Troy Taylor Full Interview.

all right welcome back to the eqc studios and welcome back to the top step and by the way welcome to Seattle we have got on the San Juan Cela this week rookie Troy Taylor Troy how you doing mate good how are you I appreciate you having me on oh no dude I appreciate you coming on man you uh you had one of those memorable debuts it's always kind of like 5050 right so like I had a pretty good debut I got lucky um we were get smashed in the game but I got to strike out you know Legend coming back to Seattle Kang griffy junr that was a first hitter ever face but dude you had like we're talking Sunday Night Baseball afternoon game your team's winning you got the ninth inning family there punch out a few dudes you finish the game on a strike out and then you get to do like the whole celebration like right out of the gates where you know you give Cal Ry the big hug walk behind the mound you do The Jig so dude talk us through it man how awesome was that that debut for you yeah that was incredible um yeah I woke up and I was thinking like oh man it'd be pretty cool to dat on Sunday Night Baseball so uh yeah you know the game the game went by and we we were scoring runs we got a big lead and then um you know I was kind of in the bullpen like oh man like this would be a good time debut we were up by like you know 11 or 12 or whatever um and the the bullpen catcher kept telling me like stay locked in like this is you know if they're going to put you in like this is a really good spot so you know I just stayed locked in did my routine and yeah that was that was it was a ton of fun were you like at what point in the game you like okay man this is it this this is the day like was it like the we talking like when the team started putting up a bunch of runs like middle of the game like okay for sure I'm pitching today yeah never it was never like a for sure but about the sixth or seventh eding I was thinking like oh man if we're you know if this holds like I I got a pretty good shot of going in this game uh because I remember so I got called up and I went up for three days right and again we haven't met you probably don't even know who I am but basically you I come over from my no name from Australia get called up to the big leagues and I got for 3 days we're playing the Yankees I don't pitch and there's a couple like not blowouts but there's like some some sizable leads I'm like for sure they're going to put me in I don't pitch I end up getting option back down and I'm thinking to myself for sure that's my story man like I'm going to go up to the big leagues for three days never pitch and tell kids when I'm like my AG I'm 41 years old now I'm going to tell kids yeah I played in the big leagues like no you didn't so I thought for sure that was going to be and then so it took me like 3 weeks and then the first day I was back up I mean we were getting destroyed I get a chance to pitch but I remember warming up and just like in that Bullpen same spot you were at at T-Mobile and like you for me I don't know how it was for you but I'm warming up I felt like I had thrown a baseball in like a month like the ball was coming out of my hand funny I couldn't throw a strike in the bullpen was any of that for you or were you just like oh man this is I'm just going to absolutely destroy here when I go in uh a little bit I mean the my first few War pitches weren't great uh and then our Bullpen coach was like relax and then I threw threw a couple good ones and I was like okay I can do this like I remember how to throw um and then yeah I got warm pretty quick um I probably threw too many pitches but that's fine in the bullpen you know that I had that nervous energy right um and then I went out there and I don't really remember the run too much um but then I remember warming up and and um yeah when I got the ball back for the first hitter I was like oh my God this is crazy yeah uh yeah and and you know it's funny too man because like you mentioned Waring up too much I remember when cuz I was in the bullpen I'd throw way too much before games and then all of a sudden I started having little bit of success and they're like hey man you going to be ready to go tomorrow and the next day and the next day because tell me this dude I don't know how it is for you now but in in da are they like you're not going like back to back to back right are you doing any back Tob backs in daa no I didn't do any back Tob backs they they usually give you a day off um you're supposed to do back Tob backs before you before you come up to be ready but it just didn't it just didn't work out like that but um you know I'm fairly new to pitching so I always felt like even if they if they wanted me to go back to back I mean my arm felt good so I I don't really foresee it being an issue um but yeah the minor leagues they they kind of give you your your rest days yeah you D you got to the big legs quick man I mean it only took a couple years like and you said you knew the pitching so talk us through that like so you you were an infielder before that by the way I saw this play you made when you're in Everett off the mound bare handed there's no no way I'm making that play at all I was worst off the M but talk us through that what so what what went down there when did you make that transition to pitch or you were two-way going into into school what happened there yeah so I was a I was a hitter only in high school and then my senior year I just kind of like got up the mound and I was throwing hard um so then I just closed games through fasts right down the middle and then when I went to I went to Long Beach State my first year I I two-way and then they transitioned me to a pitchure uh about January yeah about January and then um and then I went to Cypress after that and then that was when I started full-time pitching and then I went to UC Irvine then I got drafted so so you went to Long Beach and then what did you did you get cut or they're like Hey listen like yeah I got cut okay and then down to Du yeah yeah hey man I I I help out like a bunch of Aussie kids come over and dud it's the same thing like they come over first year they've just committed to too many dudes then they go back to to to J well D it worked out man I mean wow do you you keep in touch like is there any hard feelings with with you and Long Beach no not really but I I still have buddies there from from The Freshman Class um but I only talked to probably a couple of them right do you is there any um and again I can say this now because you're a big leer now dude like you just you know you came up had a memorable debut National TV by the way um is there have you ever ran into any of the coaches who did cut you or any of that after all like not obviously not after your debut but after you get drafted and you have a bit of success and you are a success story yeah uh we we played him when I went to Irvine we were in the same conference so we played them um but other than that no how'd you do when you played against them pretty pretty good yeah that was fun so you're very reserved now I was look I got I got T like you know I mean there's a million times for me where like uh and I'm not saying I had some sparkling 20 year career in the show like a lot of regrets but there was times throughout my career everyone just said oh you know look he's too fat and lazy or doesn't TR hard enough or beat it and then it's the best dude you get a chance to play against them like I got not not that I had hard feelings against the twins but I was a um Big League rule five pick which is just a mess go over there I got no shot of making the team at all I'm 21 years old like I just knew it and then I felt like the way they talked about me was just like this guy kind of you know we made a mistake here this guy sucks that's was not that I was saying that directly to me there just that that that feeling I gave back to Seattle and then a couple years later I remember pitching against them and I just had that chip on my shoulder dude I was just like oh I just want to just shove here I pitched pretty good I pit I always pitched well when I did that but it's always nice man do you get motivated by you know like setbacks like that like if it I don't know if it's more than just that one where where Long Beach cut you and and you know you have to go to to a um you know to a jco do is do do things like that is that what motivates you or or are you different no yeah absolutely the the you know the people who doubt me or or the setbacks um definitely you know give me a chip my shoulder and and tend to push me in the right direction um so yeah I would say that definitely motivates me yeah cuz I mean for most people I feel like it does right the one dude I remember a couple years back this is right after Co had Max Sherer came on this show and I tried to bring that up to him because I remember he was with the um he was with the Dbacks and they got rid they said oh he he'll just he's mechanically he's flawed he won't throw enough strikes he'll get injured this and that I asked him I said and I was like leading into the same question like you know do the setbacks like is that what motivates you he's like no I don't get caught up in that I was like oh God balloon all right let's move on he was like I was like all right fair enough but um was that was was Long Beach when you were coming out of high school I know you're a Southern California guy was Long Beach that place you're like oh I this is where I really want to go to yeah they were my only uh division one offer high school so um so yeah there was not a ton of choice but I grew up a you know I grew up angel fan so um you know uh we ever went there um which was cool um so yeah I mean it was always a place that um that I wanted to go to and and coming out of my area that's kind of one of like The Hobbit hotbot schools um one of the schools that that a lot of uh Southern California baseball players want to go to so it was cool it was cool yeah um you so you you big Jared Weaver fan were we talking Jeff did Jeff Weaver go there too or just Jared Weaver I think just Jared I think just Jared that's right yeah I I did man I played that's that's who I played against we're in the same division D he was so good man and even when he started throwing like way slau he was still dominating oh you're so good so so okay I was going to ask you this because you guys go you play the Dodgers coming up um so you're not not a Dodgers fan playing the Dodgers Stadium doesn't do anything for you it's more at the angels I mean it'll it'll do something for me for sure but uh um no I grew I grew up Angels fan um but my my grandma and my my mom are huge Dodger fans so I I went to way more Dodger games growing up than Angel games a d yeah you're gonna have you're gonna have quite the past list man at Dodger Stadium that's for sure what okay so going back to high school so how much did you pitch in in high school like we talking a lot or was it just occasionally no I pr through like 10 innings senior year okay and how hard we talking like how how hard are we throwing in high school I mean hard for high school but not I mean 8 8992 maybe no dud that's gas God I did have who was it I had someone on the show uh Roy I think maybe Bryce Miller he's like yeah I was touching I think he like touching 95 here and I'm like what like it's insane dude because I was tring like I was like mid 80s at best I mean mind you this is back way back in the day times are different and then so so you from you know 992s when you just sing and by the way you know how dare you D you barely even pitch and you're still pumping gas I that just yeah it just drives drives drives me nuts so when when was it where the velocity started to really pick up uh for you was it in college uh yeah in college so the um um the summer going into my junior college year um I really got in the waight room that was that was during Co so there's no playing um no nothing so I got in the way room gained probably 20 25 lbs um you know worked on mechanics started doing a throwing program like a pitcher because I never really done one of those and then that was when it kind of ticked up that was that and then I went from like 93 to 95 and then um when I went to Irvine I gained another one like I was like 94 96 and then so it's it's then now I'm you know six to six to eight touching nines um so it's kind of ticked up every year I think just based on you know pitching more getting older um you know getting stronger getting more flexible understanding myself on the mound like I'm it's a lot of different factors that that kind of go into that was there like a you know like a pitching coach is like hey look we're going to do this program that got you over a certain hump in regards to like wow I just went from throwing 94s 95 sorry like 92s 93s now all of a sudden I'm yeah up mid to Upper 90s was was there like a program or something or something you took on or is it just a gradual um there was I mean there's I I had pitching coaches that helped me um I worked out at at iron spikes uh this place in Upland California during Co and then um when I went to Irvine I started working with um his pitching coach name uh Brian bass um was kind of help me but it was more of a it was more of a like you can do it let's see how consistently you can do it and how well I can move to you know put less stress on my arm and and just stay healthy and throw more strikes right gotcha because you made a comment about your um you know slider SL sweeper modeling that after you Matt Brash was that when you say that is that something when you watch him on TV like oh man I wanted to look like that or is that like diving into the weeds where it's like okay here's the grip I'm I'm sitting there with Matt Brash even in spring training or like talk us through the process of that yeah a little bit of both I'd say I mean you see it on TV you're like wow I want to throw that out that's absolutely disgusting um but uh but the the Mariners um you know they they taught me the grip and kind of the cues that he uses and I've I talked to him the other day um you know it's yeah like so I'd say it's a little bit of both um yeah I I mean I use the same grip and then um the the cues are kind of the same um but I it's it doesn't move like his his is insane but it's kind of the same you know I want to get to there H how hard is that man because people only the assumption that like oh yeah you just get the grip and and you get you tell them to do this and that you throw five or six times and then you start to it's not that easy right like and again not saying that that you're expected to throw it like his because everyone's different everyone moves different but how hard is that dude like when you have you know let's say you're you know fast ball Sinker then you throw a slider and then all of a sudden you're like okay I'm going to change the grip here and I'm talking you're going to go out and compete against whether it's a a AAA these are some of the best hitters on the planet um and and you you the the hard thing if you go down that path well then all of a sudden if if it sucks you've just wasted all this time you know with this different grip how hard is that to to to switch it or was it something for you like oh man okay whoops I didn't know this grip existed and then zap two pictures later there it was no it was it was difficult it was it was a lot of you know trying different things especially in in Lo um last year I was switching grips a lot uh and it was getting frustrating cuz some some outings I'd go out there with a new grip they wanted me to try and I was like I don't really know what this is going to do so then I wasn't locating it well um but then towards the end of last year end of the fall league and this year um you know I really honed in the grip that I that I currently have and then just throwing it more um I'm commanding it better uh just because I'm getting more more reps with with the same you know the same grip the same cues the same ideas got so yeah it was it was it was difficult last year but then at towards the end uh we kind of found one that worked that I can do consistently and I just stuck with it was this your was this your first you're in big leag Camp I wasn't in big leag Camp oh you weren't in oh dude let's rephrase that then you weren't even in Big League Camp I love it that's great so okay so you're not even in Big League Camp did you feel like were you were you expecting go to go to Big League camp this year um I mean not kind of not really it was you know it was kind of early um they told me that I probably wasn't going to be in big league camp but I did I pitched in a lot of Big League games I would I would back him up and then um sometimes like especially in the beginning of Spring training when not everybody's built up um there's the like eth and ninth inning are kind of open um during the game so I threw I threw in a lot of those I pray through like in like eight or nine Big League games um even though I wasn't in Big League Camp how'd you do good good yeah um yeah I was talking talking to skip the other day when I was introducing myself when I when I got here and he was like yeah you opened some eyes um during spring training uh I was throwing throwing hard throwing good stuff and and most importantly throwing strikes so yeah man say you weren't even in Camp and and the reason I you know I get it I mean times are different now I get I always try and compare it to you know back when I play I feel like it was so long ago but like I remember like you just for me like the latter part of my career it's like okay I'm I'm going to sign with this team have to be in Camp have to stick around as long as possible just to have conversations just to have like a chat with Pete Woodworth the pitching coach or you know whatever and like just to get that track man thrown up in front of me when I'm throwing Bullpen they can say whoa look look at the sink look at the run on this pitch or whatever it may be to open eyes that way but if if you're in Min Camp yeah sure like people get reports but in in regards to like trusting to bring you up CU you're coming up dude I keep going back to your debut but you're coming up dude like the team's in first place like you know it's not like you you coming up in a rebuild or it's September and they're bringing you know like back in the day they used to just call up a bunch of dudes and you just they slot you into fill you know fill innings you're coming up in a pretty significant spot so like that's the fact you weren't even in Camp is so awesome because you I mean you must have been and I know you were dominating too I I looked at your numbers in in in doublea but for that to happen because usually it's something where like that last thing is like all right who are we calling up here who are we bringing up and Scott service and the whole front officers sit around and go hey what about these names and and and service or you know wood he's like oh yeah I remember when I was doing a bullpen session with this kid on and so forth but I mean it makes it that much tougher man and and that just speaks volumes too what you were doing in for them to say yeah this is our guy to come up you know what I mean yeah thank you yeah yes it's definitely definitely a blessing no it's awesome dude so okay I'm going to do this now usually I do the Australian word of the day uh how to speak Australian I might do that in in a minute if you don't if you don't realize this I am from Australia so um but I'm going to go through look look Troy I need to go through your Instagram account I love doing this because you know all you guys now you all have this social media by the way dude I'm going to going to scroll through it and feel free to look at your phone here but you put up these the Mariners they obviously give you these photos these images right right away these videos yeah cuz I mean you literally put this up like I mean this is like right after your debut there's a nice picture of you were in the city connect Jersey oh yeah and then you got a video you punching out who was that you just punched out your first who was your first strike out who was that I don't know I haven't looked at the box score yet I was black blacked out on the I'll look at it but yeah I was you blacked out I love it yeah who was up but yeah those are just uh they just like they just like send you like a request to to be a contributor on the post so it's easy I just click that yeah oh yeah okay yeah I see I see so I'm looking this now it's got M's play development who else I was like man dude you like what have you edited this already yeah no no I I haven't posted anything from just me yet um got I was getting yeah I was I was bombarded with with text and everything with [ __ ] which was super cool I spent like two hours on the flight texting people back that's awesome I dude that's another thing I forgot to make you you go from I'll get back to this Instagram in a second but you you have your debut and then all of a sudden you're getting you know you're getting out of the shower coming out you're talking to the media boom you're right on a big league charted flight too I mean like that's another cool thing about your debut how how cool is that first I always bring this up and and you can downplay it if you want I don't care but for me it was like dude getting on that first plane I'm like this is not Southwest um this is not Southwest section c mate this is so good bus pulls right out next to the plane you get out you kind of do you still do do the young guys still go to the back of the line getting on the plane or what uh no I was kind of in the middle but I had theob I had to get the speaker and and the beers I had I had some jobs I needed to do got so you got so you got your see hey like I keep bringing back to my day back when dinosaurs roam the Earth dude you had to be you had to wait on the bus for all the the the pro guys to get on then all the scrubs got on at the end that was me yeah yeah I was I was asking a lot of questions yesterday because it's obviously my first time but the guys were were helping me out which was cool who who does he go to like who are the guys you ask questions to uh I've been going to uh Snider a lot um yeah he's been helping me out a lot uh I'm Locker mates with sauce so he was helping me out a lot he been show yeah I was playing catch with uh uh JT uh Sho so okay um yeah it was there the bullpen been been been really helpful which I appreciate because um I don't know anything I'm screwed so yeah I I had a guy who had been in big leagues for a long time that he was like if I had a serious question I'd go to him but all the all the all the Muppet questions all the dumb questions I hey where do I stand when I get on the bus that was a couple of my dud the dudes who just gotten up like a couple months before me all right so let's let's keep flicking through this so all right so is is this your girlfriend um yes yeah five years six years six years now six years there you go okay this little bit dated this post okay um what we got we got some stuff from the frogs Unis a aquaox big shout out to them um by the way I was an a aqu oh by the way I got I got a bobblehead of me being ever at aquaox Bubblehead big shout out to the the socks man good times all right now I got to ask you this I've got this post now again this is how many years ago was this let me just make sure this is 2022 a couple years ago you working out shirt off dude you're shredded are you still this shredded or what uh I try to be yeah um yeah I tried to be but uh no that was like Peak Peak off season um so yeah I was I'm a little more shredded then that I was than I am right now oh so this this is iron spikes this place you train at uh yeah yeah yeah place I've I've went to since I was like 13 is this all is this just this is just baseball uh yeah yeah it's a baseball baseball gym they got batting cages and and everything in there okay I'm seeing the batting C I just saw I thought I saw like an MMA octagon no just oh that's awesome um awesome and this is 2022 so where were you offseason 2022 when this was happening were you in Pro B in Pro Bowl at this point yeah yeah that was right before the draft cuz the way the draft is now there's like a little there's like a month between the end of the college season and then the the draft gotcha little more is this is this like are you doing does this help your draft stock looking like that in the gym or what what do you think I don't know uh I don't know I yeah maybe hopefully it's awesome well it doesn't matter now does it I mean you're you're in the show it's freaking awesome what when where were you when I got to ask you this too I forgot to ask you earlier where were you when um they you going to the big legs uh they told me in the office so I I just finished uh a lift and I was doing arm care and Michael peoples are our doua coach was like hey do you want to come uh talk about your slider shape and I was like that's weird CU he never wants to talk about it um and I was like okay and then they brought me in and they were telling me they're like they're like yeah it was good yesterday um you know you need to just keep that same intensity and everything when you're pitching in the big leagues tomorrow I'm like what it was yeah it caught me my surprise it was cool yeah it was our uh it was our doua coach our dou manager dou pitching coach and then um my pitching coordinator was in town the my league pitching coordinator so he got to be there too which was cool that is so cool man and then for who who was the first person you called when you found out uh my dad yeah your dad okay yeah my dad my mom and then uh I called my girlfriend and then I called one of my my my best friend growing up um cuz I told him that I'd call him nice what what your girlfriend was there cuz I saw you go on the field um you debut day right was you she was there okay so who's in the blue hat just just so I'm walking through this picture here I'm back on the ground by the way okay who who's in the white hat um clapping and then I've got someone in a blue hat with a black hoodie who who's this um let's see oh my dad's in the blue hat uh I don't that's just a fan in the white hat that's my grandma right next to so the hold on so the dude in the white hat that's just that's just no one you don't know him yeah it's just a just a fan I I don't know who that is and then um yeah my my best friend is in the black hat and then my other buddy uh is next to him and then my girlfriend is behind them yeah oh look look at that I mean that fan must have been like oh this is awesome what what a day for me hanging out when I'm with um I'm with Taylor's family and he's making his debut that's so cool man that is awesome all right Troy so I've grilled you on your Instagram I've had nice little stalk little look through here asked you asked you all kinds of questions on some of these posts now more importantly have you ever been to Australia no no I haven't but you've been around some Australians You Blake towns in who was with the aqua Sox you were buddies with him right so hopefully he hopefully he hasn't dropped one of these on you you're like what does that mean so hopefully I can stump you here because this is how it works this is the how to speak Australian segment brought to you by kangaroo and kiwi so I'm going to give you a word I'll give give you a sentence as well you have to guess it now if you don't guess it I'm not going to give you the answer until after we get off cuz it gives a chance for people on social media who are watching this to go to social media get it at theop Step TV and they can try and answer correctly win some prizes if they get a hash you got to put # TTS meate for it to count all right so Troy you are you ready I'm ready all right the how to speak Australian word this week brought to you by the kangaroo and kiwi is bugged you know what bugged means bugged you want me to spell it for you yeah okay there may be some different ways to spell it but it's spelled b u g g e r e d buggard yeah I'll do an American accent buggard what do you got okay uh well I know that Blake said that you guys call shopping carts buggies but maybe that maybe that's a Melvin thing don't [Laughter] I'm um yeah maybe not uh I'm just going to go with like annoy like you like not bad yeah like like you're somebody that's not it it's close now I'm going to give you a sentence but I want to give it away if you get it well then the game's over for all our friends on social media but man I got I had a long flight into Detroit on my first road trip I was sitting up all day all night on that ched flight having a blast and now I'm absolutely bugged what does that mean oh okay so like it's like you're tired yeah all right I okay that the way I get by the way because you because you're a rookie I gave that I I made it made it easy for you yeah I appreciate it I appreciate it plus you're on an off day today and you have to go buy some new shoes apparently too many pairs of vans that southern you've got that that La that Southern California look to and you've been told you've been told no more Vans is that right yeah I I gotta gotta get some nicer shoes now that I'm now that I'm making them you know Big League money that's right hey but the big leagues now is all laid back to back you know back in my day I keep going back to when I played back back in the old school days I feel like a dinosaur now but do we had to wear like suits on the plane it was uncomfortable are you guys still you guys aren't wearing suits right you wearing comfortable clothes right yeah no they gave us uh like Lulu track suits they're they're really nice um Big League dude yes yes so there's that and then um they they said one day it's just like polos no no like no like you know straight suit or nothing got um so yeah it's it's a little more laidback which is cool but you you can't wear the Vans with the Lulu tracksuit well you can't you just got rock up yeah I I did yesterday I did yesterday they don't care with the with the track suit um but yeah with the with the polo and the and the dress pants um or golf pants uh I'm going see if I can get something something a little nicer nice there you go well listen I'll let you go go go hit it up and go go get some go spend all that big league money no don't spend all that big leue money go put it away go be smart yeah awwesome Old Troy listen man I I look for to meeting you in person once you're back in town but uh dude first of all congrats on a legendary debut you'll never forget it I mean Sunday Night Baseball everything else got on that Big League Jet right after it and welcome to Seattle dude I know a lot of people are excited to see you man thank you I appreciate it