TTS Ep #21 Troy Taylor.

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 [Applause] [Music] crazy from the eqc studio welcome to the top step with Ryan Roland Smith how we going mates welcome back to the top step my name is Ryan rolling Smith we are inside the eqc studio special thanks to Emerald Quin casino by the way we're going to be back there August 30th it's going to be a Friday make sure you come check it out we're going to be at the eqc sports book we had so much fun last time we were down there with Casey Sadler and have some special guests come join us make sure you also go to YouTube at theop Step TV go subscribe that way you're not going to miss any of the extra content or the unedited um full full versions of the my interviews all the uh guess I have it's all over there and there's it's unedited plus if you like to listen to the top step go to anywhere you get your podcast um go to the top step you'll find it go listen all right we have got a massive uh episode for you I've got Troy Taylor joining me I can't wait to talk to this kid he had such a memorable debut he seems like a good dude seems like he's going to participate in the how to speak Australian segment I'm really hoping so we'll see he's going to come join me right after the break now speaking of rookies this week's uh version of the top trends I want to dive into rookies I'm going to get I'm going to post a question so let's get right into it this week's edition of the top trends all right this stat is brought to you by I love baseball.org go to I love baseball.org for $39 a month you can change a young ball player in the Dominican Republic's life everything to do on the field off the field so let's talk about some of the Mariners rookies who have making their debut this year you're talking five of them you got Troy Taylor Leo revas Tyler loia I have to throw Jonathan CL and Ryan blz now I'm going to ask you this which of these five young men are going to already have or going to make the biggest impact for the Seattle Mariners in 2024 and we're talking not just stats we're talking in the playoffs as well so you got Leo revas who's getting a little bit more playing time by the way couple big hits U Back Against the uh uh against the Mets a couple weekends ago you've got Jonathan clar who by the way just got traded to the Blue Jays for Justin Turner I'm going to talk about why that's significant as well Ryan Bliss uh and then Troy Taylor who's joining me right after the break so when I'm looking at this first of all Ryan Bliss he's had some big moments he started to get hot uh right before he was sent down he came back up had a big home run he started to swing it a little bit harder he's been on the show by the way you can go check out that interview but he's starting to look more and more comfortable every time he gets to the big leagues he just needs that extended time here I think to really make an impact it's kind of tough now with palano doing what he's doing palano is crushing the ball right now and defensively palano has been ridiculous go back to that weekend against the Mets some amazing plays so that makes it a little tougher for Ryan Bliss but I still think if he had everyday playing time he could make an impact you've got um Leo Rivas who you know in my opinion he's he's filling in nicely you got JP Crawford on the I so Leo's getting a little bit more playing time but you still seen him down this you know seventh eth nine in the lineup so he's not a huge impact offensively uh and then you got Tyler lley who I again Tyler is going to be a big impact I can feel it when when he gets everyday playing time and it's not so pressure packed where they need impact right away I think Tyler can be um you know a really big impact but that's T that takes me to number one Jonathan CL now he's no longer a Seattle Mariner but what was his biggest impact the trade that brought in Justin Turner now how big is Justin Turner going to be he's already crushing the ball he's already making an impact and a big part of the trade deadline huge move not just on the field but in the clubhouse as well so Jonathan CL is up there now I'm going to ask you which one of these guys I'm getting to the last one in just a second which one of these rookies will make the biggest impact and we're talking about playoffs as well so in my opinion the last one we got Troy Taylor I watched him pitch in that debut I'm telling you man we're talking 96 97 with sync big old sweeping slider can't wait to ask him about that man can you see him we're talking the stretch run in September when every run starting to run on fumes a little bit andr Muno has can't go one plus you got a couple of the other guys in the bullpen who are been pushed a little bit in the month of August how big is Troy Taylor going to be in the month of September but I'm going to ask this if Ryan Bliss who runs what if you have him come playoff time pinch runs steals a big bag you see it every year in the playoffs so I'm going to ask you fans go to at the toop Step TV you let me know who do you think out of all these rookies and I'm even throwing in there because you got Justin Turner to the Mariners who is going to make the biggest impact when it's all said and done how deep this team gets into the postseason and Beyond wherever they end up who is going to make the biggest impact that's what I'm asking you all right speaking of rookies I've got one joining me right after the break Troy Taylor comes and joins me right here in the eqc studio so don't go anywhere he'll be right here on the top St here is what's happening at Emerald Queen Casino this week lucky 4 lottery our most popular promotion is bringing the luck Wednesdays in August match three numbers to win free play match four numbers to Win $5,000 cash Fridays and Saturdays join the party with great music at slal rooftop remix 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. play spin to win every day at the promotion kiosks where every spin wins a prize you got to be here for it Emerald Queen Casino the entertainment capital of the northwest 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 50/50 right so like I had a pretty good debut I got lucky um we'll get smashed in the game but I got to strike out you know Legend coming back to Seattle King griffy junr that was the 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 strikeout and then you get to do like the whole celebration like right out 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 debut on Sunday Night Baseball um 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 stay 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 I 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 inning 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 CU I remember so I got called up and I went up for three days right and again we haven't met 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 up 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 leags for three days never pitch and tell kids when I'm like my 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 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 for me I 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 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 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 cuz like you mentioned warming 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 cuz tell me this dude I don't know how it is for you now but in in daa are they like you're not going like back to back to back right are you doing any back Tob backs in dou 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 work out like that but um you know I'm I'm fairly new to pitching so I always felt like even if they if they wanted me to go back to backs 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 rest days yeah you did you go 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 in Everett off the mound beand 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 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 off the mound and I was throwing hard um so then I just closed games through Fels 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 pitcher uh about January yeah about January and then um and then I went to Cyprus 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 J 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 just they've just committed to too many dudes then they go back to to to J well dude it worked out man I mean yeah wow do you do you keep in like is there any hard feelings with with you and Long Beach no not really 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 dud I can say this now cuz you're a big leager 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 not obviously not after your debut but after you get drafted 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 him um but other than that no how' you do when you played against them pretty pretty good 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 really 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 uh I grew up a you know I grew up angel fan so um you know uh we e 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 hot 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 a big Jared Weaver fan were we talking Jeff did Jeff weer 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 trying like way slower he was still dominated oh he was so good so so okay I was going to ask you this cuz you guys go you play the Dodgers coming up um so you're not not a Dodgers fan planing Dodger 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 win more Dodger games growing up than Angel games a d yeah you're going to have you're going to 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 probably threw like 10 innings in my senior year okay and how hard we talking like how how hard we throw in high school I mean hard for high school but not I mean 8 89 92 maybe dude that's gas I did have who was it I had someone on this show uh recently I think maybe Bryce Miller he's like yeah I was touching I think he like touch a 95 here and I'm like what like it's insane dude cuz I was Shing like I was like mid is that best I mean mind you this is back way back in the day times are different and then so so you're from you know 992s when you're just tring and by the way you know how dare you dude you barely even pitch and you're still pumping gas 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 in into my junior college year um I really got in the way room that was that was during Co so there was no plan um no nothing so I got in the way room gained probably 20 25 pounds um you know worked on mechanics started doing a throwing program like a pitcher cuz 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 I'm you know six to 6 to8 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 in 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 they got you over a certain hump in regards to like wow I just went from thr 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 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 placed 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 which kind of helped 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 just stay healthy and throw more strikes right gotcha because you made a comment about your um you 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 want 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 it's bring training or like to talk us through the process of that yeah a little bit of both I'd say I mean you see 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 how is that man because people under 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 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 going to go out and compete against whether it's able a AAA these are are some of the best hitters on the planet um and and you you the the hard thing is if you go down that path well then all of a sudden if if it sucks youve just wasted all this time you know with this different grip how hard is that to to to switch it or is it something for you like oh man okay whoops I didn't know this grip existed and then zap two pitches 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 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 work that I can do consistently and I just stuck with it was this your was this your first year in big Le Camp I wasn't in big Le 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 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 them 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 nth inning are kind of open um during the game so I threw I threw in a lot of those I probably threw like in like eight or nine Big League games um even though I wasn't in big Le Camp I live in Tacoma and I'm all about the action from making a run at the tables to multiple pay lines on my favorite Machines game time the sports book is better than being on the 50 ydd line or sitting toward side I'm here for it Emerald Queen Casino the entertainment capital of the Northwest have you ever been to Australia no no I haven't but you've been around some australi You Blake towns in he was with the aquaox you were buddies with him right so hopefully 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 kangaro and kiwi so I'm going to give you a word I'll 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 because 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 hash you got to put # TTS me 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 kangar 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 I know where I'm from um yeah maybe not uh I'm just going to go with like annoy like you like not bad yeah like like you're talking 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 oh I got I had a long flight into Detroit on my first road trip I was sitting up all day all night on that charted flight having a blast and now I'm absolutely buggered what does that mean oh okay so like it's like you're tired yeah got all right I gave that away I get by the way because you because you're a rookie I gave that I I made it made it easy for you 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 I got to got to get some nicer shoes now that I'm now that I'm making um 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 you guys still you guys aren't wearing suits right you're wearing comfortable clothes right yeah no they gave us uh like Lulu track suits 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 but you you can't wear the Vans with the Lulu trackit well you can't you just got rock up 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 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 league money go go put it away go be smart yeah awesome Old Troy listen man I I look forward 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 [Music]