Diamondbacks' Joc Pederson talks free agency, what he hopes to bring to Arizona

we continue on this Tuesday it's bck Liam Mara mornings live from Sal River Fields a Talking Stick dbck spring training our pleasure to welcome one of the newest decks onto the show for the first time jock Peterson joins us uh two-time World Series champion two-time Allstar jock thanks for stopping by right on thanks for having me pretty cool to see you rolling on down on that hoverboard man it's a long walk it's a long walk I haven't rode that thing for a long time and then uh we have a storage unit out here and uh we were getting stuff for our house and I saw it in there and I was like you know what this is perfect that's fantastic you look very comfortable on it thank I would be first in the cement but hey that's just me is that just like writing a bike once you have it it's just second nature uh I guess yeah I mean I used to ride it a lot uh I think it was like 16 or 17 um they were pretty popular and then oh yeah it was a I don't know it was just in there and I needed it work work smarter not harder right uh obviously Diamondbacks fans really familiar with you you've been kind of an enemy of the Diamondbacks in your career with the Dodgers and and inflicting damage and then the last two years with the Giants after competing against the Diamondbacks for so long you've been here now for for a little bit what is your your early synopsis of of of what this is all about uh I'm really en really enjoying it it's a it's a great group of guys um they're all young hungry want to win want to get better every day and uh uh I'm glad I can be a part of it and uh try to fit in they obviously had a unbelievable year last year but they're not satisfied and they want to continue to uh to get better and Achieve greatness so uh there's a a standard and uh they hit the standard every day of practice and it's fun to be a part of no as a two-time World Series champion yourself what what do you think you can bring to the group what do you think they're going to be facing after having such a near run to a title last year and then coming back trying to do it again um I think just getting complacent you know getting comfortable uh but uh that's not that's not the case here and I think the coaching staff does a great job of uh keeping the the foot on the gas pedal and making sure that uh all the work is getting in nothing's getting slept on every detail's covered so uh so that those uh that doesn't happen talking with Jack Peterson of the Arizona Diamondbacks here on vickle and marata mornings your path to get here you hit free agency signed very late January with the Diamondbacks what was the offseason like what was that free agent process like for you cuz we know there's a lot of bigname free agents that are still out there so was it at all nerve-wracking for you uh it was pretty interesting it was always like hey once show hey signs it's going to speed up once this person signs it's going to speed up um and really I just kind of got a good opportunity and uh took advantage of it you know I uh didn't really shop it to other teams you know I just thought it was a really good fit for me my family my career so uh yeah just I we just we saw it and we kind of locked in and tried to figure out what what's the best that we could do and go from there uh I've read that you've also you have very high regard for Dave McKay an outfield coach here and and what he may what you guys might be able to collaborate with and and help you improve as a as an outfielder tell us your thoughts on Dave and and how you think that relationship is going to work yeah and uh like I said I think uh over time I think part of the issue is people getting comfortable and not lacking some of the details and stuff like that or not doing all the defensive work and I think that's happened to me over the past I don't know couple years and my defense has kind of declined a little bit and uh I thought it was a great opportunity to come here he's known as probably the best Outfield first base coach in baseball um and we've gotten right to work and every day we have a individual defense and he continues to have discussions with me and about changing the way I play and changing my game and the perception of it on uh the base running and defensive side and it's all stuff that like you don't want to do but you need to do and you you know what I me mean so it's uh it's really good for me it's someone to hold me accountable uh on the little things and do it all right and I'm excited for him to uh to be on me the whole year uh yeah that's really cool because I I read some somewhere that this is like a new frontier in baseball where where the quality of individual coaching has gotten much much better that baseball players know when a guy can't help you that that that for years have been a lot of those kind of guys in the game I don't know whether that's true or not but but I do know that there's a feeling out there that the quality of of specialty coaching individual coaching position coaching is really improved yeah um you're right I think a player knows if there's not much there to uh to help improve themselves or if it's just the coaches there and they don't want to lose their jobs so they don't want to say the uh conflicting or confrontational type of adjustment uh constructive criticism that needs to be said and uh that's not McKay McKay uh if he sees it he's going to say it if he thinks it's better for the team for your individual self or whatnot so uh like I said um sometimes coaches are a little intimidated of I guess you could say veterans or whatnot and they don't want to stir the pot and uh I'm glad that he's not in ready to uh to help me out jock Peterson of the Diamondbacks Our Guest along those lines jock um early imp you played for different managers in your career obviously your in 10 years into your career what are your early impressions of of Tory lell playing for him it's been awesome he uh yeah he's great he's personal he kind of is a as they say like a a players manager and uh let's let the players kind of from what I can see run the clubhouse and whatnot and uh you know kind of hold that them accountable in in that aspect uh stream training I think is always hard to kind of get to know especially the manager that he's in every meeting you know he's so busy so I guess that that part's a little tougher but I've sat down with them a couple times and I'm excited to to to get to know more all right so how does the how did the diamond backs and your new team how do you handle one of your old teams the Dodgers how how you going to get it done this year with with that monstrous payroll they have this year I don't know the the uh they they got it done last year so I just want to fit in get in where I fit in and uh yeah I mean I think that's the biggest thing everyone always likes to uh talk about the Dodgers or you talk about like the first place team or whatnot and it's like honestly it's irrelevant like if the team that you have is confident they believe in each other you got 26 guys pulling on the same rope it doesn't matter who's on the other side of the field um you know you play your game you continue to just do what you've done since day one of spring training and uh the opponents are kind of irrelevant you know so you just kind of once you start putting more into like ooh we're playing them or oh wow they're really really good or this or that then you're already defeated you know what I mean you got to be on the attack and they're playing you guys you know and once you create that arrogance and Charisma about your your team then I mean I think that's how it it doesn't matter going all the way back to your high school days A lot's been made of your football prowess high school teammates with Devonte Adams and Palo Alto how close were you to chose using that as your professional path you you were the number one receiver on that team were you not uh yeah I had really good numbers but uh I'm not exactly the fastest or most athletic it uh it exponentially changes in uh College I guess it does and uh yeah I'm not a big fan of running over the middle and just getting whacked and that that wasn't my that wasn't my good thing but yeah I mean I ran good routes and I I had really good hands um but yeah Devonte it's uh it's fun to watch him continue to dominate all right so in a perfect world what are you going to bring the Diamond Backs in 2024 what level of production what level of vibe what level of teammate what what are you going to do for this baseball team in a perfect world I mean hopefully I can just help them continue to have fun which they already do continue to win some ball games and uh hopefully I don't know maybe relay some knowledge to some of the younger guys uh that uh experiences that I went through so that maybe they don't need to uh whether struggles success onfield off field and just kind of you know I've I've probably experienced whatever yeah whatever they've gone through and uh yeah I mean win a World Series is the main thing you know that uh felt one or two win last year and uh that's the goal this year Jack thanks so much for stopping by best of luck this season we can talk again soon stay safe on that hoverboard thanks for watching Bley and marada click to see the latest Bley blast and hit the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports