Dodgers prospect Hunter Feduccia talks Will Smith, Austin Barnes & power swing

[Music] what's up everyone welcome back to Dodger heads my name is jeffel joined today by Oklahoma City catcher Hunter fedua Hunter thank you for the time uh your second season I believe in Oklahoma City right how's uh how's 2024 treating you it's been good so far um obviously getting new pitch and staff kind of just new team in general it's it's been a fun year so far awesome I looking back two 12th round pick in 2018 a ball in 2018 and 19 then 2020 happens from a from your perspective like that was kind of right in the middle of a developmental stretch of your career now that we're three or four years removed like 2020 do you look back and wonder or or imagine kind of how that may have impacted things yeah it's hard not to think about all that um I mean it I mean it affected everyone in general so just looking at it like that it's not too big of a deal um I mean I would have hate to be in that draft class that year with the five rounds so I think it I think it worked out in general so love it 2021 you jump to a a you get four after four home runs in two full seasons you have 10 2022 it's 15 I know the Dodgers like that laun angle hitting the ball in the air I mean is it where did all the power come from all of a sudden um I think it was just like a mental thing of my whole life I haven't really you know hit home runs and uh as I developed into my body and stuff uh like started noticing I can kind of get the ball over the pit so uh just mentally just like being more aggressive on certain counts and pitches and kind of tapping into that and um after you know like the season sit down with Player Development guys and kind of lay out the numbers and kind of see if we could trade off more strikeouts for you know taking your shot at hitting home runs you know it's a good tradeoff so kind of looking at the numbers and knowing I could kind of you know trade off some of that stuff and trying to get more home runs so yeah yeah the mental power right even like you just as you're saying that like just believing you are capable of hitting 15 home runs yeah just more intent in the batter box in general well last year felt like from the outside kind of a breakout year uh your average was your best since 2018 on base goes up 5050 points the slug doesn't go down at all um was this just sort of a a a normal progression of development or did you feel like something clicked for you yeah I think um what was it 20 yeah that that spring training that year kind of a new swing I was working on a new swing and I think that helped out and uh I mean just over the years the rats and the year before seeing Triple A pitching and kind of seeing how the attack hitters and stuff like that I think I got more used to it and with the better game plan that year so that helped but yeah I think the swing the swing change definitely helped for sure so from the outside like talk me through what it what does it mean to change your swing I mean that sounds like a dumb question when it come the words come out of my mouth but like how do you mentally get to a place like what were the particular things in your swing that you were working on um I think it was just Everything feels bigger when you're kind of like develop a new swing cuz you're not used to it so uh like to anyone else it kind of looks like I probably had the same swing but mentally I guess like just new moves uh the new moves helped and like the hardest part was just kind of like with the new swing is maintaining it and finding drills where I can maintain it and it's like stuff I'm struggling with this year you know like new swing what could I do to make it better and keep it the same but uh yeah it worked out as a catcher you're you're part of the organization that I think pretty clearly has the best catching depth across all levels Major League level on down um I'm not trying to ask a complicated question I imagine there are pros of being in an organization that has Will Smith and Austin Barnes and you and Carta and loronzo and rushing and all those guys and there's also got to be some challenges to it as well so what would you say are kind of the pros and cons of the catching depth that the Dodgers have here I mean it's awesome to like be around them in spring training you know learning from Will Smith and Barnes like some of the some of the better um receiving catchers hitting you know like it's it's awesome to learn from them and kind of see how they go about their business day to day so that's definitely a pro for sure and you know just like wanting to be up there like gives you the extra motivation of like coming in every day trying to get better working on your craft so I don't think there's any cons it's the way you look at it you know you got to be the best you could be every day you know you want to be in that spot so it kind of drives you in a way is it harder knowing that for somebody like you it's more of playing the long game because of the guys that are ahead of you within the organization yeah I mean that's where it comes back to you know just staying levelheaded not looking at stuff I can't control in that sense obviously like it would be frustrating for anyone but um yeah I mean staying level ahead and staying to what I know is the best thing I could do in this situation so well I think it's a testament to you that you had the season you had last year you're having another great season this year I was telling your manager like I look at catching depth across Major League Baseball this is me saying it not you and I'm like this guy would start in a third of Major League Baseball I think but you just happen to be in a situation that probably long term developmentally you're going to benefit from being in this organization having a manager who's a former catcher I think all that helps so anyways I appreciate the time Hunter best luck hopefully we see you up with LA appreciate thank you