Jackson Holliday SAVED the Baltimore Orioles | Chapter 124

and we are back on the chosen baseball Journey that is SuperStar Slugger Kareem Garcia I'm Jonathan aen we're going from trade deadline to prospect talk Kareem I need some therapy right now from my fantasy team can you help me out I GNA have to to do a little more than just therapy with you because I have to do a surgery because you know some of the guys that you had before I mean Jesus Christ they went back down but I mean you still have a chance you still have an opportunity we get two months well it's funny we got two months coming so I got two fantasy teams if you remember now we haven't talked about them in a while one was a team that I expertly picked I had Superstar Sluggers and I figured I'm going to pick up pictures from the waiver wire the other team got Auto picked for me they gave me a million fantastic pictures no hitting whatsoever I had to get the hitters off the waiver wire the team that had the best pitching and I had to get the hitting off the waiver wire I've been in first place almost all year still in first place we're looking good the team with the hitting and I had to find the pitchers still in third place but we're climbing and climbing the guy who had the great pitching they are now starting to falter in August and September so there's a chance so I'm still in there I'm still in there but that team with the hitting it's funny you know I have an All-Star team on hitting I got schwarber in there I got judge is my first round pick I'm loving my life second base has been a giant hole all season I originally picked up Mt mlan in spring training he goes down in spring training I take his replacement Jonathan India he hits for a while stops hitting starts hitting again I keep I keep changing my second baseman every week or two it's been very aggravating back on my team for a second time Xander Bogarts Xander Bogarts injured shoulder comes back been pretty steady happy with Xander Bogarts but at the beginning of the year there was a guy the Messiah was coming Kareem the cat Miss Prospect I had I had him loaded up on both teams ready to go as soon as he was coming I figured he's going to hit home run after home run after home run I was right but I was three months wrong about that one you know who I'm talking about yes sir Jackson holiday from the Baltimore Jackson holiday you were on two my fantasy teams and you went I think over 30 to start off we got you off the teams as quick as possible you have second base and shortstop eligibility you went down to the miners weren't was not hitting much in the miners got injured and then Kareem what happened did he just wake up one morning and said oh yeah I remember how to play baseball again and what does he do he goes and hits four home runs and seven games why could he not be doing this when he first came up what is what is the mindset for Jackson holiday that now he's come back full circle I'm thinking that he actually spoke to his father exmor leer for the Colorado Rockies and talk about his uh beginning of the year when he got called up and all the expectations that everyone had not only the Baltimore Orioles but you me the whole fun base that they have with the Oriol over there so this guy is going to be the K gry J soon as he step up to the plate he's going to hit a jack he's gonna steal bases he's GNA do everything you know the full you know uh gold Glover with the home run power and everything else he put uh he put so much um pressure on himself that uh he got to him too quick and got sent down to the minor leagues you mentioned that he didn't start very well in the minor leagues because you still when you get sent down from the maor leagues you have to accept that you fa you did things the wrong way or you needed to work in some other things to to be there and that's what he did you know he he struggled for a little bit probably can to talk I mean he had to be talking to his father picking up his brain talking about the struggles that is not only in the minor leagues but in the major leagues too everybody goes through them and now all of the sudden gets back to the major league second opportunity the same year and it's now a little more relaxed showing you know the capability that he has and what everybody was expecting to do you know why because it's in a team that is in first place he it doesn't have to be the man because you're not in April you are in August in April when you don't know exactly how the season is going to go the pressure is not on you it's on every one to get to the first place because that division you have Boston you have a Yan you had Toronto you had uh Tampa and and and and you everybody can be on first place in April and all of a sudden can fter down to the you know last place well if by the way I love the Kareem mug can you show that Kareem mug there look at that and by the and look at this I got a chosen lawyer mug I'm drinking I love it I love it um eron judge beginning of the year everybody laughed at me they said oh you're so stupid for taking Aaron judge in the first round and he slumped from month and a half and he was hitting a buck 50 a buck 80 people said oh you know judge overrated Look Who's Laughing Now exactly and it wasn't a month and a half it was only April the month of April he was hitting uh about 75 something like that you know he he kind of struggled I guess it was a little too cold for him in New York but as soon as he heat up a little bit in May at the beginning of May boom it was the AR J start hitting Jacks he went from hitting 177 to hitting 300 in less than 20 days and and and it want a hdden spray and Homer spray right now check him out has 42 Jags 10 and something RBI hitting over 300 I mean it's incredible that the what he's done so far well I've been analyzing baseball for over 30 years and there's two expressions I want to tell you because I know you've heard them for sure one is coming to spring training in the best shape of your life have you heard that one before yes guy pulls up they're like oh look at him he's in the best shape of his life he's gonna have the best year look at him in spring training that's one the other one is Big second half we heard that one before yes which one is which one is more important in baseball coming to spring training in the best shape of your life or having a big second half having a big second half for me regardless of what kind of shape are you in the spring training I don't really care I've seen guys that 20 20 pounds overweight and all of a sudden have the best year in their life you know B colon is one of them you know he came a little over way but the GU still throw 100 you know in a great great U picture and some guys you know like the not the Aron jge because he's always in shape but the other guyy in shape but can never get healthy is s same thing these guys always come big strong and they're talking about oh this is the year that he's going to hit 80 home runs man at least play a 100 games in the season and then you let me know how many hom you're going to hit unfortunately you know second half is more important to anyone having a great spring there in the first half do you notice in August that all those hitters that hit home runs learned how to hit home runs again Machado Riley Olson all these guys and all those pitchers that we said there's no way they're going to win 20 games they're not going to be as good as they were in April all of them are starting to serve up home runs like no tomorrow I feel like the pitchers had a huge Advantage come April the hitters have the huge advantage in August right or wrong absolutely right and now I'm G tell you why is my opinion because you know in April the pictures are way ahead of the haters right they're ready because you only got you know five weeks of a spring training four weeks depending how many games you get you get 15 games before you get to a season which is 162 games in April the pitchers are way ahead of the the the hitters but in August the picturers are tired they start feeling the SE the long season and the hits are only getting stronger as the season progresses so I I I see why that the decline of the pitching and the in the upright of the uh of the hitters because of that that's my opinion my my guess as well is and and you can help correct me if I'm wrong hitters timing is really really crucial and if you played a half season coming into August as a hitter your timing is a lot stronger than it is going into April absolutely I mean you you're getting all those reps already you got 100 gam into you and and you're hitting everything you tweaking and glitching a little bit to see exactly your swing how to get it back to wherever you want to be and all of a sudden something Clicks in July all of a sudden uh a comes around and you are just raking just you know hitting bombs hting everywhere for those of you that just came to baseball recently and have been watching it for let the last couple years things have changed a lot compared to my day and Kareem's day when we look back in time because BR back in our day it'd be very rare you ever see a Jackson holiday in the majors he would be right now at doublea at best back in the day I mean think about Wade bogs think about Tony Gwyn these guys saw time in the miners now with social media Baseball America you don't want the prospects to come in five years you want them yesterday and in a lot of ways I'm thinking they're hurting the prospects as much as they're helping them for every Jackson holiday out there you're going to have another guy that maybe if he got more seasoning in the miners maybe would come out stronger but the pressure is so high now to rush these Prospect Rush the prospects and you know we're debating for so long about Jackson holiday was it the right thing or the wrong thing and here we are back and now we're saying you know what I guess everybody is right this guy is a star it is a star but I told you at the beginning of the year that this guy needed more time in the minor league and I would have like him the Baltimore always do what the this did for skins get them six starts and for for Holiday would have been a month and a half in the minor relation Triple A being more heating getting 100 b50 bats you know under your belt getting your timing right and then call you out to the maor leagues they Rush this guy in April like I told you and and and and you saw it I mean he hit 100 a 077 for his games they have to send him right back down and you frustrate this guy on his mind you you instead of helping him you put him way back down and he had to recover from that talking to a lot of people not only the not only the he aspect but on the mental aspect as well you know and finally he's back he's more relaxed more at bat under his belt and now he's doing what they were expecting him to do I mean listen to these names and the company that he's in okay okay 12 players in major league history getting three home runs in a in in a row uh three consecutive games before the 21st birthday includes Fernando tati Juan SoDo Willie Mae okay you have Miguel Cabrera in four straight games you have Ronald Akuna five straight games man that is good company to be in great company to begin because at least three of those guys are still playing right now except for Akuna that is hurt but I mean he's going to be playing next here and if he's getting in that type of companies he's doing something correct I'm going to ask you a very controversial question now are you ready yes go ahead okay Baltimore Pittsburgh GMS get on the phone okay SK for Holiday who takes that deal who hangs up the phone if I'm I'm hanging out the phone soon as I say skin regardless of what it is unless he he pit three years in my team which is Hass I will not trade that guy for anything right now this is the face of the Pittsburgh Pirates this is the guy that GNA sell the tickets this is the guy that everybody's excited to go watching pcks you know you get one of those guys every 10 years and this is the guy right now that they got a kid Baltimore says to Pittsburgh I'll give you holiday and any two players in our minor league system and you know we got some big prospects exp for sches Pittsburgh still hangs up the phone it puts a little doubt on my mind but at the end of the year at the end of the day uh you're going to have to keep skes and peace worth because that guy like I mentioned it is going to sell the tickets is going to bring the people to the stadium and that's what they want you think about every single revenue of what a Paul sches means to a city like you said uh ticket sales you think about ad Revenue in the stadium and on TV merchandising interviews media uh as far as celebrities go right now when I think about it and you think about all the major sports NFL NHL right NBA I think right now he's on par with Cindy Crosby he's on par with LeBron James as far as media attention he putting up the numbers that they were expecting them to do I mean he's doing everything right um so uh why would you even trade him he brings so much to your theme on a team that that really is going nowhere right now why would you even trade to anyone even if the Yankees coach is I GNA give you I don't judge which they want you won't trade him I got him on both my fantasy teams by the way from the first start I got you know people lost faith you know even though I lost Jackson holiday I did get pul skines of both teams and you know what in fantasy land and I don't think that's different from regular land a good starting pitcher dominant starting pitcher has more value than a hitter at this point because it's really hard to get good pitching in there when every fifth start you're almost guaranteeing yourself a win it's very very big so looking now I feel a lot better for Jackson holiday look uh I did not see this coming in the second half I thought this was going to be next year uh he showed them enough in the miners uh kids got to be feeling really good about himself Jackson holiday comes to you now he says listen my dad Kareem thought that I should have a conversation with you you gave me advice at the beginning of the year now look at me I'm the second coming of Babe Ruth Kareem what advice would you give Jackson holiday today going into September and going forward in his career it is to relax take one day at a time enjoy the the moment that he's having right now don't put a lot of pressure or TS into your head because you need to be relaxed you're not going to carry this team this team already has done it through the whole year with the guys that they have you're just one part of the big picture don't try to carry all the uh 24 other guys that on the team because you can't right now you're still too young your time will come to be that guy right now you just enjoy and go have fun and when he hangs up the phone and Paul SK calls you up and says hey I heard you give some really good advice to Jackson holiday Kareem Can you give me some advice as well knowing where Paul SK has come and finishing off the year what advice would you give to Paul skin would it change from the advice you gave me at the beginning of the year I will tell them you know what as as great of a season you're having right now I will try to limit your Innings because your team unfortunately is not going to the playoffs and they need you for the years to come to start the season great right so if you can throw you know 80 to 100 pitches six Innings whatever it is then you can throw with those those uh numbers you know just do it take your rest when you can and and enjoy enjoy the rest of the season you're having a great season you're having six and one uh 1990 array I mean what else could you do besides asking for a trade to a team that is in contention which won't happen so if I could give one piece of advice to Jackson holiday and sches seeing prospects come and go for so many years I would say make only a few friends and make sure they're very boring friends friends that go to the library friends that go for coffee don't go into inside any bars if you can avoid it basically don't do anything fun for the next 20 years focus on baseball make your half a billion dollar or so in salary and as soon as you retire then you can go party but please please please don't make too many fun friends because in this day and age of social media and the attention you get out there with these names it can get really Rowdy really quick yeah but you know nowadays these guys are like to play video games you know they're playing against each other so usually they don't go out too much and if they do they go to to places they not not many people can get in you know that's this highend places bars or whatever it is and get a little VIP I mean you still can have some fun you you AR going to be 247 in your room or in the stadium you still got to relax once in a while when you get your day off and and and and enjoy it you need to enjoy because it's such a long season such a stressful year playing 162 games especially for teams that're not making playoffs and you're losing and losing and losing it takes it all into a player not only the managers and the coaches but to the players too that you're like man I'm tired to lose everything I'm tired to do this you know why because it gets into your head so yeah I mean you can relax on your day off besides that you know just do your job and the other piece of related advice I would give these young fun young men is if you go to a party or a club because these guys are going to get a lot of attention especially Paul SK you know he's going to go to Every celebrity outing and award ceremonies if you ever get introduced to somebody with the last name Kardashian run run as far as you can please please do not make friends with them your careers will suffer just trust me I told you that yes but I mean he has a a beautiful girlfriend so he doesn't need to have anybody else for him right now so I mean I don't think he's looking and even if they're trying to get into him you know I'm guessing that the girlfriend's gonna be like this you put in the hand and face gim there's a better chance of me owning my own private jet and a Bentley before that couple makes it for 20 years from now but let's see stranger things have happened this has been the chosen this has been the chosen baseball Journey we're going to come back next week talk about a couple predictions we're going to check in on our predictions seeing how they went and uh we're going to Center on the Toronto Blue Jays and it's time to fix them because I live in Toronto and Kareem it's really sad being at that ballpark lately stay tuned