mean, it's hard enough if you're not a catcher.

08:31But now you have to deal with the pitching staff.

08:35You have to go to the meetings, the pitching meetings, and set up how you want to work hitters,

08:41the game plan, and so there are all kinds of things.

08:45And he's young.

08:46He's learning all that.

08:47One of the things I found out about him in spring training that really impressed me is that

08:52there's a young kid, and he's made a real effort to learn to speak English

08:56because he knows a lot of the pitchers he's going to have to communicate, speak English.

09:01So he's made a real effort in that.

09:04How much of a tough loss is it going to have to lose Norby?

09:08Maybe he wasn't having the greatest season, but you had that steadying thing every week,

09:12and now you've got that handmate, which is a tough injury for a baseball player.

09:17Is that going to be a tough one for the Mons to overcome?

09:21I don't know if it's tough, but it hurts because you had –

09:26first of all, he had just started to put things together and have good at-bats.

09:30He changed a little thing with a toe tap and his timing,

09:34and he started to really look much better at the plate, and yeah, and that hurts.

09:39He gives you a little presence in the lineup, especially in the bottom part of the order.

09:43So hopefully – I mean, those things are usually five, six, seven weeks,

09:48so he's going to be out a while.

09:49I saw him yesterday, talked to him yesterday, but he said if they tell me eight weeks,

09:54it's going to be six, so I'll be ready.

09:56Tommy, how about this?

09:59Different sport, I broke both my handmates.

10:02So it's a pain in the butt.

10:05You just can't – you can't do anything.

10:07It takes you forever to get your strength.

10:09Even if you have to swing a bat, that's the hardest thing to get back

10:14is the strength to be able to do that.

10:17Yeah, exactly.

10:18My oldest son broke his handmate in college, his senior year.

10:22So, yeah, we know what that's all about.

10:24Tommy, we saw on social media this past week you got to hang out

10:28with the great Rich Waltz.

10:29I mean, one of the great tandems of all time, you and Rich.

10:32Yeah, whenever Rich gets a chance to come to town, we always kid him

10:37and tell him that his room at the Hotel Hutton is available.

10:41So, yeah, it's great to see him.

10:43He just actually – last weekend he subbed over the weekend on Seattle Radio

10:48and did a little work there.

10:50He's got some Apple TV games coming up, and then he does a full football

10:54and basketball schedule for CBS Sports, too.

10:57One of the great all-time teams.

10:58Is this team a little reminiscent?

11:00You got any, like, 06 feels of them?

11:02Like, maybe they don't make the playoffs, but you can, like,

11:04start seeing the building blocks?

11:06Yeah, when people have made that comparison, I think one of the things

11:09that maybe they don't have is the pop, the power.

11:14Those teams had some guys who could go deep often.

11:18So, but, yeah, I think the excitement, I think more people I talk to just keep

11:22coming up and say, man, that team's fun to watch.

11:25And I go, yeah, they are.

11:26You know, even every game they've played the Padres has been decided by two runs

11:32or fewer.

11:33Right.

11:33So, you know, they hang in there.

11:35They stay close.

11:37And we'll see how the next couple games go against San Diego.

11:40We'll catch Tommy Hutton on FanDuel Sports Florida.

11:42You got the game tonight.

11:43You got tomorrow, 12-10, early first pitch.

11:45Sandman on the hill as well.

11:47Big series against the Padres.

11:48Thanks so much for spending time with us, Tommy.

11:49Thanks, Tommy.

11:50Hey, always good to talk to you guys.

11:52Have a good day.

11:53There you go.

11:54An absolute legend right there.

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